Giraffe

Free giraffe pattern by Kseniya Igoshina.

With this pattern, you can crochet a dressed-up little giraffe. Any cotton blend yarn is suitable for this amigurumi, including YarnArt Jeans, Alize Cotton Gold, Gazzal Baby Cotton, and similar yarns. The toy is crocheted, while the sweater is knitted. You can also sew a pair of pants from cotton fabric if desired.

The finished toy is approximately 12 in (30 cm) tall, or 14 in (35 cm) including the ossicones.

Materials and Tools

• YarnArt Jeans yarn: 03 milk, 70 brown, 07 skin tone
• Alize Cotton Gold yarn: 110 yellow
• 2 mm crochet hook
• 2.5 mm knitting needles
• 10 mm safety eyes
• Fiberfill
• Buttons (for attaching the legs and arms, and for decoration)
• Soft pastels
• Needle for sewing the pieces together
• Scissors

Abbreviations

• MR — magic ring
• sl st — slip stitch
• sc — single crochet
• inc — increase
• dec — decrease
• (...) x n — repeat n times

Crochet Amigurumi Giraffe Pattern

Head

1. Begin with skin-tone yarn. Ch 9. Starting in the second ch from the hook: inc, 6 sc, 4 sc in the last ch; continue along the other side of the chain: 6 sc, inc. Place a stitch marker.
2. 20 sc around
3. 3 inc, 7 sc, 3 inc, 7 sc
4. 24 sc around
5. 1 sc, 5 inc, 8 sc, 5 inc, 7 sc
6. 36 sc around
7. 2 sc, 5 inc, 14 sc, 5 inc, 10 sc
8. 46 sc around
9. 8 sc, inc, 23 sc, inc, 13 sc
10-13. 48 sc
14. (6 sc, dec) x 6 (42)
15. 42 sc
16. (5 sc, dec) x 6 (36)
17. (4 sc, dec) x 6 (30)
Change to the main color.
18-27. 30 sc
28. (3 sc, dec) x 6 (24)
29. (2 sc, dec) x 6 (18)
30. (1 sc, dec) x 6 (12)
31. 6 dec

Close the opening. Fasten off and cut the yarn. Place the eyes between rounds 17 and 18, 5 stitches apart (counting across the upper round).

Ossicones (Make 2)

Begin with brown yarn.

1. 6 sc in MR
2. 6 inc (12)
3. (1 sc, inc) x 6 (18)
4. (2 sc, inc) x 6 (24)
5-8. 24 sc
9. (2 sc, dec) x 6 (18)
10. (1 sc, dec) x 6 (12)
Change to milk-colored yarn.
11-20. 12 sc

Stuff firmly and sew them between rounds 23 and 25, placing them 2-3 stitches apart.

Ears (Make 2)

Use brown yarn:

1. 6 sc in MR
2. (1 sc, inc) x 3 (9)
3. (2 sc, inc) x 3 (12)
4. (3 sc, inc) x 3 (15)
5. 15 sc
6. (4 sc, inc) x 3 (18)
7. 18 sc
8. (5 sc, inc) x 3 (21)
9. 21 sc
10. (6 sc, inc) x 3 (24)
11-12. 24 sc
13. (6 sc, dec) x 3 (21)
14. (5 sc, dec) x 3 (18)
15. 15 sc
16. (4 sc, dec) x 3 (15)
17. (3 sc, dec) x 3 (12)
18. (1 sc, dec) x 3 (9)

Fold each ear in half and crochet 4 sc through both layers. Fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing. Sew the ears between rounds 20 and 21.

