Free Crochet Pattern: Whale Pillow

Download PDF here

The whale is crocheted with Infinity Hearts Rose 8/4 Yarn Unicolour, which is 100% cotton.

Size

The whale measures 30cm in diameter and 100cm in circumference and is about 20cm tall.

Tools & Materials

Yarn consumption

Infinity Hearts Rose 8/4 Yarn Unicolour

Infinity Hearts Rose 8/4 Yarn Unicolour – 98 blue, 6 skeins of yarn
Infinity Hearts Rose 8/4 Yarn Unicolour – 172 sand, 2 skeins of yarn

Abbreviations

ch – chain stitches

dc - double crochet stitches

sl st - slip stitch

inc - increase (2 stitches in the same stitch)

Dec - decrease (2 stitches crocheted together)

Instructions

The pillow is crocheted with two strands.

The body

First, you will need two skeins of blue yarn and a 4.0 crochet hook.

Start by making 6 dc in a magic ring and leave a long tail.

Inc x 6 (12)
1 dc, inc x 6 (18)
2 dc, inc x 6 (24)

Continue until you have increased to:

30 dc, inc x 6 (192)

Crochet 27 rounds of 192 dc

Change to two skeins of sand in the last stitch, the first round is crocheted in the back loop.

30 dc, dec x 6 (186)

For the rest of the round, you crochet in both stitch loops.

29 dc, dec x 6 (180)
28 dc, dec x 6 (174)

Continue until you have decreased to:

4 dc, dec x 6 (30)
Weave in the ends from the magic ring and the colour change.

Stuff the whale with most of the fibrefill, but not too much as you need to attach the eyes now.

Place the eyes out from the belly decreases and 7 rounds from the bottom.

Once you have placed the eyes, you need to stuff the whale entirely and close off the belly entirely.

3 dc, dec x 6 (24)
2 dc, dec x 6 (18)
1 dc, dec x 6 (12)
Dec x 6 (6)

Weave the last 6 stitches together and fasten off.

The Fins

Now, you make the two fins. You still crochet with 2 strands of yarn.

Start by making 6 dc in a magic ring.

Inc x 6 (12)
1 dc, inc x 6 (18)
2 dc, inc x 6 (24)
3 dc, inc x 6 (30)
4 dc, inc x 6 (36)
5 dc, inc x 6 (42)
6 dc, inc x 6 (48)

Crochet 18 rounds of 48 dc.

Cut the yarn and leave a long yarn tail. Fasten off from the magic ring and sew the ends together – leave a long strand of yarn for sewing on the fin.

Eyelids

Now you make the two eyelids. You crochet with only one strand of yarn.

Start by making 6 dc in a magic ring.

Inc x 6 (12)
1 dc, inc x 6 (18)
2 dc, inc x 6 (24)
3 dc, inc x 6 (30)

Fold the eyelid on the middle, fasten off from the magic ring and sew the ends together. Leave a long strand of yarn for finishing.

Sew on the eyelids so that the upper half of the eye is covered.

Sew on the fins by the belly increases up the whale’s eyes.

The Tail

Now, you make the tail. Again, crochet with 2 strands of yarn. Make sure to leave a long strand of yarn at the start, so you have enough yarn for sewing the tail on later.

Start by making 31 ch and join them in a ring with a sl st, and crochet 30 dc around the ring.

Crochet 5 rounds of 30 dc.

You now make increases.

4 dc, inc x 6 (36)
5 dc, inc x 6 (42)
6 dc, inc x 6 (48)
7 dc, inc x 6 (54)
8 dc, inc x 6 (60)

Once you have made all the increases, you need to divide it in two – 30 dc on each side. Fold the tail so that the yarn end is on the one side, then count 15 dc down and 15 dc back and place a stitch marker in the 15th stitch.

Crochet 15 dc so the last dc is made in the stitch with the stitch marker, turn the crochet hook and insert it through the 15th stitch on the other side of the whale - and crochet 15 more stitches.

Crochet 8 rounds of 30 dc

3 dc, dec x 6 (24)
2 dc, dec x 6 (18)
1 dc, dec x 6 (12)
Dec x 6 (6)

Turn over the tail and attach the yarn on the tail with a dc and crochet 30 dc on the last half of the tail.

You start the second round by rotating the hook and inserting it from the front in the first stitch - exactly the same way as before, in order to crochet round.

Crochet 8 rounds of 30 dc.