What’s this? A resurfacing and temporary change of topic! I’ve been absent for a couple of months, busy with daily life in Melbourne. One of the things I’ve been getting back into is knitting and crochet. And today I’m posting my first ever crochet pattern!
First, some back story.
My parents’ dachshund Lucy has a beloved toy caterpillar that she uses for stress relief: whenever she feels sad or overwhelmed (for example, when she doesn’t get quite as many snacks as she’d like, or the latest visitor has stopped patting her) she pulls out the caterpillar, climbs on top and starts chewing its face. When she’s done she falls asleep on top of it.
She’s destroyed several of these caterpillars by now but the shop Mum and Dad used to buy them from doesn’t stock them anymore. They’ve tried buying other caterpillars but they’re too big or not quite right, and Lucy still goes back to her favourite which is starting to look rather worse for wear. So I decided to crochet her a replacement!
Here is the pattern if you would like to make your own. (It assumes you already know how to crochet in the round.) Please let me know if you spot any errors so I can fix them!
This pattern is now also available in Finnish thanks to Vilma! Read on for the English version.
You will need:
3.5mm crochet hook
Stitch marker
Fiberfill stuffing
Wool needle
8ply acrylic yarn in these colours and amounts:
Yellow – 100m
Green – 100m
Blue – 50m
Orange – 50m
Pink – 50m
Purple – 50m
White – 50m
Optional:
Plastic safety eyes
Small amount of black or brown yarn for stitching a face
My caterpillar ended up about 37cm long but gauge is not really important. You could even use a 4mm crochet hook if that’s your preference when making amigurumi (in that case you might need a bit more of each colour yarn).
Head & body
With yellow yarn make a magic ring, ch 1
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6 st)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each st around (12 st)
Rnd 3: (2 sc in next st, sc in next st) around (18 st)
Rnd 4: (2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 st) around (24 st)
Rnd 5: (2 sc in next st, sc in next 3 st) around (30 st)
Rnd 6: (2 sc in next st, sc in next 4 st) around (36 st)
Rnd 7: (2 sc in next st, sc in next 5 st) around (42 st)
Rnd 8: (2 sc in next st, sc in next 6 st) around (48 st)
(If you want to use plastic safety eyes, attach them now)
Join and continue with green yarn
Rnd 9: (2 sc in next st, sc in next 7 st) around (54 st)
Rnds 10-19: sc in each st around (54 st)
Rnd 20: (sc2tog, sc in next 7 sc) around (48 st)
Rnd 21: (sc2tog, sc in next 6 sc) around (42 st)
Join and continue with blue yarn
Rnd 22: (sc2tog, sc in next 5 sc) around (36 st)
Rnds 23-31: sc in each st around (36 st)
Stuff caterpillar body so far with fiberfill
Join and continue with orange yarn
Rnds 32-40: sc in each st around (36 st)
Join and continue with pink yarn
Rnds 41-49: sc in each st around (36 st)
Stuff caterpillar body so far with fiberfill
Join and continue with green yarn
Rnds 50-58: sc in each st around (36 st)
Join and continue with purple yarn
Rnds 59-67: sc in each st around (36 st)
Stuff caterpillar body so far with fiberfill
Join and continue with yellow yarn
Rnds 68-76: sc in each st around (36 st)
Join and continue with blue yarn
Rnds 77-81: sc in each st around (36st)
Rnd 82: (sc2tog, sc in next 4 st) around (30 st)
Rnd 83: (sc2tog, sc in next 3 st) around (24 st)
Rnd 84: (sc2tog, sc in next 2 st) around (18 st)
Rnd 85: (sc2tog, sc in next st) around (12 st)
Finish stuffing caterpillar body with fiberfill
Rnd 86: sc2tog around (6 st)
Legs
Make:
4 in yellow
2 in blue
2 in orange
2 in pink
2 in green
2 in purple
With coloured yarn make a magic ring, ch 1
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6 st)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each st around (12 st)
Rnd 3: (2 sc in next st, sc in next st) around (18 st)
Rnd 4: (2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 st) around (24 st)
Rnd 5: sc in each st around (24 st)
Join and continue with white yarn
Rnd 6: sc in each st around (24 st)
Rnd 7: (sc2tog, sc in next 2 sc) around (18 st)
Rnd 8: (sc2tog, sc in next sc) around (12 st)
Join and continue with original coloured yarn
Rnds 9-18: sc in each st around (12 st)
Stuff the foot and half the leg with fiberfill
Antennae
Make 2
With yellow yarn make a magic ring, ch 1
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6 st)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each sc around (12 st)
Rnd 3: sc in each st around (12 st)
Rnd 4: (sc2tog) around (6 st)
Rnds 7-13: sc in each st around (6 st)
OR, instead of rounds 7-13 pick up 4 stitches after round 4, switch to 2 double pointed needles and knit a 5cm 4-stitch icord. (I found crocheting 6 st rounds too fiddly!)
Assembly
Sew legs and antennae to the body using a wool needle, referring to the photo below as a placement guide. You could also sew a face onto the front of the head if you like.
dinosaurs can't knit 
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!
Using 4ply yarn instead of 8 that u used. Any suggestions? Will it just come out smaller than yours?
Hi Krystle! Yes, it will most likely just come out smaller. You may also want to use a smaller hook size too. I would love to see a photo of your finished caterpillar! :)
I love it!!! I would like to learn crochet one day. I’m based in Melbourne at the moment, any suggestions on where to go to learn?
Thanks Mrs Bingles! My mum taught me but there are a wealth of fantastic videos and how tos available online. A really great resource for patterns and help via forums is http://www.ravelry.com . Otherwise you could try looking on meetup.com for crochet groups in your suburb, or here are a couple of classes you could look into:
http://morrisandsons.com.au/c28/
http://www.cae.edu.au/web/?course=HVS013
It can be a bit frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it it can be quite addictive!
Thank you so much! I hope I’ll find the time to start learning one day. I could ask my mum but at the moment she lives 16000km from me :-( Maybe I could start having a look at tutorial on youtube. Thanks again :-)
Hi! I loved your caterpillar so much that I decided to make one myself :) Now I’m asking if I could translate the instructions in Finnish and write that on my blog?
Hi Vilma, sure thing! As long as you link back to this post from yours. Once your post is up I’d love the link so I can include it here and the pattern page on Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stripy-caterpillar), if that’s okay with you. :)
Thank you! And yes you can include my version here and on Ravelry :) so here’s my caterpillar: http://kekseistakintaisiin.blogspot.fi/2016/09/virkattu-toukka.html
Thank you! I’ve updated my blog post and ravelry pattern. Your caterpillar looks great! ^_^
Hi, this is a strange question but I’ve been trying to find any way of buying the same caterpillar pictured in your top image. My grandma got me the exact one when I was little but he’s a little worse for wear now. Are you able to read the tag on the caterpillar? Mine does not have the tag anymore.
Hi Kirsten, I’m so sorry but the caterpillar in that first image is long gone so I’m unable to check the tag for you. My parents spent a lot of time looking for a replacement but were never able to find one the same, which is why I ended up designing a crocheted version. Good luck in your hunt!