Mini Crochet Elmo - free crochet / amigurumi pattern

There’s a boutique café next to my son’s nursery where I go to hide from my kids. 

All I do whilst playing truant is crochet, create patterns, write patterns, test out those patterns, and dream up new patterns.  Plus I get peanut butter toast and lemon tea.  It’s heaven.

On one of those days, the café owner Mark told me he was planning surprises for his wife’s birthday and their wedding anniversary.  He asked me if I could crochet a tiny Elmo key ring for him, as his wife is a huge Elmo fan. 

"But Dorothy I swear! I didn't know Sushi was made of fish!"

“Sure”, I said, “I’ll give it a go”.  Not having seen much of Sesame Street for like – decades – I did some research on YouTube, which took me to some pretty inappropriate stuff… But anyway, I didn’t think Elmo or his friend Dorothy the goldfish would be that hard to do.  The slight challenges were the limbs which had to be 2D in view of the size.

Here’s what I came up with, pattern is included below for other Elmo fans courtesy of Mark’s romantic gesture.  I figured cookie monster and accompanying cookie might be possible with minimal adaptations.  Tips on how on subsequent blog post.

What you’ll need:

You can pretty much use any type of yarn you like since slight variation in size won’t matter.  I used a light weight yarn (that suggested a 3.5mm crochet hook) and a 2.5mm hook for a mini Elmo that measures 8cm tall.  I find it easier to think about yarn weight and size according to hook size.  I.e. If you use a yarn that suggests a 4mm hook then your Elmo will finish bigger than 8cm.

Here’s what I worked with:

• -          Red and orange yarn (gauge 22sts x 28rows for 10cm swatch);
• -          Super thin black yarn (or black embroidery floss);  
• -          Crochet hook 2.5mm;
• -          2x white pom poms (0.5mm);
• -          Black felt;
• -          Black/grey embroidery floss;
• -          Tapestry needle;
• -          Polyester filling; and
• -          A key ring.

Abbreviations:

ch                    chain stitch

sl st                  slip stitch

sc                     single crochet

sc inc               single crochet increase, i.e. work 2 single crochets into the same stitch

sc dec              single crochet decrease, i.e. crochet 2 stitches together

dc                    double crochet (yarn over hook once before inserting hook, then pull yarn through 2                             loops at a time, twice)

dc inc              double crochet increase, i.e. work 2 double crochet stitches into the same stitch

dc dec             double crochet decrease, i.e. double crochet 2 stitches together

hdc                  half double crochet (yarn over once, pull yarn through the loops once)

st                     stitche(s)

( )                     numbers in brackets denote total stitches for that row

*                      when a stitch pattern is repeated several times, it is enclosed by asterisks.

                        E.g. *2sc, sc dec* x2 - means single crochet twice, decrease, single crochet

                        twice, decrease.

Head: (in red)

R1: magic ring, ch, 6sc into ring, tighten ring, join round with sl st. (6) [remember to start with a ch st at the beginning of every row AND end each row with a sl st into the first st to end for the rest of the pattern]

R2: *sc inc* x6 (12)

R3: *sc, sc inc* x6 (18)

R4: *2sc, sc inc* x6 (24)

R5 to R7: 24sc (24)

R8: *3sc, sc dec* x4, 4sc (20)

R9: *2sc, sc dec* x5 (15)

R10: *sc, sc dec* x5 (10), end leaving a yarn tail at least 8cm long.

Body: (in red)

R1: 8ch (8)

R2: starting at 2^nd ch from hook, work 7sc, sc inc, 5sc, sc inc, sl st to join round. [remember to start with a ch st at the beginning of every row AND end each row with a sl st into the first st to end for the rest of the pattern] (16)

R3: 16sc into backloops only (16)

R4 to R5: 16sc (16)

R6: *3sc, sc dec* x3, sc (13)

R7: 13sc (13)

R8: *3sc, sc dec* x2, 3sc (11), end leaving a short yarn tail to weave into body.

Arms: (make 2 in red)

R1: 8ch (8)

R2: starting at 2^nd ch from hook, 7sc [this forms the arm] (7)

R3: *3ch, then beginning at 2^nd ch from hook, do 2 sl sts [this forms a finger], attach finger to palm by doing a sl st into the last st of R2* repeat three times to make four fingers, end one arm by leaving a short yarn tail and weave end into arm, end the other arm with a 15cm yarn tail to weave into arm and attach both arms to the body.

Legs: (make 2 in red)

Left Foot:

R1: 12ch (12)

R2: starting at 3^rd stitch from hook, 3dc, 2ch 6sc, sc inc, working back towards the foot, 7sl sts, end leaving a long enough yarn tail to weave into leg.

Right Foot:

R1: 11ch (12)

R2: starting at 2^nd ch from hook, 7sc, 2ch, 3dc, 2ch, 10 sl sts along starting ch sts, end leaving a 15cm yarn tail for attaching both legs to the body.

Smile: (in black)

R1: using super thin black yarn, 7ch, starting at 2^nd ch from hook, sc, hdc, 2dc, hdc, sc, ch, sl st into starting ch, end leaving a long enough yarn tail to attach smile to face.

Nose: (in orange)

R1: magic ring, 4sc into ring (4)

R2: *sc, sc inc* x2 (6)

R3: *sc dec* x3 (3), end leaving a long enough yarn tail to attach nose to face.

Dorothy the goldfish: (in orange)

R1: magic ring, 1ch, 4sc into ring, sl st into first st to end. (4)

R2: *sc, sc inc* x2 (6)

R3: *sc, sc inc* x3 (9)

R4: *sc, sc dec* x3 (6)

R5: *sc dec* x3 (3), end of body.

R6: [make tail] 3ch, dc into end of body, *ch, sc dec* x2, 3ch, sl st into body, weave in yarn tail to end.  Sew on features with black embroidery thread on both sides to finish.

Making up:  

Stuff head and body before attaching head to body with yarn tail.  Sew arms onto body with the extra long yarn tail from one arm.  Sew right leg onto body, then using the same yarn tail, attach left leg to body.  Sew on smile. Stuff nose with a little bit of stuffing if needed then attach nose to face.  I sewed the back of the nose onto the face for additional security.

Using the black felt, cut out two tiny black pupils then glue onto the white pom poms.  Glue pom pom eyes to face just above the nose. 

You can either attach Dorothy directly to Elmo’s hand or crochet a long chain to attach Dorothy separately to the key ring. 

Finally, attach key ring to Elmo’s head, I just opened the loop of the key ring chain and attached it to one of the stitches near the crown of his head. 

Et voilà you’re done!  

Check out my other tutorials and check back here for the Cookie Monster pattern!