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Today is Day 11 of the Spring 2026 Little Amazon Mini Amigururmi Crochet Along, only one more day to go. The little animal joining the set today is one of the apex predators of the Amazon, a Little Jaguar.
I kind of had a hard time with deciding whether or not to include the Jaguar in this set. On the one hand it is one of the most iconic animals of the Amazon rainforest. If you ask someone what animals they think of when they think of the Amazon I guarantee that it will be one of the first animals that everyone says. How do you not include it in a set of Amazon animals. But the issue that I had, and the reason that I considered not including it, is that I made a cheetah for my Little Safari crochet along, as well as a leopard variation. When making a mini crocheted animal there is only so much detail I can do make the animal and in that size a spotted cat is kind of a spotted cat. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it different enough to make it obvious it was a Jaguar vs. a Leopard or a Cheetah, and I didn't want to just make the exact same pattern.
I went back and forth for a long time on what to do, but I just couldn't leave a Jaguar out of the set. I ended up following the Cheetah pattern almost exactly. I made a couple of small changes to make it slightly different, specifically with the coloration of the nose and tail, but the basic pattern is the same.
First of all, let's talk spots. I know that a Jaguar's spots are not technically just black spots. They have little rosette spots that are kind of a broken black ring shape, but when making a tiny crocheted version a black single crochet every few stitches was the best I could do. And because of the way the yarn sometimes peeks out as you work other stitches into the spots it kind of gives an uneven spot anyway so I think it still works. For the nose I made the cheetah's nose in a solid white or cream color with black lines along the sides like a cheetah has on its face. This time I made the bottom half of the nose white and the top yellow. The other difference is that the cheetah tail had stripes on it and this one is spotted.
I used 3 colors total for this Little Jaguar- yellow, black, and white. I used Red Heart Super Saver for all 3. I wanted kind of a golden yellow color for my Jaguar, the color is kind of hard to match perfectly, kind of a yellow/brown/orange color, so I figured a golden yellow would work. I used Red Heart Super Saver in Saffron. Then for the spots I just used Red Heart Super Saver in Black, and for the white underside of the nose I used Red Heart Super Saver in Soft White.
Only one more little animal to go, come back tomorrow to see what Day 12's Little Amazon Animal will be!
How to Crochet a Little Jaguar
Finished Size: about 4" tall sitting
You will need:
- medium weight yarn in yellow, black, and white (sample made in Red Hear Super Saver in Saffron, Black, and Soft White)
- G crochet hook (4 mm)
- 2- 6 mm safety eyes
- Polyfil fiberfill
- yarn needle
- stitch markers
- black embroidery floss and embroidery needle
- scissors
Instructions:
The body and head are made in one piece, the other pieces are made separately and sew on. All pieces, except the ears, are made beginning with a magic ring (mr).
The spots are made by making one stitch every few stitches in black, to do this carry the black yarn inside the piece, no need to cut yarn in between. Also when you change colors you will want to switch to the new color when you pull through the last loop of the stitch prior. For example: work your single crochet in yellow as you normally do to start- insert the hook in the stitch, pull up a loop, then rather than doing your yarn over and pull through with the yellow yarn switch to the black yarn, yarn over with black, pull through both loops on the hook, then repeat that process with the black yarn switching back to the yellow yarn with the yarn over.
Body
Make 1 starting with yellow and adding black stitches where indicated, beginning with magic ring
Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next stitch in black, 1 sc in same st in yellow, 1 sc in next st in yellow, 1 sc in same st in black] repeat (12 sc)
Round 3: in yellow [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 4: [1 sc in each of first 2 sts in yellow, 1 sc in next st in black] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 5: 1 sc in each st in yellow (18 sc)
Round 6: [1 sc in first st in yellow, 1 sc in next stitch in black, 1 sc in next st in yellow] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 7: 1 sc in each st in yellow (18 sc)
Round 8: [1 sc in first st in black, 1 sc in each of next 2 sts in yellow] repeat around (18 sc)
Begin stuffing and continue stuffing as you work
Round 9: in yellow sc2tog around (9 sc)
Round 10: [2 sc in first st in yellow, 1 sc in next stitch in black, 1 sc in same st in yellow, 1 sc in next st in yellow, 1 sc in same st in black] repeat around (18 sc)
Round 11: in yellow [2 sc in first st, 1 sc in next 2 sts] repeat around (24 sc)
Round 12: [1 sc in each of first 2 sts in yellow, 1 sc in next st in black] repeat around (24 sc)
Round 13: 1 sc in each st in yellow (24 sc)
Round 14: [1 sc in first st in yellow, 1 sc in next stitch in black, 1 sc in next st in yellow] repeat around (24 sc)
Round 15: 1 sc in each st in yellow (24 sc)
Round 16: [sc2tog in black, sc in next 2 sts in yellow] repeat around (18 sc)
Insert safety eyes between rounds 13 and 14 about 3 stitches apart
Round 17: in yellow [sc2tog, sc in next st] repeat around (12 sc)
Round 18: in yellow sc2tog around (6 sc)
Finish off, weave in ends
Nose
Make 1 starting with white yarn and switching between white and yellow as directed, beginning with magic ring
Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: 2 sc in first 3 sts, switch to yellow, 2 sc in next 3 sts (12 sc)
Round 3: switch to white, 1 sc in first 6 sts, switch to yellow, 1 sc in next 6 sts (12 sc)
Finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing
Embroider a nose and mouth by stitching a triangle with an upside down Y at the bottom onto the front of the nose piece with the nose just at the edge of the white with the yellow on top
Add a little bit of stuffing and sew the nose to the head just below the eyes
Ears
Make 2 with yellow yarn, beginning with chain
ch 3
Row 1: sl st in ch closest to hook, sc in next ch, dc in last ch
Finish off and cut yarn, leaving long tail for sewing
Sew ears to the top of the head towards each side
Legs
Make 4 starting with yellow and adding black stitches where indicated, beginning with magic ring
Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)
Round 2: [2 sc in first st in yellow, 1 sc in next st in black] repeat around (9 sc)
Round 3: [sc2tog, 1 sc in next st] repeat around (6 sc)
Round 4: [1 sc first st in yellow, 1 sc in next st in black, 1 sc in next st in yellow] repeat (6 sc)
Round 5: 1 sc in each st in yellow (6 sc)
Finish off and cut yarn leaving a long tail for sewing
Sew the 2 of the legs/arms to the side of the body just below the head, sew the other 2 to the bottom side of the body in a sitting position
Tail
Make 1 starting with yellow and adding black stitches where indicated, beginning with magic ring
Round 1: with yellow in mr, ch 1, 4 sc (4 sc)
Round 2: 1 sc in first st, 1 sc in black, 1 sc in yellow, 1 sc in black (4 sc)
Round 3: in yellow 1 sc in each st (4 sc)
Round 4: 1 sc in first st in yellow, 1 sc in black, 1 sc in yellow, 1 sc in black (4 sc)
Round 5: in yellow 1 sc in each st (4 sc)
Round 6: 1 sc in first st in yellow, 1 sc in black, 1 sc in yellow, 1 sc in black (4 sc)
Round 3: in yellow 1 sc in each st (4 sc)
Finish off and cut yarn leaving a long tail for sewing
Sew tail to the bottom back of the body
