Lily's Crochet Unicorn / Pony

Lily turned 3 at the weekend and we had a pony / unicorn party to celebrate.   She had a pony castle cake, a pony dress (we will look at that next week) and for all her friends, we gave a small unicorn or pony toy

instead of a party bag.    Around the middle of June, I started searching for a pattern for a small unicorn or pony toy that I could use.   I wanted them to be cute, cuddly,  brightly coloured and also small, I did have 20 to make of them after all.   After loads of searching, I either found small toys that were not really cute or really cute large ones.   Not finding what I wanted I decided to make my own pattern.

It actually didn't take too long to design what I wanted.   I made the head first, it has join as you go ears and horn (if you are making the unicorn version) and is then sewn to the body.   The body has join as you go limbs.   The tail and mane are made and sewn on at the end.  It also uses minimal amounts of stuffing and 10mm safety eyes.

I actually learnt about the yarn under technique whilst making these unicorns.   Essentially when you make you single crochet, every time you would normally yarn over, you yarn under instead.   This makes a  much tighter stitch with less gaps which makes it perfect for amigurumi as there is less chance of the stuffing coming through.   This is a technique I will definitely be using in the future, and when this weather cools down a little I will do a video tutorial to demonstrate this technique and its benefits.

I have recently discovered, Hobbycraft's new knitcraft In the Zone yarn and I really love it.   Its so soft and its colourful and was perfect for this project.   It comes in 6 colours and I used all of them across the ponies, although my favourite I think has to be the rainbow coloured unicorn.   Its just so bright and cheerful and everything a small unicorn should be!   If you don't have access to this particular yarn, it is a tubular 100% polyester yarn, similar to Bernat home Maker Dec or James C Brett's Noodles.   I think either one of them would work well for this project too.

As usual, I also made a larger version of the project in Blanket Yarn.   The pattern worked up really well in Aldi's Baby Yarn in the Purple and Pink spot and is even more soft and cuddly in this version.   As long as you adjust your hook size accordingly, any yarn will work for this pattern, just realise you may need to adjust the size of your safety eyes too.   I think I used 15mm safety eyes and a 6mm hook for the larger version.

The kids all really loved their unicorns and ponies and Lily enjoyed her party.   If you want to make your own unicorn or pony too then you can find the pattern for them here.   Whichever size of yarn you chose to use I would love to see your unicorns, so please post your pictures on any of my social media channels for me to see.

Finally to celebrate the release of this pattern I have two spare balls of the Knit Craft in the zone yarn to give away, one in pink and one in white.   This will easily make you 2 unicorns or ponies or one of each.   I'll also include 2 pairs of safety eyes so all you need to get this project started is a little stuffing and a 4mm hook.   I'll be running the competition off my facebook page and to enter, I would love to know which of the unicorn or ponies you would make with this giveaway.   The competition will run until the end of Saturday 28th June 2018 and I will announce the winner on my facebook page on Sunday.   More details can be found on my Facebook page later today.

I hope that you have enjoyed the unicorns and ponies this week as much as we have in this family.   Join me next week when I share with you the Pony Tutu Dress I made for Lily's birthday in more detail.

Vicky x

Lily’s Unicorn & Pony Pattern

 

 

1.  Materials and Resources

Below is a list of everything you will need to make this unicorn/pony

·        Knitcraft in the Zone – 100g balls in any colours you choose (you need 40g of the main colour and 25g of the contrasting colour, so 2 100g balls will get you a couple of unicorns/ponies)

·        4mm hook

·        Stuffing

·        2 x 10 mm Safety Eyes

·        Tapestry needle

·        Scissors

·        Stitch marker

2.   Stitch List

Below is a list of all the stitches (and their abbreviations) featured in this series of patterns.  All terms used are American.

·        Sc – single crochet

·        Ch – chain

·        Sc inc – sc increase

·        Sc dec – sc decrease

·        Hdc – half double crochet

·        m/c – magic circle

·        sl st – slip stitch

·        MC – Main colour

·        CC – Contrasting colour

  

3.  Notes

Here are a few handy tips to help you with the pattern.

·        There is no specific gauge for the pony/unicorns just work as tightly as possible

·        The pattern uses join as you go techniques, for horns, limbs and ears.  The head and hair are sewn to the unicorn.  

  

4.  Pattern

Ears – Make 2 in MC

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	4 sc in m/c	4
2	(sc, sc inc) x 3	6
3	Sc around	6
	Sl st and cast off

 

Horn – Make 1 in CC

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	4 sc in m/c	4
2	(sc, sc inc) x 3	6
3-6	Sc around	6
	Sl st and cast off

 

Head – starting in CC

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 sc in m/c	6
2	(sc inc) x 6	12
3-5	Sc around	12
	Change to MC
6	Sc around	12
7	(sc, sc inc) x 6	18
8	Sc around	18
9	(2 sc, sc inc) x 6	24
10-12	Sc around	24
13	(UNICORN ONLY) 14 sc, attach horn with 3 sc, 7sc	24
13	(PONY ONLY) Sc around	24
14	Sc around	24
15	11 sc, attach ear with 3 sc, 4 sc, attach ear with 3 sc, 3 sc	24
16	Sc around	24
	Attach eyes between rows 11 and 12 in line with the centre of the ears
17	(2 sc, sc dec) x 6	18
18	(sc, sc dec) x 6	12
	Stuff head
19	(sc dec) x 6	6
	Sl st and cast off.   Sew in ends and set head aside.

 

Legs – Make 4 starting in CC

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 sc in m/c	6
2	(sc inc) x 6	12
3-4	Sc around	12
	Change to MC
5	Sc around	12
6-13	Sc around	12
	Sl st and cast off, stuff legs

 

Body – In MC

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 sc in m/c	6
2	(sc inc) x 6	12
3	(sc, sc inc) x 6	18
4	(2 sc, sc inc) x 6	24
5	(3 sc, sc inc) x 6	30
6	Sc around	30
7	Attach leg with 4 sc, 3 sc, attach leg with 4 sc, 19 sc	30
8-12	Sc around	30
13	(3 sc, sc dec) x 6	24
14	Sc around	24
15	2 sc, attach leg with 4 sc, 2 sc, attach leg with 4 sc, 12 sc	24
16	Sc around	24
17	(2 sc, sc dec) x 6	18
18	Sc around	18
	Sl st and cast off with a long tail
	Stuff body

·        Sew head to body using long tail.  

Hair – Make 8 in CC (5 pieces for the mane, 3 pieces for the tail)

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	Ch 21	21
2	Sk 1st ch and put 2 hdc in each ch to end	40
	Cast off and tie end in knot
	Sew to either head or bottom to create mane and tail

  

© All patterns on this page belong to www.cosycrochet.co.uk You may not sell this pattern. Please feel free to sell the items you make using this pattern, however please acknowledge me in your listing.