An octopus is the best first toy to crochet, and it beats the bear or the bunny that fills every beginner book. The head is a single ball worked in a spiral, so there is no seam to line up and no ear to place twice. The tentacles are chains with two stitches worked into each chain, and they curl on their own. Nothing has to match a mirror image. A bear with one ear a round higher than the other looks wrong from across the room. An octopus with a tentacle sewn one stitch off still looks like an octopus.
Plan on one evening, about two and a half hours at a steady pace. You need worsted weight yarn, the medium thickness sold for hats and scarves, and a 3.5 mm (E) hook. The finished toy sits about 3 inches, 7.5 cm, tall at the head and about 5 inches, 13 cm, across with the tentacles curled in. Every stitch name below is a US term. A single crochet here is what a British pattern calls a double crochet.
Every stitch in this pattern is a single crochet (sc) or a variation of it. Insert the hook under both top loops of the next stitch. Yarn over, which means wrapping the yarn over the hook from back to front, and pull up a loop. Two loops now sit on the hook. Yarn over again and pull through both. That is one single crochet. An increase (inc) is two single crochets worked into the same stitch, and it adds one stitch to the round.
Decreases (dec) here are the invisible kind, because the standard decrease leaves a bump. Put the hook under the front loop only of the next stitch, the strand of the V nearest you, then into the front loop of the stitch after it. Yarn over and pull through both front loops. Yarn over again and pull through the two loops on the hook. From the outside the stitch looks like any other, which is why toy patterns use it.
Start the head with a magic ring, an adjustable loop that pulls shut so no hole shows at the top. Wrap the yarn twice around two fingers and slide the hook under both wraps. Pull up a loop and chain 1 to lock it. Work the first 6 single crochets into the ring, then tug the yarn tail until the center closes. A chain-2 start leaves a small hole, and fiberfill shows through it on a ball this size.
Work in a continuous spiral without joining rounds. Move the stitch marker up at the first stitch of every round. The counts below assume you know where a round begins, and the marker is the only way to know.
The pattern
Written in US terms. Work in continuous rounds (a spiral) unless a part says otherwise, and move a stitch marker up each round. The number in the pill is the stitch count at the end of that round.
Abbreviations US terms
- ch
- chain
- sc
- single crochet
- hdc
- half double crochet
- dc
- double crochet
- sl st
- slip stitch
- inc
- increase: 2 sc in one stitch
- dec
- invisible decrease: 2 stitches into 1
- MR
- magic ring
- st / sts
- stitch / stitches
- BLO / FLO
- back loop only / front loop only
- x6
- repeat the bracket 6 times
- (18)
- stitches at the end of the round
Part 1
Head and body
This piece is a ball worked from the top down. Six increase rounds open it to 36 stitches. Five plain rounds give it height, then five decrease rounds close it under the tentacles. At this hook size the ball comes out at roughly 2.5 inches, 6 cm, across and a little taller than it is wide.
- 6 sc in a MR 6 sts
- inc in each st around 12 sts
- (sc, inc) x6 18 sts
- (2 sc, inc) x6 24 sts
- (3 sc, inc) x6 30 sts
- (4 sc, inc) x6 36 sts
- sc in each st around 36 sts
- sc in each st around 36 sts
- sc in each st around 36 sts
- sc in each st around 36 sts
- sc in each st around 36 sts
- (4 sc, dec) x6 30 sts
- (3 sc, dec) x6 24 sts
- (2 sc, dec) x6 18 sts
- (sc, dec) x6 12 sts
- dec x6 6 sts
Pause after Round 11, before the first decrease, to fit the eyes. The next section says where they go. Stuff after Round 14. The opening is still 18 stitches wide there, and a hand does not fit through 12. Push the fiberfill in with the blunt end of the hook and keep adding until the ball holds its shape when squeezed, then add a little more. A toy stuffed on the light side goes lumpy in a month.
Finish Rounds 15 and 16, then cut the yarn leaving a 6-inch, 15 cm, tail. Thread the tail onto the tapestry needle and pass it through the front loop of each of the last 6 stitches. Pull it closed like a drawstring, push the needle through the body and out the far side, and snip the tail flush. The closed point is the underside of the toy, so nobody sees it.
But gauge, the number of stitches per inch, matters less for a toy than for a hat. What matters is that no stuffing shows between stitches. If you can see white fiberfill through the fabric, go down to a 3 mm (D) hook and start again; the ball will be about a quarter inch smaller and the counts stay the same.
