Spring has Sprung Squirrel Crochet-A-Long Part 1

Written By Huipei Zhang

Hope you are enjoying the Spring has Sprung Crochet-A-Long! Here is the the Spring Squirrel Pattern, broken down into 3 separate parts. If you prefer to work from a printed pattern, all 3 of the CAL patterns (with the separate 9 parts) are available as a PDF bundle to buy at 33% off, just click on the image or the button below to grab it!

There are affiliate links in this post. We will receive a commission if you make a purchase through our affiliate link at no extra cost to you. Do note I have used some if not most of these products at some point in time.

 
 

We will be going through how to crochet the head, body, limbs, tail and flower together with their assembly.

crochet squirrel pattern

There are affiliate links in this post. We will receive a commission if you make a purchase through our affiliate link at no extra cost to you. Do note I have used some if not most of these products at some point in time.

Table of Contents Show

    How do you crochet a simple squirrel?

    To crochet a squirrel like we will in this crochet-a-long, there are quite a few parts involved. For a start as a basic amigurumi crocheter, you might want to crochet each part first and then bring it all together at the end. 

    This part includes crocheting the squirrel head, snout and the body, then the arms and legs, and finally end off with the tail and eye detailing. This is a minimal-sewing pattern meaning that I have minimized assembly as much as possible.

    For the purposes of this CAL, they will be divided below as follows:

    Part 1) Squirrel head and body

    Part 2) Squirrel arms and legs

    Part 3) Squirrel tail, eye detailing and flower

    squirrel amigurumi crochet-a-long

    What do I need to start crocheting a squirrel?

    For more intermediate or advanced crocheters, there are other ways to crochet the head, body, ears and limbs continuously without any sewing. I would say you would need an intermediate skill level of crocheting to make this little squirrel.

    Let us go through the different terminology and techniques you need to know to crochet this squirrel first, then we will move onto the crochet supplies and equipment that you need to proceed.

    Terminology

    Ch = chain

    Sc = single crochet 

    Sl st = slip stitch 

    St = stitch (refers to number of stitches in one round)

    Hdc = half double crochet 

    Dc = double crochet 

    2sc1 = single crochet increase (meaning 2 single crochet in same stitch) 

    Sc2tog1 = single crochet decrease (referring to invisible decrease) 

    FLO = front loop only

    BLO = back loop only

    Special Stitches

    4sc1 = 4 single crochet in the same stitch

    Sc3tog1 = single crochet 3 together

    • = insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, pull loop through stitch] 3 times. Yarn over and draw yarn through all 4 loops on hook

    Sc4tog1 = single crochet 4 together

    • = insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, pull loop through stitch] 4 times. Yarn over and draw yarn through all 5 loops on hook

    Dc4tog1 = double crochet 4 together

    • = yo, insert hook in indicated, yo, pull up loop, yo, draw through 2, [yo, insert hook in next, yo, pull up loop, yo, draw through 2] 3 times, (5 loops on hook), yo, pull through all loops on hook

    Dc6tog1 = double crochet 6 together

    • = yo, insert hook in indicated, yo, pull up loop, yo draw through 2, [yo, insert hook in next, yo, pull up loop, yo, draw through 2] 5 times, (7 loops on hook), yo, pull through all loops on hook

    Surface sc = surface single crochet

    • holding working yarn behind piece, hook in front of piece, insert hook through piece, yo, pull yarn through piece, proceed to sc

    Picot = picot stitch

    • Ch2, sc1 into 2nd chain from hook

    Materials and Tools

    3.0mm Clover crochet hook

    Scheepjes Catona yarn - peach, beige, white, black

    • Beige - petal peach 263

    • Peach - watermelon 252

    • White - snow white 106

    • Black - jet black 110

    Darning needle

    Stitch markers

    Filling – use leftover yarn or polyester fiberfill

    Scissors

    Glass eyes x 2 - used for marking and reference only

    See how they look like and my selection for my amigurumis just below.

    Also check out my full list of commonly used crochet tools and accessories here.

    Now that you have gathered your supplies and had a look at the basic terminology to reading the following pattern, let us first get started on crocheting the bunny's head!

    Yarn

    Orion Top Deluxe Yarn, Crown Yarn (or any equivalent acrylic yarn) - beige, peach, white, black

    Crochet hook

    2.5-3.0mm Clover crochet hook 

    Darning Needles

    Stuffing

    Use leftover yarn or polyester fibrefill

    Safety Eyes

    4mm glass eyes or safety eyes 

    Stitch Markers

    Plastic stitch markers or metal stitch markers

    part 1 of spring squirrel pattern

    How to crochet a Squirrel Head?

    Start off head with peach yarn.

