Turtle — Free Amigurumi Pattern

The shell is a shallow dome joined to a flat underside, which is what keeps a turtle low and steady. The head and four legs are short tubes sewn between the two halves.

Before you start

Work in a continuous spiral without joining rounds, and move a stitch marker up as you go. Every dec is an invisible decrease. Numbers in brackets are the stitch count at the end of the round.

Abbreviations: MR magic ring · sc single crochet · inc two sc in one stitch · dec invisible decrease · st stitch.

Gauge is not critical, but the fabric must be dense enough that stuffing does not show through. If it does, drop a hook size.

Shell top

• Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring [6]
• Round 2: inc in each st around [12]
• Round 3: [sc 1, inc] 6 times [18]
• Round 4: [sc 2, inc] 6 times [24]
• Round 5: [sc 3, inc] 6 times [30]
• Round 6: [sc 4, inc] 6 times [36]
• Round 7: [sc 5, inc] 6 times [42]
• Rounds 8–11: sc in each st around [42]

This makes a dome. Do not fasten off.

Shell underside

• Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring [6]
• Round 2: inc in each st around [12]
• Round 3: [sc 1, inc] 6 times [18]
• Round 4: [sc 2, inc] 6 times [24]
• Round 5: [sc 3, inc] 6 times [30]
• Round 6: [sc 4, inc] 6 times [36]
• Round 7: [sc 5, inc] 6 times [42]
• Round 8: sc in each st around [42]

This makes a flat disc the same width as the dome. Fasten off.

Head

• Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring [6]
• Round 2: inc in each st around [12]
• Round 3: [sc 1, inc] 6 times [18]
• Round 4: [sc 2, inc] 6 times [24]
• Rounds 5–8: sc in each st around [24]
• Round 9: [sc 2, dec] 6 times [18]

Place the safety eyes between rounds 4 and 5, five stitches apart. Stuff firmly and leave the last round open for sewing.

Legs — make 4

• Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring [6]
• Rounds 2–5: sc in each st around [6]

Stuff lightly.

Tail

• Round 1: 4 sc in magic ring [4]
• Rounds 2–3: sc in each st around [4]

Do not stuff.

Assembly

1. Hold the underside inside the dome and sc through both edges to join them, stopping halfway round. Stuff the shell lightly — it should stay flat underneath — then finish the join.
2. Sew the head to the front of the shell along the join, and the tail to the back.
3. Sew a leg at each corner, along the join, angled slightly outward.
4. Embroider a hexagon pattern on the shell top in a darker green with long straight stitches.

Making it a different size

Every stitch count here scales together. To make this 12 cm turtle larger or smaller, scale the magic ring and each round by the same factor — the pattern resizer does the arithmetic and rewrites the increase rounds. To keep the size but use a different yarn, the yarn weight converter shows what changes.