Carl the Alpaca Free Crochet Pattern

Carl the Alpaca is an adorable Christmas-themed amigurumi perfect for holiday home decor or as a stocking stuffer. He’s quick an easy to make, with his body all in one piece and a few fun accessories that you can customize to your liking. You can make this amigurumi over a weekend, perfect as a last minute gift!

Carl the Alpaca—an amigurumi alpaca in a Santa outfit—is my newest Christmas-themed free crochet pattern!

Read on to learn more about my design process and inspiration, or scroll to the end to get the free pattern. If you’re in a hurry and need to take this pattern offline, grab the beautifully formatted, ad-free, PDF pattern from Etsy here.

The easiest, chubbiest, alpaca!

Since becoming more immersed in the fiber arts community online, I noticed that alpacas were a very popular animal! I had never considered alpacas or llamas to be particularly cute before, but after seeing so many iterations of these chubby creatures I was swayed and decided that I had to make my own.

My design is an alpaca sitting up, with a chubby body and stubby arms and legs. Since alpacas have famously long necks, I decided to go with a bowling pin shaped body, with the head and body all made in one piece (minimal sewing, hooray!). All of his extra features are quick to make and add an extra cuteness factor.

Fun fact: Carl’s name is inspired by the popular video series Llamas Wearing Hats, since he’s an alpaca…wearing a hat!

Other amigurumi beginner tutorials:

Cute accessories for the holiday season

Since the holiday season is coming up, I decided that I would be remiss if I didn’t at least give Carl a minimalistic Santa outfit. His tiny Santa hat is complete with a pompom which can either be crocheted or just made with yarn, though I love the sleek and neat effect that the crocheted version makes!

Additionally, Carl has a mini scarf to keep his neck warm, which I chose to be in a matching color to his dark red hat. These Christmas themed accessories are great if you want to make Carl as home decor or a Christmas ornament, but you could also change up the colors to make him an all year round plushie!

More blog posts for amigurumi beginners:

The Pattern

  • If you want to take this pattern offline, grab the beautifully formatted, ad-free, PDF pattern from Etsy here!
  • Pin this pattern to your Pinterest boards here:

Description

Carl the Alpaca is an adorable Christmas-themed amigurumi perfect for holiday home decor or as a stocking stuffer. He’s quick an easy to make, with his body all in one piece and a few fun accessories that you can customize to your liking. You can make this amigurumi over a weekend, perfect as a last minute gift!

Yarn

  • Wool and the Gang
    • <1 skein of Beige Blonde (light brown) (sport weight)
  • Hobbii Tivoli
    • <1 skein of Green (sport weight)
    • <1 skein of White (sport weight)
    • <1 skein of Red (sport weight)

Notions

Abbreviations (US)

  • MR: Magic ring
  • Sc: Single crochet
  • Ch: Chain
  • Sl st: Slip stitch
  • Yo: Yarn over
  • Hdc: Half double crochet
  • Dc: Double crochet
  • Inc: Increase
  • Dec: Decrease
  • Sts: Stitches
  • FO: Fasten off
  • (…) x: repeat stitches within parentheses x times
  • Sk: skip one stitch
  • FSC: foundation single crochet (tutorial here)

Technical Notes

  • Crochet in continuous rounds unless otherwise specified
  • When filling with polyester stuffing, pull apart each large chunk into many smaller chunks. This ensures an even distribution of firmness.
  • To avoid large holes in the crochet fabric, increase tension until the holes cannot be seen, or choose a crochet hook a size down.
  • Stuff the head and the body firmly at the openings so that the neck is stable upon completion.

Final Size

6″ x 3″

Body (beige sport weight yarn)

