After creating Fluffle the Bear last year, I was so excited at the amazing reception that she had. Faux fur yarn is an incredible way to make stuffed animals that don’t look crocheted at all, and are so fluffy!
Secret the Fluffy Cat Free Crochet Pattern
Secret the fluffy cat — an amigurumi cat made with faux fur yarn — is my newest 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.
Another faux fur pattern!
After creating Fluffle the Bear last year, I was so excited at the amazing reception that she had. Faux fur yarn is an incredible way to make stuffed animals that don’t look crocheted at all, and are so fluffy!
Although faux fur yarn can be intimidating to work with, it’s 100% doable for advanced beginners who already have some experience making amigurumi. The best tip I can give is to feel for the stitches rather than looking for them. This means using your fingertips to pinch the crochet fabric in the round you’re working into and looking for gaps — each gap is the space inside a stitch. This will help you find where to insert your hook.
Apart from this strategy, I also recommend using stitch markers liberally and much more frequently that you would otherwise. Place stitch markers every six stitches, or even every three stitches. This way, you know that you should have a certain number of stitches between them, and even if you can’t feel all of them then you will still know how many stitches to account for.
Lastly, don’t sweat the small stuff! The best part about faux fur yarn is that you can’t see the stitches, which means you also can’t see the mistakes. As long as the head is vaguely spherical and the body and roughly cylindrical, you’re totally fine. I believe in you!
My Inspiration and Design Process
After I created Fluffle the Bear last year, my sister wanted me to make a miniature version of her super fluffy Siberian cat, Secret (purrfessional meowdel on Instagram here!).
Secret is a longhair cat with smoke colored fur, so I chose gray Go For Faux yarn to create her. The amigurumi I designed is standing on four legs, but she can also sit on her hind legs or lie down, just like the real cat!
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
Secret the Cat is a fluffy, adorable feline who can sit or stand. With an extra long tail and chubby head, she’ll be sure to win you over. Secret is made with fluffy faux fur yarn which can be difficult to work with at first, so having prior experience with fluffy yarn is recommended.
Yarn
- Lion Brand Go For Faux (super bulky)
- (2 skeins) Husky
Notions
- Size M (9.0 mm) Clover Amour crochet hook
- 10.0 mm safety eyes
- tapestry needle
- polyester fiberfill
- stitch markers
- pink embroidery thread
Abbreviations (US)
- ch: chain
- dec: decrease (single crochet two stitches together)
- inc: increase (two single crochets in one stitch)
- MR: magic circle
- rnd: round
- sc: single crochet
- st(s): stitch(es)
- x sc: single crochet x number of times
- (x sts): x total stitches at the end of the round or row
Technical Notes
- 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.
- Use stitch markers abundantly to help you keep track of stitches as you go, since it’s very difficult to count them.
- For all the difficulties that fluffy yarn comes with, it also comes with this major plus. That is, since you can’t see the stitches, no one can see your mistakes! If you end up having trouble counting exactly how many stitches there were so far, or you know you’re off by one but can’t tell where you went wrong, don’t worry. It happens to me, and as long as you make sure you’re in the right ballpark and approximately on track with the increases, then you should be fine.
Amigurumi Basics Tutorials for Beginners
- How to thread a needle quickly
- How to make a magic circle
- How to work single crochets in a magic circle
- How to tell the right side and wrong side of amigurumi
- X stitch vs. V stitch
- I use the X stitch for all my amigurumi, which only results in a slight visual variation. You can use either stitch without any repercussions and you can follow the pattern exactly no matter which you choose.
- How to stuff amigurumi
- How to finish off amigurumi in the round
- Two ways to embroider amigurumi noses
- How to finish off in the round
- How to attach yarn and pick up stitches in the round
- How to make a slip knot
Final Size
7.5″ x 6″ (not including tail)
HEAD
- Round 1 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
- Round 3 (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
- Round 4 (2 sc, inc) x6 (24 sts)
- Round 5-8 (4 rnds) sc around (24 sts)
- Insert 10mm safety eyes between rounds 6 and 7, about 2 inches apart (or 5 stitches).
- Round 9 (2 sc, dec) x6 (18 sts)
- Round 10 (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)
- Stuff.
- Round 11 dec x6 (6 sts)
- Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing.
BODY
- Round 1 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
- Round 3-7 (5 rnds) sc around (12 sts)
- Stuff.
- Round 8 dec x6 (6 sts)
- Finish off, and weave in end. Sew the head to the top of the body.
FRONT LEGS
Round 1 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
Round 3 sc around (12 sts)
Round 4 dec x6 (6 sts)
Stuff lightly.
Round 5-6 (2 rnds) sc around (6 sts)
Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Make another leg identically. Sew the front legs to the seam between the head and the body, right next to each other.
BACK LEGS
- Round 1 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- Round 2 inc x6 (12 sts)
- Round 3 sc around (12 sts)
- Round 4 dec x6 (6 sts)
- Stuff lightly.
- Round 5 sc around (6 sts)
- Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Make another leg identically. Note that the only difference between the back legs and the front legs is that the back legs are are little shorter. Sew the back legs to the left and right of the bottom of the body.
EARS
- 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)
- Do not stuff. Fold in half and sew across the opening. Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Make another identically. Sew to the top of the head, at an angle to the left and right.
TAIL
- Row 1 chain 21, turn (20 sts)
- Row 2 20 sc (20 sts)
- Slip stitch to the bottom of the body, finish off, and weave in ends.
ASSEMBLY
Using pink embroidery thread, embroider a triangle nose directly between the eyes.
I hope you enjoyed making Secret the Fluffy Cat! 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.
This was a unique experience. I had some Lion Brand, Go For Faux, quick and thick left over from a different project. 7 Jumbo on the thickness scale. I learned that crochet by Braille is a thing! This stuff was so fuzzy there was NO seeing stitches. Only way I had any idea where I was in the pattern was by feeling the stitches from the previous rounds. It did go pretty quick once I got the hang of feeling my stitches(I did use a smaller hook than was listed in the pattern, sooo…) Unless you have jumbo stitch markers, use a contrasting piece of *heavy* yarn laid between your stitches as a marker, otherwise you’ll lose them in all that fuzz. I used 15mm eyes and kinda wish I’d gone larger as they tend to get lost in the fur. Also, because this is rather thick, extra long shanks on the eyes would be helpful.
Hi Sarah, thanks so much for commenting and sharing your experience! Yes, feeling for stitches is a real thing and it sounds like you did a great job of conquering the faux fur! Thanks for the helpful tips for other makers and I hope you enjoyed <3