FREE Amigurumi Pattern: Mini keychain-sized Koala
Hello everyone!
It's time for a new free pattern for you all here on the blog! How has everyone been doing? Thank you so much for your support thus far and for sharing photos of your makes with me. I probably mentioned before but for me pattern writing isn't my favorite part of my crochet hobby, in fact I would say I'm not a very strong writer in general. I love crochet because I can get super creative and make new designs when I'm feeling super inspired, but on the other hand if I'm tired from a long day and I just want to relax I can make things from my existing patterns while watching TV or listening to music :) However I really wanted to strengthen my technical writing skills and get out of my comfort zone and seeing all your interpretations of my designs has made this journey sooooo worth it!
Anyways, I've been wanting to make a Koala for a while (especially when the Australian wildfires were going on and a lot of people were raising money for that cause), but I was having trouble having a design idea come to fruition in my head. Does that happen to any of you guys? Some days I'll have ideas spilling out of my head for new animals to try and other times I have absolutely nothing. I guess it's the crochet equivalent of writer's block! But I'm glad the inspiration came eventually because I'm super happy with how this koala turned out :)
Mini Keychain-Sized Koala
*Note: this pattern is for personal use only. Please credit the designer (yurigurumi or Christina from yurigurumi) should you post photos of finished products.
Difficulty: Easy
Skills Required
o Foundation chain
o Single crochet in the round
o Colour changes
o Magic ring
o Increasing and decreasing number of stitches
o Sewing pieces together
o Fastening off
Size of finished product: Approximately 4 x 5.5 x 7 cm (LxWxH)
Materials needed:
o 3mm crochet hook
o DK or light weight yarn in grey, black, dark brown, green
o Yarn needle
o Scissors
o Stitch marker (optional)
o Polyester stuffing
o 6mm black safety eyes
o Nickel ball chain (10 cm length or more recommended) or split key ring
Stitches used and abbreviations (pattern written in US terms):
o MR = magic ring
o ch = chain
o st/sts = stitch/stitches
o sc = single crochet
o inc = increase (2 sc in one st)
o dec = decrease (sc 2 sts together)
o (…) = repeat instructions in brackets given number of times
o [..] = total number of stitches in the round
Head
In grey
R1) 8 sc in MR [8]
R2) inc in all 8 sts [16]
R3) (sc in next 3 sts, inc in next st) x 4 [20]
R4) (sc in next 4 sts, inc in next st) x 4 [24]
R5-9) sc in all 24 sts [24]
Place 6mm safety eyes between Rows 6 and 7, approximately 6 sts apart as shown in the pictures below.
R10) (sc in next st, 1 dec) x 8 [16]
Fill with polyester stuffing
R11) (dec) x 8 [8]
Fasten off and close the head by looping the yarn through each of the sts from Round 11 and pulling tight.
Nose
In black
R1) Ch 3. Starting from the 2nd chain from the hook, sc in next ch, 3 sc in next ch. On the other side of the ch, inc in next ch, skip last ch [6]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing.
Body
In grey
R1) 8 sc in MR [8]
R2) inc in all 8 sts [16]
R3) (sc in next 3 sts, inc in next st) x 4 [20]
R4) sc in all 20 sts [20]
R5) 9 sc in grey;
1 sc in white;
10 sc in grey [20]
R6) 8 sc in grey;
3 sc in white;
9 sc in grey [20]
R7) 7 sc in grey;
5 sc in white;
8 sc in grey [20]
R8) 2 sc, 1 dec, 3 sc in grey;
1 dec, 1 sc, 1 dec in white;
(sc in next 2 sts, 1 dec) x 2 in grey [15]
Fill with polyester stuffing. Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing.
Ears (make 2)
In grey
R1) 6 sc in MR [6]
R2) inc in all 6 sts [12]
R3-4) sc in all 12 sts [12]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing.
Attach the head onto the body with the head facing sideways (i.e. the white chest hair will be on the left!). Sew on the ears between Rounds 2 and 7 in a crescent shape and sew the nose between Rounds 5 and 9 directly between the eyes (see photos below).
Arms (make 2)
In grey
R1) 4 sc in MR [4]
R2-4) sc in all 4 sts [4]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing. You can lightly fill with polyester stuffing but I found this not necessary.
Legs (make 2)
In grey
R1) 4 sc in MR [4]
R2-3) sc in all 4 sts [4]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing. You can lightly fill with polyester stuffing but I found this not necessary.
Branch
In dark brown
R1) 5 sc in MR [5]
R2-6) sc in all 5 sts [5]
Fasten off and close the branch by looping the yarn through each of the sts from Round 6 and pulling tight. You can lightly fill with polyester stuffing but I found this not necessary.
Leaf
In green
R1) 3 sc in MR [3]]
Fasten off and leave a long tail for sewing.
Attach the arms between Round 6-8 directly next to the white chest hair. Similarly, sew the legs to the body between Rounds 3-5. Sew the branch to both the arms and legs, and then attach the leaf to the branch to add that pop of colour! Finally, attach the keyring to the top of the head (see photos below).
What did you think of this pattern? I hope you enjoyed making your own koala and as always please share your photos with me on instagram (@yurigurumi) so I can see your beautiful makes! You can also message me if you're stuck or confused and need some help :)
Happy crafting,
Christina