Oliver the Wombat: My Free Amigurumi Pattern

Oliver taking a nap on his favourite rock...luckily it's cloudy or he'd be hiding in his burrow!

Meet Oliver the baby Amigurumi Wombat! Oliver is a very inquisitive wombat who loves to snuffle about the place, and his favourite things are sleeping, digging holes, messing up my stuff, and eating flowers.

Wombats are one of my favourite animals, so when I couldn’t find a free amigurumi pattern online I just had to make my own! These Australian mammals are herbivores who live in burrows and typically come out at night to go about their business. As a wombat’s young are raised in the pouch of a female until about 6 months, they are more specifically classified as marsupials. There are three main species of wombat that live in south-eastern Australia, although some small pockets of them still apparently exist in south-west Australia. Being a West-Aussie I have never seen them in the wild – only in the zoo.

As cute as wombats look, they would not make very good pets (I have to come to terms with that ). They are about a metre long and weigh about 20-35kg. Although they move slowly, if threatened they can sprint short bursts up to 40km/h and won’t hesitate to attack you! Their powerful back legs can give you a nice swift kick, their sharp teeth and claws can give you a severe gouge, and their size and weight can bowl an adult human over at a run. Wikipedia offers some funny (but very useful) advice: “Humans who accidentally find themselves in an affray with a wombat may find it best to scale a tree until the animal calms and leaves.“

They are quite clever and can be tamed somewhat to be patted and cuddled, but they have strong instincts so even if they have been bred in captivity they can still be released into the wild to thrive. Fortunately for you, my amigurumi wombats have been bred to enjoy your love and home environment! To find out how to breed your very own wombat, read on below.

I thought wombats couldn't climb trees...

Baby Wombat Amigurumi Pattern

My patterns are written down as I create my amigurumi, but let me know if there is anything missing. This is quite a general pattern and could easily be adapted to make other animals (e.g. pig, bear, etc).

Techniques

You will need to know how to crochet in the round and sew separate items together. See my Amygurumi page for details if you get stuck!

Materials

Wombat fur can range from cream to grey, brown, or black, so you have a choice of colours to choose from. But of course, your wombat can be whatever colour you choose!

* Yarn (one colour for whole wombat)
* Stuffing/filler (I used polyfill/polyester fibre)
* Crochet Hook
* Yarn Needle
* Materials for eyes and nose (purchased plastic ones, ones made of wool or tapestry yarn, felt, etc)

Pattern

Note: US crochet stitch terminology is used. ch=chain, sc=single crochet (US), 2sc in next sc=increase, sc2tog=decrease (crochet two sc together to make one sc). I use the invisible decrease method for all decreases.

Wombat: Head/Body

RND1:  4sc magic circle [4]
RND2:  sc in next 1 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [6]
RND3:  2sc in next sc. Repeat [12]
RND4:  sc in next 5 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [14]
RND5:  sc in next 6 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [16]
RND6:  sc in next 3 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [20]
RND7:  20 sc around [20]
RND8:  sc in next 3 sc, sc2tog. Repeat [16]
RND9:  sc in next 6 sc, sc2tog. Repeat [14]  **stuff head**
RND10: sc in next 6 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [16]
RND11: sc in next 7 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [18]
RND12: 18 sc around [18]
RND13: sc in next 8 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [20]
RND14: sc in next 4 sc, 2sc in next sc. Repeat [24]
RND15: 24 sc around [24]
RND16: 24 sc around [24]
RND17: 24 sc around [24]
RND18: 24 sc around [24]
RND19: 24 sc around [24]
RND20: sc in next 4 sc, sc2tog. Repeat [20]
RND21: sc in next 8 sc, sc2tog. Repeat [18]
RND22: sc in next 7 sc, sc2tog. Repeat [16]
RND23: sc in next 2 sc, sc2tog. Repeat [12] **stuff body**
RND24: sc2tog. Repeat [6]

Finish off, put yarn tail inside body.

Wombat: Ears (make 2)

RND1:  5sc magic circle [5]

Slip stitch, cut yarn with plenty spare. Squish ear together so the third stitch will be the “point” of the ear. Tie the two threads at the bottom together, and sew this bit to head.

Wombat: Feet (make 4)

RND1:  4sc magic circle [4]
RND2:  2sc in next sc. Repeat [8]
RND3:  8 sc around [8]
RND4:  8 sc around [8]

Slip stitch, cut yarn with plenty spare. Sew each foot to body.

Wombat: Finishing Touches

Create and attach eyes and nose to wombat, and even stitch a small mouth beneath the nose if you like. You may also want to create and add other decorative touches to pretty up your wombat (they do like to be spoilt) – perhaps a nice flower, scarf, button, or hat?

Now you have your very own little Aussie wombat! Why not make a whole family of them to forage round your house?

Oliver in his flowers

Note: You are free to use this pattern to make as many wombats (and similar animals) as you like, but please do not post this pattern anywhere else. If you follow my pattern and  blog about it I would appreciate a link back to my website (so others can make it too!). I do not mind if you sell items you make from my patterns, but please be fair and acknowledge the pattern source. More information about pattern use here: http://amysodyssey.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/my-crochet-patterns/

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Amigurumi Number 2: My Little Owl

My Little Owl Amigurumi roosting in her tree...my jewellery tree that is! Hope she doesn't borrow too much of my jewellery...

This cute little owl is the second amigurumi I have ever made, and she is quite delightful! I made her by using this free pattern from roman sock’s Instant Crochetification page.

It really is a nice easy pattern for beginners to amigurumi and crochet (like me!), mostly because you don’t have to follow a specific set of counting instructions to make it. You just keep crocheting increasing rounds until the base circle looks big enough for you, then just single crochet (which gives you the sides of the owl) until the height is the same measurement as the diameter of the base (use a ruler to check).

You then stuff it, pop on eyes, sew it up and make the ears pointy, then do the different coloured nose. Don’t worry, she explains all that – go on, go to her website and get the free pattern! I am not going to write out her pattern in full, that would be stealing

Some things aren’t too clear, such as how to make the ears pointy. Which is actually good for a beginner (like me) because you can just put stitches in however you like until the ears look ear-like (for an owl of course)! The same with doing the nose, and a few other bits. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the techniques properly or your skills aren’t too great. This is the type of owl that will look cute regardless of how good you are.

So go on then: experiment and get yourself an owl amigurumi for your effort!

My Little Owl getting wisdom like all little owls do...and The Little Prince is indeed a fantastic source.

For those of you who aren’t sure of the basic ratio for “increasing” when doing a round in crochet, I’ll save you the time I spent looking and will give it to you:
[remember the "single crochet" here is the  US version, the equivalent stitch in Aus/UK terms is "double crochet"]

-Start: chain 2
-RND 1: 6 single crochet in the second chain [6 stitches total]
-RND 2: 2 single crochet in each single crochet [12]
-RND 3: 1 single crochet in next stitch, then 2 single crochets in the following stitch. Repeat [18]
-RND 4: 1 single crochet in next stitch, 1 single crochet in following stitch, then 2 single crochets in next stitch. Repeat [24]
-RND 5: 1 single crochet in stitch, 1 single crochet in stitch, 1 single crochet in stitch, 2 single crochets in stitch. Repeat [ 30]

You can see that to continue your ratio to make a wider circle, you just follow the same pattern you can see emerging above (i.e. an additional single crochet in a single stitch is added before each increase for each new round).

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