I’ve been trying out some ideas lately, because I desperately wanted to design a crochet doll. Actually, I wanted to do a doll version of Ranja, the Robber’s daughter and I really worked out a prototype. But then, however, I was not happy with her head and suddenly I was sitting in the middle of a bunch of crochet heads, each one worked with a slightly different pattern. Some of them were really quite good and so I did not want to undo them again. In the end, without really knowing how, I had created a merman. I was not unhappy about how he turned out, but still there was something about his chin I did not quite like. I then stumbled upon the wonderful crochet blog by Hook, by Hand, where I found a wonderful solution. Beth, who is writing this blog always tries to work heads and bodys of crochet dolls seperately and then put the head onto the body in the end as you can see here. Doing this your doll gets a wonderful chin-line. So I went on perfectioning my pattern with this feature and now I proudly present my elegant little merlady to you. I hope you have fun crocheting!
Mermaid Pattern
You need:
Cotton yarn in skin colour of your choice and a hook which is slightly too small for your yarn (I used Drops Safran and a 1.5 hook)
Cotton-stretch-yarn in similar weight and colour
Cotton yarn in a fun colour of your choice and similar weight (I used Schachenmayr Catania in purple)
Crochet yarn in a light colour matching the one you chose for the tail (I used a multicoloure yarn in yellow, purple and rose)
Black crochet yarn for the hair
Crochet hook which is a little smaller than your first one (I used 1.0)
A little bit of red or rose yarn for the mouth
Soft stuffung
Safety eyes size 4mm
Abbreviations:
dc =double crochet
dec = decrease
sc = single crochet
sl = sling stitch
tc = treble crochet
inc = increase
Head
1. R: 6 sc into magic ring
2. R: 6 inc (12 sc)
3. R: [sc, inc] 6x (18 sc)
4. R: [2 sc, inc] 6x (24 sc)
5. R: [3 sc, inc] 6x (30 sc)
6. R: [4 sc, inc] 6x (36 sc)
7. R: [5 sc, inc] 6x (42 sc)
8. – 12. R: 42 sc
13. R: 6 sc, 2 dec, 3 sc, 2 dec, 25 sc (38 sc)
14. R: 5 sc, 3 inc, sc, 3 sc into next stitch, sc, 3 inc, 7 sc, dec, 10 sc, dec, 3 sc (44 sc)
15. R: 13 sc, 3 sc into next stitch, 16 sc, dec, 8 sc, dec, 2 sc (44 sc)
16. R: 13 sc, dec, 17 sc, dec, 6 sc, dec, 2 sc (41 sc)
17. R: 12 sc, dec, sc, dec, 14 sc, dec, 4 sc, dec, 2 sc (37 sc)
18. R: 29 sc, dec, 2 sc, dec, 2 sc (35 sc)
19. R: 4 sc, dec, 4 sc, 3 dec, 4 sc, dec, 7 sc, dec, sc, dec, sc (28 sc)
20. R: 4 sc, dec, 2 sc, 3 dec, 2 sc, dec, 7 sc, dec, sc (22 sc)
21. R: 4 sc, 5 dec, 6 sc, dec (16 sc)
Insert safety eyes between R 13 and 14. Stuff. From now on work with cotton-stretch-yarn:
22. – 24. R: 16 sc
25. R: [7 sc, inc] 2x (18 sc)
26. R: 18 sc
27. R: [sc, dec] 6x (12 sc)
28. R: 6 dec (6 sc)
Cut yarn and sew up the ends. Push the cotton-stretch-part into the head (I am using the end of my crochet hook to do that):
Ears
1. R: Crochet 4 sc to the head starting in R 15 on each side of the head
2. R: 4 sl
3. R: sc, hdc, 2 dc into next stitch, ch, [tc, ch, tc, ch, tc] into last stitch
Cut yarn and sew up the end
Body
1. R: 6 Sc into magic circle
2. R: 6 inc (12 sc)
3. – 5. R: 12 sc
6. R: [4 sc, dec] 2 x (10sc)
7. – 9. R: 10 sc
10. R: 10 inc (20 sc)
11. R: [sc, inc] 10x (30 sc)
12. R: [inc, 14 sc] 2x (32 sc)
Work arms and body seperately hereafter
Arms
1. R: Work 13 sc as follows: 4 sc, 5 ch & skip 23 sc, 4 sc
2. R: 13 sc
3. R: [2 sc, dec] 3x, sc (10 sc)
4. R: 10 sc
5. R: 10 sc
6. R: 10 sc
7. R: dec, 8 sc (9 sc)
