Jumbo Narwhal Free Crochet Pattern

My Jumbo Narwhal pattern is my newest jumbo 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 no-sew, beginner friendly jumbo velvet pattern you’ve been waiting for!

Jumbo velvet amigurumi patterns have been insanely popular recently, but they can be fairly tricky for beginners who have never worked with velvet before.

This giant narwhal is both extremely huggable and almost entirely no-sew, which is a huge win!

If you’re just getting started with jumbo velvet yarn, this is the perfect pattern to practice some single crochets while still ending up with a super cute result.

The only piece that needs to be attached is the horn, which you could even leave off if you’re feeling intimidated.

This narwhal was designed with beginners in mind and I’ve got tons of step by step photos and charts for you to be able to effortlessly crochet the fins and tail.

Scroll down for my top tips on working with velvet!

Tips for working with velvet yarn!

If you’ve never worked with jumbo velvet yarn before, here are a few tips to get you going on your way. Generally, velvet yarn isn’t too big a step up from regular cotton or acrylic yarn, so it’s a good first “novelty” yarn for novices to try.

  • Velvet yarn, especially jumbo velvet yarn, sheds very easily when frogged. Because velvet/chenille yarn generally is made up of a lot of tiny bristles stuck onto a central string, if you frog it, the friction can easily lead to a lot of shedding and stray yarn pieces. The best solution to this is to try to avoid frogging, and also working in a place that can be easily cleaned.
  • Patterns designed for jumbo velvet yarn cannot be easily sized down to worsted weight yarn. This means that if you use worsted weight yarn for this pattern, your result may be different and it might not turn out well. For more information on this, check out my blog post on when and how to resize amigurumi!
  • If your jumbo narwhal fabric is too loose and you can see the stuffing poking through, size down your crochet hook so that it’s tighter. If it’s too tight and the crochet stitches are warping or too stiff, size up your crochet hook to get that perfect balance.

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The Pattern

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

Description

This cute and cuddly narwhal pattern is a breeze to work up and is super cute! It’s almost completely no- sew except for the narwhal horn. You can make this pattern with jumbo velvet yarn for a giant narwhal or you can downsize it with worsted weight yarn. This pattern is accessible to beginners, and velvet is a lot easier to work with than most fluffy yarns.

Yarn

Confused about materials? For all my personal recommendations of my most-used tools, yarns, and supplies, check out my favorites in this complete guide!

  • Sweet Snuggles Yarn by Loops and Threads (jumbo)
    • (1/2 skein) Coral
    • (scrap) White

Notions

  • 5.0 mm Clover Amour hook
  • 10.0mm safety eyes
  • fiberfill stuffing
  • tapestry needle
  • stitch markers
  • scissors

Abbreviations

  • BLO: back loop only
  • ch: chain
  • CC: contrast color
  • dec: decrease
  • hdc: half double crochet
  • inc: increase (work two single crochets in one stitch)
  • MC: main color
  • MR: magic ring
  • rnd: round
  • RS: right side
  • sc: single crochet
  • sk: skip
  • x sc: work x number of single crochets
  • sl st: slip stitch
  • st(s): stitch(es)
  • WS: wrong side
  • (x sts): total number of stitches for the round
  • (…) x: work all steps within parentheses x number of times

Technical Notes

  1. Crochet in continuous spiral rounds, unless specified otherwise. Use a stitch marker or piece of yarn to keep track of the last stitch in each round.
  1. When filling with polyester stuffing, pull apart each large chunk into many smaller chunks. This ensures an even distribution of firmness within the amigurumi.
  2. To avoid large holes in the crochet fabric, increase tension until the holes cannot be seen, or choose a crochet hook a size down.
  3. When working with velvet yarn, feel for the stitches with your fingers if you have trouble seeing them. Using your left hand to feel for each small gap in the stitch.
  4. Try to avoid frogging velvet yarn since it sheds easily, and close the magic ring in the beginning as soon as possible, gently but firmly. Attempting to close it later on may result in breaking the yarn.

Color Coding

For this pattern, the MC is peach, and CC1 is white.

Special Stitches

  • How to embroider a nose: see this tutorial

Final Size

Approx. 10″ x 6″ (excluding horn)

BODY (in MC)

  • Round 1: 8 sc in MR (8 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x8 (16 sts)
  • Round 3: (sc, inc) x8 (24 sts)
  • Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x8 (32 sts)
  • Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x8 (40 sts)
  • Round 6-7 (2 rnds): sc around (40 sts) Round 8: (7 sc, inc) x5 (45 sts)
  • Round 9-12 (4 rnds): sc around (45 sts)
  • Round 13: (3 sc, dec) x2.

Create first flipper: chain 4 off the side of the narwhal, and beginning from the second chain from the hook, sc, 2 hdc, then continue working on the round (see fig. 1 and 2). The flipper does not take up a whole stitch, and merely occupies the space between the last decrease and the beginning of the first single crochet in the next step.

Continue working in the round: (3 sc, dec) x3.

Create the tail: chain 4 off the side of the narwhal, and beginning from the second chain from the hook, 3 sc back. Then, chain 4 off the side, and sc 3 back, then continue working on the round (See fig. 3 and 4). Continue working in the round: (3 sc, dec) x3.

Create second flipper identically to the first one: chain 4 off the side of the narwhal, and beginning from the second chain from the hook, sc, 2 hdc, then continue working on the round.

Continue working in the round: 3 sc, dec. (36 sts total in round 13) Switch to CC1. Insert 10.0mm safety eyes between rounds 10 and 11, 9 stitches apart. Center the eyes between the two flippers.

  • Round 14: BLO, (2 sc, dec) x9 (27 sts)
  • Round 15: (sc, dec) x9 (18 sts)
  • Stuff.
  • Round 16: dec x9 (9 sts)
  • Round 17: dec x4, sc (5 sts)

Finish off, leaving a tail. Using a tapestry needle, thread needle through each of the last five stitches and pull tight to close the hole. Then insert needle through center of the last round and push it out anywhere else in the narwhal, then cut the end to hide it.

HORN (in CC1)

  • Round 1: 4 sc in MR (4 sts)
  • Round 2: (sc, inc) x2 (6 sts)
  • Round 3: (2 sc, inc) x2 (8 sts)
  • Round 4: sc around (8 sts)

Gently stuff. Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Sew to the whale between rounds 3-5 (counting from the top), directly between the eyes.

Your Jumbo Narwhal is all done! I hope you enjoyed crocheting it and found the pattern helpful. I would love to see your finished amigurumi, so share a picture on Instagram with me by using the #littleworldofwhimsy and tagging me @littleworldofwhimsy.