    Rnd 1: Magic ring sc8 (peach) - 8st

    Rnd 2: Sc1, 2sc1, (2dc, ch2-picot, 2dc), 2sc1, (sc1, 2sc1), (2dc, ch2-picot, 2dc), 2sc1 (all peach) - 18st

    Rnd 3: Sc2 (peach), 2sc1 (peach), dc4tog1 BLO (skip ch-picot) (beige), sc1 (peach), 2sc1 (peach), sc2 (peach), 2sc1 (peach), dc4tog1 BLO (skip ch-picot) (beige), sc1 (peach), 2sc1 (peach) - 16st

    Rnd 4: Sc8, 2sc2, sc6 (all peach) - 18st

    Rnd 5: Sc9, 2sc1, sc1, 2sc1, sc6 (all peach) - 20st

    Rnd 6: Sc9, 2sc1, sc2, 2sc1, sc7 (all peach) - 22st

    Rnd 7: Sc6, 4sc1, sc2, sc7, sc1, 4sc1, sc4 (all peach) - 28st

    Rnd 8: Sc10 (peach), sc12 (beige), sc6 (peach) - 28st

    Rnd 9: Sc8 (peach), sc4 (beige), sc4tog2 (beige), sc4 (beige), sc4 (peach) - 22st

    Rnd 10: Sc8 (peach), sc1 (beige), sc4tog1 (beige), sc1 (beige), sc4tog1 (beige), sc1 (beige), sc3 (peach) - 16st

    Add stuffing to head.

    crochet squirrel amigurumi head

    How to crochet Squirrel Ears?

    If you saw the example above on how to shape the squirrel and head and snout, you would know that the ears are also done seamlessly without sewing any attachment. The (2dc, ch2-picot, 2dc) in Round 2 and the (dc4tog1 BLO with skip ch-picot) collectively form the squirrel ears! You should get a triangular conical ear at the end with the inner part of ear being beige and outside part being peach.

    To figure out how to do decreases like the dc4tog1 above, check out this useful article on:

    15 different detailed Ways on How to Decrease in Crochet

    How do you crochet a Squirrel Snout?

    There are actually many ways to crochet a snout. The easiest way would be to crochet a separate piece and then sew it down onto the head but for the purposes of this pattern example, we are making it along with making the head.

    For the head pattern above, Rounds 4 to 10 involve crocheting the snout outwards and with some colour changes as well!

    How do I join Squirrel amigurumi head to body?

    Here to make things simple, there is no sewing of head to the body. Instead we are working continuously from Round 10 in the squirrel’s head onto Round 11 below in the body, still using peach yarn.

    So the general idea is to finish up the shaping of the head and snout above with narrower and narrower rounds (right down to 16 stitches in the round) to form the neck and then start increasing again in Round 11 (23 stitches in the round) below to form the body. 

    How to crochet a Squirrel Body?

    We are working with peach yarn and continuing from Round 10 in the head above, down into Round 11 in the body below. Here we are making a cylindrical body shape with some holes left unworked for the limbs.

    Continue from head into the body, with peach yarn first.

    Rnd 11: Sc2 (peach), 2sc2 (peach), sc4 (peach), 2sc5 (beige), sc3 (peach) - 23st

    Rnd 12: Sc3 (peach), 2sc2 (peach), sc8 (peach), dc6 (beige), sc4 (peach) - 25st

    Rnd 13: Sc4 (peach), 2sc2 (peach), sc5 (peach), ch4 and skip 4st (peach), pull beige yarn through chain and continue with beige yarn, sc3tog2 (beige), ch4 and skip 4st (peach) - 15st (excluding ch)

    Rnd 14: Sc5 (peach), 2sc2 (peach), sc6 (peach), sc4 into ch (peach), sc2 (beige), sc4 into ch (peach) - 25st

    Rnd 15: Sc18 (peach), sc4 (beige), sc3 (peach) - 25st

    Rnd 16: Sc6 (peach), 2sc2 (peach), sc9 (peach), sc7 (beige), sc1 (peach) - 27st

    Rnd 17: Sc18 (peach), 4dc1 (peach), sc7 (beige), 4dc1 (peach) - 33st

    Rnd 18: Sc22 (peach), sc7 (beige), sc4 (peach) - 33st

    Rnd 19: (Sc1, sc2tog1) x 6 (peach), dc4tog1 (peach), (sc1, sc2tog1) x 2 (beige), sc1 (beige), dc4tog1 (peach) - 19st

    Add stuffing to body.

    Rnd 20: Sc13 (peach), sc2tog2 (beige), sc2tog1 (peach) - 16st

    Rnd 21: Sc2tog2 (peach), sc2tog2 (beige), sc2tog2 (peach), sc2tog2 (beige) - 8st

    Close up in FLO, use beige yarn to close up beige parts, and peach yarn to close up peach parts.

    crochet squirrel amigurumi body

    Stay tuned for Crochet-A-Long Part 2

    The next part involves crochet the Squirrel arms and legs without any sewing, using just surface crocheting techniques! Stay tuned for it soon!

    If you cannot wait for the second part of this CAL or the remaining of the 2 patterns or if you prefer to work from a printed pattern, all 3 of the CAL patterns are available as a PDF bundle just below. Inside, there are tons more step by step photographs of how to crochet this squirrel and easy checkboxes to follow.

     
     

    To check out more of my ideas for using various types of crochet stitch techniques to shape amigurumi, grab my free Amigurumi Shaping Starter Guide below!

    Huipei Zhang
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