One of my 3-year-old’s favorite books these days is Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds. My 7-year-old asked me to borrow it from the library after his first-grade teacher read this to the class. We love the sequels (Creepy Pair of Underwear! and Creepy Crayon!) as well, but Creepy Carrots! remains the favorite of my youngest boy, to the point where he basically memorized the whole story off by heart.
So when I found myself with a huge, “economically sized” 100% cotton orange yarn from making his BB-8 hat, and an old pillow with fillings that have shriveled up to be a bit too bumpy for sleeping, I knew exactly what to turn it into. Creepy Carrots!
This was my first try at making a crocheted stuffed animal, also known as amigurumi. The idea sounded a bit daunting, but it turned out to be easier and more gratifying than I thought. And now, in addition to the huge roll of yarn still left over, I have a whole opened pillow of fillings to use up. Any suggestions for orange stuffies?
Materials:
– Medium weight (#4) 100% cotton yarn in orange, white, and brown.
– Super bulky (#6) acrylic yarn.
– 4.0mm crochet needles.
– Amigurumi stuffings. I used polyester fillings from an old washable pillow.
Abbreviations:
CH = chain.
Sl st = slip stitch
SC = Single crochet
SC2TOG = Single crochet 2 stitches together (single crochet decrease)
Body:
Starting with the tip, increase once every round to make a cone.
– Magic circle 6 SC. Sl st to close the circle. Make another sl st (do not chain). Put a stitch marker on the new sl st. 2 SC in the next st.
– To create the cone, repeat until desired height: SC all around until right before the stitch marker. 2 SC in the next st. Put a stitch marker in the first of the 2 SC. This creates a cone with no noticeable seam. You can increase (that is, do 2SC) more frequently to make a wider cone (fatter carrot).
– Sew on the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth; see below for instructions on making these.
– Put stuffing inside the body.
– To close the top: Use a stitch marker to mark the beginning of a round; do not chain. SC all around. Repeat “SC2TOG, SC, SC” all around. Then, repeat “SC2TOG, SC” all around. Then, SC2TOG all around. (If you have a very wide cone, you may need to start with an even less frequent SC2TOG.)
Eyes:
A white and a black magic circle make an eye. Repeat for each eye.
– White #4 yarn: Magic circle 8 SC. Sl st to close. Leave a long tail end for sewing it to the body.
– Black #6 yarn: Magic circle 3 SC. Sl st to close. Leave a long tail end. Sew it to the white circle.
Eyebrows:
Connect the dots to form rounded-M-shaped eyebrows.
– Make a series of chain stitches with the inside of the body as the front side. (The back side of chain stitches form a single line that connects the dots, while the front side of chain stitches form a double line.)
Mouth:
The mouth is made with a black semi-circle, with white yarn as teeth.
– Using black #6 yarn, magic circle 5. Do not sl st to join. CH 1.
– Flip around. 2SC in every stitch to the end. CH 1.
– Flip around. Repeat “2SC, SC” to the end.
– If the top of the smile does not look straight, do SC or sl st across the top to make it look more even.
– Sew white yarn 2-3 to make teeth, wrapping 2-3 times around a stitch at the edge. I made one on the top-left edge and another on the bottom-right edge, just like one of the Creepy Carrots in the book.
Hair:
This is the same technique for making curly hair for dolls!
– Tie the end of #4 brown yarn to the center of the carrot top. Work in a spiral fashion from the center outward to create a series of curly hair.
– Repeat for each hair: Insert hook in a nearby hole and pull out a loop. CH 9-15 stitches, varying the length each time to make it look more natural. Going backward on the CH, skip the next stitch, 2SC in the next 5-6 stitches, SC back to the beginning of the CH. Insert hook in the next position on the outward spiral, pull out a loop (2 loops on hook), yarn over, and pull through the two loops to secure the hair.
– (Optional) For a cleaner look, make a circle around the outer perimeter of the hair bases with chain stitches.