  • Round 1 sc6 in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3 (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
  • Round 4 (sc2, inc) x6 (24 sts)
  • Round 5 (sc3, inc) x6 (30 sts)
  • Round 6 (sc4, inc) x6 (36 sts)
  • Round 7 (sc5, inc) x6 (42 sts)
  • Round 8 (sc6, inc) x6 (48 sts)
  • Round 9 (sc7, inc) x6 (54 sts)
  • Round 10-19 (10 rnds) sc all around (54 sts)
  • Round 20 (sc7, dec) x6 (48 sts)
  • Round 21 (sc6, dec) x6 (42 sts)
  • Round 22 (sc5, dec) x6 (36 sts)
  • Round 23-25 (3 rnds) sc all around (36 sts)
  • Round 26 (sc4, dec) (30 sts)
  • Round 27-29 (3 rnds) sc all around (30 sts)
  • Round 30 (sc3, dec) (24 sts)
  • Round 31 (sc2, dec) (18 sts)
  • Round 32 sc all around (18 sts)
  • Round 33 (sc2, inc) x6 (24)
  • Round 34 (sc3, inc) x6 (30)
  • Round 35 (sc4, inc) x6 (36)
  • Round 36 (sc5, inc) x6 (42)
  • Round 37-44 (8 rnds) sc all around (42)
  • Insert 5.0mm safety eyes between rounds 39 and 40, 5 stitches apart.
  • Round 45 (sc5, dec) x6 (36 sts)
  • Round 46 (sc4, dec) x6 (30 sts)
  • Round 47 (sc3, dec) x6 (24 sts)
  • Begin stuffing.
  • Round 48 (sc2, dec) x6 (18 sts)
  • Round 49 (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)
  • Finish stuffing.
  • Round 50 dec x6 (6 sts)
  • Finish off.

Muzzle (in white sport weight yarn)

  • Begin chain 5, and sc8 all around beginning in the second chain from the hook. For more information on how to crochet around a foundation chain, click here. (8 sts)
  • Round 1 inc x8 (16 sts)
  • Round 2-3 (2 rnds) sc all around (16 sts)
  • Invisible finish off. Stuff lightly.

Ears (in white sport weight yarn)

  • Round 1 sc4 in MR (4 sts)
  • Round 2 (sc, inc) x2 (6 sts)
  • Round 3 (sc2, inc) x2 (8 sts)
  • Round 4 (sc3, inc) x2 (10 sts)
  • Fold ears in half and sew across. Finish off, leaving a short tail for sewing. Make another identically.

Arms (in white sport weight yarn, then switch to beige sport weight yarn)

  • Round 1 sc6 in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3-5 (3 rnds) sc all around (12 sts)
  • Switch to beige yarn.
  • Round 6-11 (6 rnds) sc all around (12 sts)
  • Do not stuff, and fold the back flat. Finish off and sew the opening flat across, leaving a short tail for sewing. Make another identically.

Legs (in white sport weight yarn)

  • Round 1 sc6 in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3 (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
  • Round 4-9 (6 rnds) sc all around (18 sts)
  • Stuff lightly, and invisible finish off, sewing flat across the opening, leaving a short tail for sewing. Make another identically.

Scarf (in green sport weight yarn, in turned rows)

  • Begin FSC 4, chain and turn (4 sts)
  • Row 1-46 (47 rows) FLO, hdc4, chain and turn (4 sts)
  • Invisible finish off.

Santa Hat (in red sport weight yarn, then change to white. Worked in joined rounds)

  • Round 1 sc6 in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2 (sc2, inc) x2 (8 sts)
  • Round 3 (sc3, inc) x2 (10 sts)
  • Round 4 (sc4, inc) x2 (12 sts)
  • Round 5 (sc5, inc) x2 (14 sts)
  • Round 6 (sc6, inc) x2 (16 sts)
  • Round 7 (sc7, inc) x2 (18 sts)
  • Round 8 (sc8, inc) x2 (20 sts)
  • Switch to white yarn.
  • Round 9 (sc9, inc) x2 (22 sts)
  • Round 10 (sc10, inc) x2 (24 sts)
  • Invisible finish off, leaving a short tail for sewing. Stuff lightly.

Hat Pompom (in white sport weight yarn)

  • Round 1 sc6 in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3-4 sc all around (12 sts) Stuff.
  • Round 5 dec x6 (6 sts)
  • Finish off, and sew to the top of the Santa hat.

Assembly

  1. Embroider a nose on the muzzle with three stitches of black embroidery thread. Then, sew the muzzle on the head between rounds 11 and 15 (counting from the top of the head).
  2. Attach 5.0mm safety eyes between rounds 11 and 12, 5 stitches apart (counting from the top of the head).
  3. Sew the ears to the head to the left and right of the top of the head, between rounds 6 and 8 (counting from the top).
  4. Sew the hat directly on top of the head.
  5. Sew the arms to the right and left of the body, with the closed seam located between rounds 24 and 28 (counting from the bottom).
  6. Sew the legs to the left and right of the body, between rounds 8 and 13 (counting from the bottom).

I hope you enjoyed making Carl the Alpaca! If you run into any problems feel free to ask me a question in the comments section below or through email at littleworldofwhimsy@gmail.com.

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