A crochet penguin pattern in soft plush yarn

This crochet penguin pattern makes a round, squishy mini penguin with a grey cap, a white face and belly, little flippers, orange feet and an embroidered beak. It is worked in soft plush yarn and fits in the palm of your hand. The hardest thing about it is putting it down once it is finished, because that yarn is very soft to hold.

The penguin is one round piece, worked from the top of the head down to the base in continuous rounds of single crochet. The white face comes from simple colour changes, so there is nothing to sew on for it. The flippers are crocheted straight onto the body. Only the two feet are made separately.

How this crochet penguin pattern is built

The head, face and belly all belong to the same piece, and the small parts follow afterwards:

• Head, rounds 1 to 5: dark grey, a flat circle that grows to 24 stitches, then one plain round.
• Face, rounds 6 to 8: grey and white, where the colour changes draw the face and the little grey point between the eyes.
• Belly, rounds 9 to 12: white, with one plain round and then three decrease rounds to close the base.
• Flippers, make 2: crocheted straight onto the body.
• Feet, make 2: small flat pieces in orange that you sew on.
• Beak: embroidered at the end.

The face looks clever and is mostly counting

The white face with its grey point looks like the difficult part, but it is a matter of counting stitches in groups. Round 6 is worked as 10, 3, 2, 3 and 6 stitches, round 7 as 9, 9 and 6, and round 8 as 10 and 14, always adding up to 24. The PDF takes round 6 in separate steps, grey first and then each white patch, and it adds a stop to check the shape of the face.

If the patches look crooked later, you will almost always find a miscount in round 6, so count it again from the marker. Every round from there down to round 9 needs exactly 24 stitches, or the white groups slide out of place.

Working with plush yarn

Plush yarn feels wonderful and hides its stitches, which is the one real challenge here. The PDF is honest about that and gives you practical help. Feel for the top of each stitch with a fingertip, use the marker in every round and work in good light from the side. After a few rounds your fingers start to find the stitches by themselves.

The pattern calls for soft plush (chenille) yarn of about 120 m per 100 g, in dark grey and white, and only a small amount of each. The orange feet use a thinner yarn such as DK cotton or acrylic. If you are unsure about a weight, the Craft Yarn Council yarn weight chart is a good reference. For the rest, you will need:

• A 4 mm crochet hook for the plush yarn
• A hook of about 2.5 to 3 mm for the orange feet
• 2 black safety eyes, 10 to 12 mm
• Polyester fibrefill, scissors and a stitch marker
• A yarn needle

Flippers, feet and the finishing touches

Once the body is closed, you join the grey yarn straight onto it for a flipper: chain 2, work 4 half double crochets, chain 2 and fasten off. The second flipper is the same. Each foot starts with a magic ring in orange, runs for 5 rounds and is folded and closed flat before you decide where it sits. The beak comes last, as a few embroidered stitches, and it is what makes the face look finished.

What you get with this crochet penguin pattern

The PDF has 19 pages, with 37 numbered steps and 41 photos, including the flippers, the feet and the embroidered beak. There is a stitch guide in US terms, a stitch count for every round, a quick reference section and a troubleshooting page. If the finished penguin rolls over, for example, you pull the shaping tail a bit firmer to flatten the base and set it back on the table.

Who this crochet penguin pattern suits

It is rated easy. If you have made a simple amigurumi before and want to try plush yarn for the first time, this is a small and friendly way in, since a mistake costs you very little yarn. For a larger plush project on the blog, see our free chenille bear tutorial.

You can also get this crochet penguin pattern in two packs: the plush animal pattern pack, with a capybara and a polar bear, and the cuddly friends pattern pack, with a teddy bear and a Highland cow.

What happens after you buy

This crochet penguin pattern is a digital PDF, and the penguin itself is yours to make, so nothing is posted to you. Right after checkout, sign in to Whop with the code sent to your email to find your file. Keep it on your phone or tablet, or print it and mark off the rounds.

On the blog: Crochet Chenille Bear: Easy Gift to Make in 21 Steps