Legs (Make 2)

1. Ch 9. Starting in the second ch from the hook: inc, 6 sc, 4 sc in the last ch; continue along the other side of the chain: 6 sc, inc.
2. 2 inc, 3 sc, inc, 2 sc, 4 inc, 2 sc, inc, 3 sc, 2 inc (30 sc)
3. 2 inc, 2 sc, inc, 5 sc, inc, 2 sc, 3 inc, 2 sc, inc, 5 sc, inc, 2 sc, inc, 1 sc, 2 inc (42 sc)
4. 42 sc around in BLO
5-6. 42 sc
7. 15 sc, 6 dec, 15 sc (36)
8. 36 sc
9. 13 sc, 6 dec, 12 sc (30)
10. 30 sc
11. 10 sc, 6 dec, 8 sc (24)
12. Change to the main color and work 24 sc in BLO
13-30. 24 sc
31. (3 sc, inc) x 6 (30)
32. (4 sc, inc) x 6 (36)
33-38. 36 sc
39. (4 sc, dec) x 6 (30)
40. (3 sc, dec) x 6 (24)
41. (2 sc, dec) x 6 (18)
42. (1 sc, dec) x 6 (12)
43. 6 dec

Close the opening and weave in the yarn end. Note: Stuff the legs quite firmly, except at the top. This will help them sit snugly and evenly against the body when attached with buttons. Attach them between rounds 15 and 16 using 20 mm buttons.

Body

1. 6 sc in MR
2. 6 inc (12)
3. (1 sc, inc) x 6 (18)
4. (2 sc, inc) x 6 (24)
5. (3 sc, inc) x 6 (30)
6. (4 sc, inc) x 6 (36)
7. (5 sc, inc) x 6 (42)
8. (6 sc, inc) x 6 (48)
9. (7 sc, inc) x 6 (54)
10. (8 sc, inc) x 6 (60)
11. (9 sc, inc) x 6 (66)
12-25. 66 sc
26. (9 sc, dec) x 6 (60)
27-28. 60 sc
29. (8 sc, dec) x 6 (54)
30. 54 sc
31. (7 sc, dec) x 6 (48)
32. 48 sc
33. (6 sc, dec) x 6 (42)
34. 42 sc
35. (5 sc, dec) x 6 (36)
36. (4 sc, dec) x 6 (30)
37. (3 sc, dec) x 6 (24)
38. (6 sc, dec) x 3 (21)
39-50. 21 sc

Fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing.

Arms (Make 2)

Begin with skin-tone yarn:

1. 6 sc in MR
2. 6 inc (12)
3-6. 12 sc
Change color.
7-30. 12 sc
31. 6 dec

Close the opening and weave in the yarn end. Attach the arms between rounds 35 and 36 using 10 mm buttons.

Sweater

Cast on 30 stitches plus 2 edge stitches. I used circular needles because I find them more convenient. They also make it easier to try the sweater on the finished giraffe and determine the correct sleeve width and length, as well as the width and length of the sweater itself.

Row 1: edge st, K5, YO, P1, YO, K3, YO, P1, YO, K10, YO, P1, YO, YO, K3, YO, P1, YO, K5, edge st.
Row 2: turn the work so the wrong side is facing you, then work: edge st, P6, P1, K1, P1, P3, P1, K1, P1, P10, P1, K1, P1, P3, P1, K1, P1, P5, edge st.

In other words, purl all yarn overs, and knit the stitches that were purled in the first row.

Row 3: edge st, K6, YO, P1, YO, K5, YO, P1, YO, K12, YO, P1, YO, K5, YO, P1, YO, K6, edge st.
Row 4: work as for Row 2
Row 5: edge st, K7, YO, P1, YO, K7, YO, P1, YO, K14, YO, P1, YO, K7, YO, P1, YO, K7, edge st
Row 6: work as for Rows 2 and 4
Row 7: continue in pattern until the sleeves reach the desired width. (Mine were 22 stitches wide.)

Once the sleeves reach the desired width, place the sleeve stitches on contrasting waste yarn and continue knitting until the body of the sweater reaches the desired width and length (mine was 68 stitches wide). Then return to the sleeves and work the remaining rows. I bound off the sleeve stitches right away and continued knitting.