Crochet animals | Keep Calm and Crochet On U.K

I’m delighted to share with you today a brand new FREE crochet patterns that I’ve designed in collaboration with Woolbox. Fresh from a recent romp in the Serengeti, it’s a cute and cuddly blue rhino!

Introducing the crocheted Blue Rhino amigurumi pattern and kit available now from Woolbox — © Woolbox 2023

If you’ve not heard about Woolbox before they are a new online yarn company with a wealth of knitting and crochet knowledge. With the help of different designers they are beginning to develop some FREE patterns of their own using their own brand of yarn – and I’m delighted to be helping them out with that.

You may remember that back in May this year I created a British Bulldog and now we’ve got a new cuddly companion perfect for any wildlife lover. I let you into a little secret too; there just might be a few more ‘Jungle Friends’ patterns from me coming to join this little guy.

❤️ SAVE THE PATTERN ON RAVELRY ❤️

Blue Rhino crocheted amigurumi made with Woolbox Imagine DK in three different shades — © Woolbox 2023

For my the Rhino I used Woolbox Imagine Classic DK. If you aren’t familiar with this yarn it’s a smoothly spun 100% anti–pilling acrylic that comes in an array of beautiful shades. Anti-pilling, in a nutshell, just means that any project you make with this yarn, like an amigurumi should not go bobbly over time.

Collage of the Blue Rhino crocheted amigurumi made with Woolbox Imagine DK in three different shades — © Woolbox 2023

Woolbox Imagine Classic DK is available in 20 different colours, and I just used three different colours for my Rhino; Mediterranean Blue, Deep Ocean Blue, and Pure White with a 3.5mm (US size E/4) hook.

The pattern is available for FREE from the Woolbox as just the digital download or as a kit – I’ve added the links below.

GET THE FREE PATTERN

PURCHASE THE YARN KIT

Crocheted Blue Rhino pattern by Keep Calm and Crochet on UK available from the Woolbox website

The pattern is written in UK terms, but shipping is available to anywhere. If you are not sure about UK terms then you might find my blog post British vs. American Crochet Terms: What’s the Difference? helpful.

If you make up the Woolbox Blue Rhino I hope you will share your finished project photos with me on social media (facebook, twitter or instagram), or as a project on Ravelry – I love to see what you make! And finally you may wish to sign up to blog (below) and / or my mailing list to get a reminder when new blog posts, discounts or new pattern releases are available.

Until next time folks! Happy hooking and keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

My heart is brimming over at the moment with childhood nostalgia! Look it’s crocheted Spot the Dog!! I’ve been so excited about this design and I’m so happy to finally share it with you!

Crochet Spot the Dog Amigurumi in Issue 41 of Crochet Now by Heather C Gibbs — © Crochet Now | The Eric and Gillian Hill Family Trust / Salspot Ltd. 2018

I cannot image my childhood without the classic Spot the Dog books, I remember flipping the flaps of Where’s Spot? when I was young, then I reread the various board books to my eldest when she was small, and more recently I’m enjoying rediscovering them with my two year old.

I was therefore absolutely delighted when Crochet Now magazine asked me if I’d like to have a go at designing the crochet version of Spot.

If you aren’t familiar with Spot, he is a lovable yellow puppy character created by Eric Hill who is a firm favourite with toddlers and pre-schoolers. The children’s books have sold more than 60 million copies and 2020 will be celebration year for Spot’s 40th birthday.

Crochet Spot the Dog Amigurumi next to some classic Spot the Dog books

Of course I said YES and got to planning. It wasn’t until after I’d said yes that I kind of realised what a task I’d taken on! Spot is such a well loved character that I really had to get him just right! It was very important therefore that what ever I did was a faithful representation of Spot the dog and was in keeping with his lovable playfulness.

This was also a very different experience for me as it wasn’t going to be my design per-say as it’s a character that already exists and I was very grateful for the supportive guidance from Crochet Now magazine and Penguin books who publish the Spot the Dog books

Crochet Spot the Dog Amigurumi designing in progress

My Spot went through lots of different phases of sketches before I got my crochet hooks out and then I tried out different shaping techniques to get the look of the 2-D character into a 3-D form. Picking the perfect ‘Spot’ yellow and brown was also very crucial to the process!

The finished Spot is about 15.5cm tall and I designed him with embroidered features which makes him perfect for little ones under 36 months – for older children or adults you could use safety eyes instead.

Crochet Spot the Dog Amigurumi in a cute book scene in Issue 41 of Crochet Now by Heather C Gibbs — © Crochet Now | The Eric and Gillian Hill Family Trust / Salspot Ltd. 2018

I love how he turned out in the end, and I love how the magazine have styled him so he looks JUST like he’s stepped out of one of his own books!

Do you love Spot? You can get the exclusive pattern and kit to make him now in Crochet Now magazine Issue 41! Just so you know, due to the branding guidelines, this pattern will never be released by me independently, you will only be able to get him through the magazine – so if you want him you need to go get him quick!

Spot the Dog amigurumi with his paw on a Spot the Dog book.

Crochet Now is available in all major supermarkets and newsagents across the UK and there is a subscription available to overseas customers which you can find out more about on their website.

I’ve also got another design out in this months issue that’s kind of related to Spot but I’ll talk about that a bit more soon!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx