Crocheted Panda

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Today I am excited to celebrate one of my favorite companies. Fairfield World is celebrating its 80th birthday and to celebrate for 80 days different bloggers are sharing projects made with Poly-Fil, and today is my turn. 

I have worked closely with Fairfield World over the course of my time blogging. I spent a few years on their design team and you can find several of my crochet patterns on their site. They have been a great company to work with so I was happy to have the opportunity to celebrate them today. 

As I was deciding on a project to make, and then making it, we were also getting ready to celebrate my daughter's birthday. With her birthday on my mind I chose to make her favorite animal, a panda. 

This amigurumi panda is crocheted in multiple pieces that are stitched together to make the finished product. The head and body are worked in one piece, the eye patches, ears, muzzle, arms, and legs are crocheted separately and stitched on. The whole thing is stuffed with Fairfield World Poly-Fil.

How to Crochet a Panda

You will need:

• medium weight yarn in black and white (I used Red Heart Super Saver)
• G crochet hook
• 12 mm safety eyes
• yarn needle 
• stitch markers (optional)

Instructions:

First a couple of notes about construction.

* You will start by making the eye patches. They will be sewn on the head before you finish crocheting the head/body pieces so you will want them done before you start the head.

* The entire piece is crocheted in single crochet in a spiral (not joining rounds), stitch markers can mark beginning of rounds and make it much easier to keep track of your stitches. 

* I used safety eyes from a multicolor pack that included several colors including clear, which is the color I chose to use. You could use any color, or even just solid black, you will just want to make sure they are around the same size as what I used. 

* When placing the eyes you will have the head almost finished, soon after this point you will transition to the black band around the chest. I wanted to have the color change happen on the back or side of the panda where it would be less noticeable, so when I ended the last round before adding the eye patches I turned the head so I was adding the eyes to the opposite side of where my round ended. 

* All pieces start with a magic ring

*When working the sc2tog decreases I like to use invisible decreases, working the stitches through the front loop only.

Now on to the pattern:

Eye Patches

Make 2 with black yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next] repeat around (18 sc)

Finish off, cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing, set aside

Head & Body

Start with white yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next] repeat around (18 sc)

Round 4: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 2] repeat around (24 sc)

Round 5: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 3] repeat around (30 sc)

Round 6: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 4] repeat around (36 sc)

Round 7: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 5] repeat around (42 sc)

Round 8: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 6] repeat around (48 sc)

Round 9-16: 1 sc in each stitch (48 sc)

Round 17: [sc2tog, sc in next 6] repeat around (42 sc)

Time to sew on the eye patches and add the safety eyes: Place the eye patches so that the top edge is around round 9, and there are about 3-4 stitches left between the 2 patches. I found it easiest to attach the safety eyes through both layer (eye patch and head) first because this held the eye patches in place for me to stitch around them. They will look really weird at this point but once you get the other pieces attached it will look better. 

Begin stuffing the head and continue stuffing as you crochet the rest of the head and body

Round 18: [sc2tog, sc in next 5] repeat around (36 sc)

Round 19: [sc2tog, sc in next 4] repeat around (30 sc)

Round 20: [sc2tog, sc in next 3] repeat around (24 sc)

Switch to black yarn

Round 21:  [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 3] repeat around (30 sc)

Round 22: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 4] repeat around (36 sc)

Round 23: 1 sc in each stitch (36 sc)

Round 24: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 5] repeat around (42 sc)

Round 25: 1 sc in each stitch (42 sc)

Round 26: 1 sc in each stitch (42 sc)

Switch to white yarn

Round 27: 1 sc in each stitch (42 sc)

Round 28: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 6] repeat around (48 sc)

Round 29-34: 1 sc in each stitch (48 sc)

Round 35: [sc2tog, sc in next 6] repeat around (42 sc)

Round 36: [sc2tog, sc in next 5] repeat around (36 sc)

Round 37: [sc2tog, sc in next 4] repeat around (30 sc)

Round 38: [sc2tog, sc in next 3] repeat around (24 sc)

Round 39: [sc2tog, sc in next 2] repeat around (18 sc) 

Round 40: [sc2tog, sc in next stitch] repeat around (12 sc)

Round 41: sc2tog around (6 sc)

Finish off, weave around to cinch the opening closed and stitch to secure, weave in ends

 Ears

Make 2 with black yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next] repeat around (18 sc)

Round 4: sc in each stitch around (18 sc)

Round 5: sc in each stitch around (18 sc)

Round 6: sc in each stitch around (18 sc)

Finish off, cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Muzzle

Make 1 with white yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next] repeat around (18 sc)

Round 4: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 2] repeat around (24 sc)

Round 5: 1 sc in each stitch (24 sc)

Finish off, cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing 

Nose

Make 1 with black yarn

ch 3

2 dc in first ch, ch 3, sl st in same ch as dc

Finish off, cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Arms

Make 2 with black yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next] repeat around (18 sc)

Round 4: 1 sc in each stitch around (18 sc)

Round 5: [sc2tog, sc in next stitch] repeat around (12 sc)

Round 6-13: 1 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Finish off, cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Legs

Make 2 with black yarn

Round 1: in mr, ch 1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next] repeat around (18 sc)

Round 4: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 2] repeat around (24 sc)

Round 5: 1 sc in each stitch (24 sc)

Round 6: 1 sc in each stitch (24 sc)

Round 7: [sc2tog, sc in next 2] repeat around (18 sc) 

Round 8: [sc2tog, sc in next stitch] repeat around (12 sc)

Round 9-16: 1 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Finish off, cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Assembly

Flatten ears to make a semicircle shape, sew the ears onto the top side of the head stitching through both layers of the edge

Place the nose on the muzzle and stitch in place

Place the muzzle on the front of the head overlapping the bottom center of the eye patches, stitch in place adding stuffing as you sew

Stuff the arms and leg, stuff tighter in the ends and looser as you go up

Flatten the top edges of arms and legs and stitch onto the body sewing through both layers. Sew the arms on the side of the body just below the neck and the legs to the bottom.