A crochet puffy heart pattern for your first amigurumi

This crochet puffy heart pattern makes a soft, chubby stuffed heart for a keychain, a bag charm or a little gift. With 5-ply milk cotton and a 3 mm hook it fits in the palm of your hand, roughly 6 to 7 cm (2.5 in) wide. It is rated Beginner, and the PDF itself calls it a great first amigurumi.

The idea behind it is simple. You crochet two small round pieces, join them in one round and keep going down in rounds until the heart closes in a point. You never make a heart shape on purpose. The two tops and the decreases do that for you.

Two little circles, one heart

There are only three stages, and they follow each other without any sewing between them:

• Tops, make 2: rounds 1 to 4, 18 stitches each. You cut the yarn on the first one only.
• Joining round: round 5 works 18 single crochets around each top, for 36 stitches in all.
• The heart: rounds 6 to 14, where decreases bring it from 36 down to 6 stitches.

Every round is joined with a slip stitch and starts with one chain, so you always know where you are. Put the marker in the first stitch of the round, take it out to make the slip stitch and count at the end. The numbers check themselves, too: two tops of 18 stitches make 36.

What makes this crochet puffy heart pattern beginner friendly

Only single crochet, increases and decreases are used. The opening steps do not assume you already know how to start. They show you how to wrap the yarn, pull up a loop, chain 1 to lock it and make the first stitch, each with its own photo. If you have only ever made flat pieces, this is a gentle first project in the round.

The joining round is where a beginner might worry, so it is split into steps as well: the first stitch, around the first top, into the second top and around the second top. By the time you get to the decreases, you have seen the whole method and the rest is steady.

Inside the 16 pages

The PDF holds 33 numbered steps and 37 photos across its 14 rounds. Each round has its stitch count, and the steps stop for the little things that make a neat result, such as where to start round 6 and how to work the front and back loops. There is a quick reference page with the whole pattern in short form, plus a troubleshooting page.

The decreases are worked in the front loops only, which helps them lie neatly on a small shape. Pull the yarn snug after each one. That one habit makes the difference between a smooth heart and one with little holes along the sides.

Yarn and tools for this crochet puffy heart pattern

Use 5-ply milk cotton yarn, a light or DK weight, in your favourite colour. A small heart uses only a little, so a leftover ball is often enough. If your label calls the weight something different, the Craft Yarn Council yarn weight chart is a quick way to compare. You will also need:

• A 3 mm crochet hook, kept tight so the stuffing does not show
• A small handful of polyester fibrefill
• Scissors, a stitch marker and a yarn needle
• A keychain ring or clasp, if you are making a keychain

A different yarn will still make a heart, only a larger or smaller one, because the size depends on your yarn and tension. In a bulkier yarn it becomes a larger decoration for a shelf.

If your heart looks a bit off

A hole in the middle of a top means you should pull the starting yarn tail more firmly before you join round 1. If round 5 does not come to 36, count each top first. If the heart looks lopsided, check that both halves of every decrease round have the same count: in round 7, for example, 7 stitches and 2 decreases and 7 stitches on each side.

A small gift for any day of the year

This crochet puffy heart pattern is easy to make more than once, and each heart can go to a different friend or onto a different bag. Change the colour and you have a new charm from the same few steps. If you want something else small from the blog, try our free crochet cherry keychain tutorial. For more small projects at a lower price, this crochet puffy heart pattern also comes in the small makes pattern pack.

What happens after you buy

This crochet puffy heart pattern is a digital PDF, so you get the instructions and make the heart with your own yarn. Nothing is shipped. Once your payment goes through, sign in to Whop with the code from your email and open your file there, then print it or read it on a screen.

On the blog: Crochet Cherry Keychain: A Beautiful Little Charm, 25 Steps