SavePart 2
Face
Fit the eyes after Round 11 and before any decrease round. Count down to the gap between Rounds 8 and 9. Push one eye post through from the outside, then set the second eye 6 stitches away along the same round. Look at it from the front before you click the washers on, because a washer does not come off again without pliers and a torn stitch. Wide and low is the octopus look, and 6 stitches apart on a 36-stitch round gives it.
Safety eyes are not safe for a child under 3. For a baby, embroider the eyes with black yarn instead: two short straight stitches, each about 3 mm wide, over the same spot where the posts would have gone. A pink cheek is a single stitch two stitches out from each eye. Do the embroidery before stuffing too, since it is far easier to hide knots inside an empty ball.
No mouth is required, though one stitch makes the face. With black yarn and the tapestry needle, make one straight stitch about 4 stitches wide, two rounds below the eyes. Anchor its middle with a tiny vertical stitch so it dips into a smile. Knot both ends inside the head where the stuffing will cover them.
Part 3
Tentacles, made eight times
Each tentacle is a chain with two single crochets worked into every chain. Twice as many stitches as the chain can hold forces the strip to twist, and it spirals the moment you let go. No shaping is needed after the first chain. Two stitches per chain gives a loose ringlet. Three per chain gives a tight corkscrew that stands up on its own, and uses half again as much yarn.
- ch 25 25 sts
- 2 sc in the 2nd ch from the hook, then 2 sc in each remaining ch 48 sts
Fasten off leaving a 6-inch, 15 cm, tail for sewing. Straight, the strip measures about 5 inches, 13 cm. Curled, it pulls up to about 3 inches, 7.5 cm. Make 8 and lay them side by side when done.
Eight tentacles take longer than the head does, roughly an hour against forty minutes. If one comes out longer than the rest, the chain was 26 or a stitch was tripled somewhere. The chain is where a tentacle goes wrong, so count it twice before working back along it. Working the single crochets into the back bump of each chain, the single strand on the underside, gives a smoother spiral than working under the top two strands.
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Assembly
Round 13, the 24-stitch round, takes the tentacles, one every 3 stitches. Eight into 24 divides evenly, so every third stitch lands on a position.
- Turn the head so the closed point faces you. Find Round 13 by counting two rounds up from the closed circle of Rounds 15 and 16.
- Pick any stitch on Round 13 as the first position. Mark every third stitch from it with the tip of the needle or a pin, eight positions in all.
- Thread the tail of one tentacle onto the tapestry needle. Pass the needle through the body at the first position, out one stitch over, and back down through the top of the tentacle. Repeat once.
- Run the tail into the body, bring it out several stitches away, pull gently and snip flush. The end disappears into the stuffing.
- Sew the remaining seven, turning the toy as you go so every spiral curls the same direction.
- Roll the finished toy between your palms to even out the stuffing, then weave in the last tails.
A bigger or smaller octopus
Chunky (category 5) yarn with a 5 mm (H) hook turns the same counts into a head about 3.5 inches, 9 cm, wide. The tentacles stretch to about 7 inches straight. Use 12 mm eyes. Sport weight (category 3) yarn with a 2.5 mm (B) hook gives a head under 2 inches, 5 cm, which hangs from a bag strap. Use 6 mm eyes or embroider them.
For a bigger head at the same yarn weight, add one increase round after Round 6: (5 sc, inc) x6 (42). Work six plain rounds at 42, then add a decrease round before Round 12: (5 sc, dec) x6 (36). The rest of the pattern continues unchanged. Every extra increase round needs its matching decrease, or the ball comes out flat on one end.
The mistakes that show
Every spiral start leaves a small step where the last round ends, and that is normal. Turn it to the back when you place the eyes. A miscount in the plain rounds is harmless, since all five are 36. A miscount in a decrease round is not; a round that lands at 29 means a decrease was skipped and the ball will lean. Count the stitches at the end of Rounds 12 through 15 before moving on. Tentacles curling in opposite directions happen when some were worked into the chain from the other end. Sew them anyway, and hold each one up before you commit to the stitch.
Washing
Both cotton and acrylic go through a cold machine wash inside a mesh laundry bag. Squeeze the water out in a towel and leave the toy on its side to dry; a wet toy stood upright dries with the stuffing sunk to the bottom. Fiberfill shrinks a little the first time, so a toy that felt firm comes out slightly softer. Add another pinch through a small gap in the base and sew it closed again.
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