Totoro

Hello again! My sister has been asking me to make one of these for a long time, and now that assignments are over, I’ve finally gotten around to it. So here he is: My Neighbour Totoro!

Let’s get started!

You will need:

• 3.00mm crochet hook
• 2 x 10mm black safety eyes
• white felt
• white yarn
• grey yarn
• black yarn

I use Carnival Yarns Soft 8ply an Australian Big W brand, but they have information about gauge on the website if you’re looking for something of a similar weight.

If you’re confused about how to read my patterns check out the FAQ, or the tutorials page do get a picture guide of the stitches used 🙂

Before starting the head/body, get your eyes ready. I’m using 10mm black safety eyes, with two circles cut out of white felt as the whites of his eyes. Once you’ve cut the circles, make small gap in the centre for the safety eye to go through, then insert the eyes between rows 10 and 11 when the head/body is about halfway completed. I like to stitch on the nose at the same time so that I can make sure the eyes are evenly spaced (there are usually about 6 or 7 stitches between them).

BODY/HEAD

1. (in Grey) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
3. [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
4. sc, [ inc, sc 2 ]x 5, inc, sc (24)
5. [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
6. [ inc, sc 6, inc, sc 7 ]x 2 (34)
7-12. sc 34 (34)
13. inc, sc 4, [ inc, sc 3 ]x 3, inc, sc 4, [ inc, sc 3 ]x 3 (42)

Insert safety eyes between rows 10 and 11.

14-25. sc 42 (42)
26. [ dec, sc 5 ]x 6 (36)
27. sc 2, [ dec, sc 4 ]x 5, dec, sc 2 (30)
28. [ dec, sc 3 ]x 6 (24)

At this point, stuff most of the doll. Continue stuffing as the gap gets smaller until he’s done!

29. sc, [ dec, sc 2 ]x 5, dec, sc (18)
30. [ dec, sc ]x 6 (12)
31. [ dec ]x 6 (6)

Finish off.

ARMS (make 2)

1. (in Grey) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
3-5. sc 12 (12)
6. [ dec, sc 4 ]x 2 (10)
7. sc 10 (10)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later.

EARS (make 2)

1. (in Grey) MR 6 (6)
2. sc 6 (6)
3. [ inc, sc 2 ]x 2 (8)
4-5. sc 8 (8)
6. [ dec, sc 2 ]x 2 (6)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later.

CHEST

1. (in White) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
3. [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
4. sc, [ inc, sc 2 ]x 5, inc, sc (24)
5. [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
6. sc 2, [ inc, sc 4 ]x 5, inc, sc 2 (36)
7. [ inc, sc 5 ]x 6 (42)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later. You could probably even go one round larger on the stomach if you wanted to. If you did, round 8 would look like this:

8. sc 3, [ inc, sc 6 ]x 6, inc, sc 3 (48)

TAIL

1. (in Grey) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc ]x 2 (12)
3. [ inc, sc 3 ]x 3 (15)
4-9. sc 15 (15)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later.

That’s all of the crocheting done! The body is a little time-consuming since we want him to be nice and round, but this is one of my favourite patterns so far because he’s so simple!

As always, I pin all of the pieces to the body before attaching them to make sure that they’re positioned correctly. Then it’s just a simple matter of using the tails to attach all of the pieces.

Once he’s put together the very last thing to do is embroider some details. He already has his nose, but take another length of black yarn and embroider three whiskers on either side of his face. Then take a length of grey yarn and embroider three upwards pointing chevrons at the top of his white belly, and then four underneath that row. I usually use pins or something similar to mark where the chevrons will go before starting, otherwise I end up with uneven ones or not enough room!

Done!

I hope you like him, I’m starting to get busy with Christmas orders now, but I’ve finished my last piece of assessment and will be graduating in December (eek, now I have to get a real job :P), so even though orders are taking up more of my time, I still have some extra time to work on new characters. I’ve just finished off a Harley Quinn doll, so once I’ve written up the pattern for her I’ll be adding her to the shop.

Keep suggestions coming for any other characters or tutorials you’d like to see