8. R: 9 sc
9. R: 9 sc
10. R: 9 sc
11. R: dec, 7 sc (8 sc)
12. R: 8 sc
13. R: 8 sc
14. R: [2 sc, dec] 2x (6 sc)
15. R: 6 sc
Stuff arm from the shoulder downwards and pull stuffing through to the wrist
16. R: [sc, inc] 3x (9 sc)
17. R: Do a popcorn-stitch with [hdc, dc, hdc] into the stitch pointing to the front, apart from that sc around (9)
18. R: 9 sc
19. R: 9 sc
20. R: 4 dec
Start second arm on the opposite side and work it in the same way
Body
Start anew on the backside directly behind the arm
1. R: 26 sc
2. R: 14 sc, 2 inc, 2 sc, 2 dec, 6 sc (30 sc)
In purple (or any other colour you chose for the tail:
3. R: 30 sc
4. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (28 sc)
6. R: 24 sc
7. R: 24 sc
8. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (22 sc)
9. R: 22 sc
10. dec on each side, apart from that sc around (20 sc)
11. R: 20 sc
Stuff
12. R: 2 inc on each side, apart from that sc around (24 sc)
13. – 17. R: 24 sc
18. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (22 sc)
19. R: 22 sc
20. R: 22 sc
21. R: 22 sc
22. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (20 sc)
23. R: 20 sc
24. R: 20 sc
25. R: 20 sc
26. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (18 sc)
27. R: 18 sc
28. R: 18 sc
29. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (16 sc)
30. R: 16 sc
Stuff
31. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (14 sc)
32. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (12 sc)
33. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (10 sc)
34. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (8 sc)
Stuff
35. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (6 sc)
36. R: dec on each side, apart from that sc around (4 sc)
Cut yarn and sew up the end
Tailfins
Left
2. – 7. R: ch, 8 sc (9)
9. R: sk (no ch), 7 sc
12. R: crochet 4 sc together
sc arount the tailfin with [sc, 2 ch, sc] into the stitch forming the peak
Right
2. – 7. R: ch, 8 sc
8. R: sk (no ch), 8 sc
9. R: ch, 5 sc, dec (6)
10. R: sk (no ch), 4 sc, dec (5)
11. R: ch, 3 sc, dec (4)
12. R: sk (no ch), crochet 3 sc together
sc arount the tailfin with [sc, 2 ch, sc] into the stitch forming the peak
Webs under the arms
1. R: crochet 3 ch into the armpit and fasten them with a sl to the arm, 2 dc into the first ch, sl to the upper body:
2. R: 2 sl along the upper body, 2 inc, sl to the arm
3. R: 2 sl along the arm, 4 inc, sl to the upper body
4. R: 2 sl along the upper body, inc, [sc, inc] 3x, dc, sl to the arm
5. R: 2 sl along the arm, inc, [2 sc, inc] 3x, dc, sl to the arm
6. R: 2 sl along the upper body, inc, [3 sc, inc] 3x, dc, sl to the arm
7. R: 2 sl along the arm, five sc into next stitch, 2 sk 3, sl until you meet the upper body
Cut yarn and sew up the end
Hair
In black
1. R: 7 hdc into magic ring
2. R: 7 inc (14 hdc)
3. R: [hdc, inc] 7x (21 hdc)
4. R: [2 hdc, inc] 7x (28 hdc)
5. R: [3 hdc, inc] 7x (35 hdc)
6. R: [4 hdc, inc] 7x (42 hdc)
7. R: [5 hdc, inc] 7x (48 hdc)
8. – 11. R: 48 hdc
12. R: 46 hdc, sc, sl
13. R: sl, sc, hdc, 42 dc, hdc, sc, sl (48)
Cut yarn and sew up the ends. Pull left side out, put it onto the head and sew it together.
Have fun!
You may sell any product made with the help of this pattern, but please don’t copy and share it. You may of course link it to your blog or social media. When selling products you made from it or linking it, please name this blog as source. Apart from that, I will be more than happy to see your results on my facebook-page,or if you tag me (@Flausch_Einhorn) on Twitter or Instagram.