No-sew Crochet Stuffed Animals!

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Well, hello. It’s a busy week around here. Not only did I release Basil Bunny Rabbit (a crochet pattern) on Monday, but today I released Chervil Hamster.

Chervil Hamster is a cute, quick crochet pattern.

Chervil is a cute little guy. I love him, and so do my kids. He’s really quick to work, and a single skein of yarn will make a whole horde of hamsters. Best of all, though, is NO SEWING REQUIRED. His adorable little paws are attached as you crochet! I’ve always loved the look of stuffed animals, but dreaded the sewing most of those projects require. Well, as a math teacher, I know that there is often more than one way to do things. Using a little educator ingenuity, I developed a way to attach the limbs as I crocheted. Best of all, this method can be used on many other patterns as well. So how does it work?

Step 1: Fold the foot in half.
The top of Chervil’s foot has six stitches, so when I fold it in half there are 3 stitches in the front and 3 stitches in the back. The diagram below uses X’s to represent stitches. The gray X’s are showing you some of the body stitches. The black X’s represent the foot stitches after it has been folded in half.

The 6 foot stitches folded in half in front of the gray body stitches.

Step 2: Single Crochet to attach the leg.
To attach the leg,you stick the hook through 2 of the foot stitches AND into the next body stitch. Then you make a standard single crochet with a yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through 2 loops on hook. This is a regular single crochet, the only difference is that instead of sticking your hook through 1 stitch, you are inserting it through 3 stitches at a time.

Here’s a photo showing how the hook is inserted through the first two folded foot stitches and a body stitch.

Here’s a diagram showing how to insert your hook for the first attaching single crochet.

You are going to repeat Step 2 as many times as you need to attach the foot. For Chervil’s foot, I have 6 stitches, which folds in half to give 3 stitches in front and 3 stitches in back. So, it will take 3 sc to attach the foot. Here are photos and diagrams to show what the next 2 single crochet will be like:

How to insert the hook for the 2nd attaching single crochet.

How to insert the hook for the 3rd attaching single crochet.

Inserting the hook for the 2nd attaching single crochet.

In this photo, I’ve inserted my hook through the last 2 single crochet of the folded foot, but I haven’t put my hook through the body stitch yet.

Give this a try with Chervil, and then try using the technique on other crocheted stuffed animal patterns. Once you get the hang of it, I know you’ll love it!