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Do you think otters are just the cutest animals in the world? If so, you'll love this pattern! This faux fur otter snuggler looks hyper realistic and will surely bring lots of cuddly, snuggly joy!
The Faux Fur Otter Snuggler is a sweet crochet stuffie that looks realistic! Its soft unstuffed body, sweet face, & stubby little limbs are perfect to love on. The head is crocheted in one piece and includes clever color changes without sewing or separate pieces. There are also color changes done on the body so that there's differentiation between the belly and back!
With a long length of 12 inches from the head to the tail, this baby otter is the perfect huggable size and can easily turn into your child's favorite lovey and emotional support toy. Make this doll as an heirloom birthday gift, for a baby shower, Easter, Christmas holiday present, or as a market craft fair product.
This pattern is suitable for intermediate to advanced crocheters who can crochet with faux fur yarn. Chenille velvet and blanket yarn can also work for a plush look, but it won't be as realistic.
As for the construction and design, you might be pleased to know the following features:
- Only the head of the otter is crocheted with "tighter" stitches (using a 6mm hook) to prevent stuffing from showing through.
- The rest of the otter (arms, legs, body/tail) are crocheted using a large, 9mm hook, which is a lot easier to work with with faux fur yarn, as you can more noticeably feel the stitches! It also makes those parts work up very quickly.
- There's sewing involved in this pattern, which I think makes it easier and more "forgiving" of a pattern to follow. No-sew techniques often involve marking stitches and crocheting pieces at accurate locations, which is difficult with faux fur yarn when you can hardly tell the different stitches and rounds apart. Sewing the limbs on will take the stress off!
- The only part where you need to be more vigilant with counting stitches is the head, as you'll be using shaping (increases/decreases) to produce the head shape with a slightly pointed snout and taller forehead area. However, making a mistake here or there (like coming up one stitch short or adding an extra increase to make up for it) isn't going to be noticeable with faux fur yarn. Believe it or not, the yarn is quite forgiving! Since the stitches aren't visible, getting down the general shape is the most important part.
Recommended Yarn
This sweet doll is designed with Lion Brand Yarn's Go for Faux Yarn, which is silky-soft to the touch and comes in a lot of beautiful colors that look like real fur! It's a little tricky to work with at first if you've never crocheted with fur yarn before, but I have a blog post on tips to crochet with fluffy yarn. If you'd like to watch a video on this, I recommend my Crocheting with Fluffy Yarn video, where I give tips and demonstrate how it's done.
Another yarn alternative to this project is some velvet chenille yarn, such as Hobbii's plush yarn (Baby Snuggle, Honey Bunny, and Toucan are great choices). These velvety yarns are very soft and squishy, and you can actually see the stitches as opposed to the faux fur yarns. However, the resulting look is very different and will produce a plush-looking stuffed animal instead of a more realistic otter snuggler. It can be good practice before you embark on using faux fur yarn, as you'll get the concept of crocheting this doll down, making it much easier to crochet again a second time!
Uses
- Baby room decor to add a touch of cozy
- Emotional support amigurumi doll for comfort and security
- Fun toy for children to play with
- Great gifts for: baby shower, birthday, Christmas, holiday
- Selling at craft fairs, markets, or boutiques
PDF Pattern
The PDF pattern is printable, ad-free, easy to read, includes photo references, and helps support Sweet Softies! (If you enjoy my free patterns, you can consider it as a donation to me when you buy one of my pattern PDFs! It allows me to maintain my blog and continue sharing more free patterns.)
Thank you for reading, and hope you had a fun time crocheting this project! If you'd like to help out my blog, feel free to check out my post, "5 Ways to Support my Blog!"
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Best wishes,
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