make a young kraken!

 

Happy birthday to Mike! :D

The young kraken was one of Mike’s birthday presents this year. I thought I would share the pattern, spread the joy! :D

 

I used:

a bit of grey worsted weight yarn

3.5mm and 3 mm hooks

stuffing

beads for eyes

needle and thread to sew on eyes

 

Note: Young kraken is crocheted in continuous rounds, not joining in the beginning of rounds. You can place a marker in the beginning of the rounds. I just eyeball it. I figure young kraken can’t tell that I’m not exact. And even if he can, he won’t mind, because he has bigger things to think about. Anyway. The instructions are listed in steps, not in rounds. It’s kind of free-formed, checking its shape and size as we go. The measurements in the pattern are suggestions, certainly make modifications as you see fit. If you need any clarification please feel free to send me a message :D

inc. (increase) = crochet 2 sc in 1 st

dec. (decrease) = crochet 1 sc over 2 st

 

1. Using 3.5 mm hook, 6 sc in magic ring

2. 1 sc in each sc for 2 continuous rounds

3. inc. in every 3rd st until piece measures approx. 0.75 inch

4. 1 sc in each sc in continuous rounds until piece measures approx. 1.25 inches

5. inc. in every 5th st until piece measures approx. 1.75 inches

6. 1 sc in each sc in continuous rounds until piece measures approx. 2.25 inches

7. *dec., 1 sc*, repeat from * to * for 1 round

8.  dec. in each sc until there are 8 st left in the opening

9. sc in each sc 8 times

10. stuff, but don’t fasten off 

11. Now we make the tentacles. Continuing from step 9, ch 20, sc in 2nd st from hook, sc in each ch, sc in next st in the opening.

Repeat step 11 seven more times. I varied the length of the tentacles from 20–25 ch. 

After the last tentacle is made, sl st into the opening, fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Using tail, weave in stitches to close the opening. Pull so the stuffing won’t come out, but not too tight. Fasten off, weave in ends.

12. Now we make the fins. The first fin is crocheted vertically down the rounds (see photo below).

Using 3mm hook, attach yarn at the 2nd round from the top. ch 1, sc in each of the next 3 st, hdc in each of next 2 st, dc in next st, dc and hdc in next st, sl st in next st, fasten off.

Now, the other fin. Attach yarn at the opposite side of the bottom of the first fin, and crocheting up the rounds, like so…

ch 1, hdc and dc in next st, dc in next st, hdc in each of the next 2 st, sc in each of the next 3 st, sl st in next st, fasten off. Weave in ends.

And we’re done the crocheting part :D

For the eyes I found 2 saucer-shaped ruby red faceted beads that I thought would be perfect for a young but fierce kraken. To make it extra special (because it’s Mike’s birthday), I made two rings with wire to kind of set the eyes (jump rings would work perfectly, I just didn’t have the right size at the moment) I sewed both on with thread.

 

Young kraken, lurking in the deep sea…

 

I’m quite proud of it, I must say :D

 

He now sits regally on Mike’s desk, staring at me as I type this…

 Cheers! :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

66 thoughts on “make a young kraken!

  1. Well done! I love the little kraken! I know he wants to be fierce, but he’s just SOOOOOOO cute that I want to pat his little head! I’d “boop” his nose if he had one .…

  2. Absolutely marvelous! I will have to try this lovely fellow! Thanks for sharing!!

  3. I’m making this for my best friend who loves squid… I love it and I’m sure she will, but just curious how you curled the tentacles?

  4. Can you please say how many rows because I don’t understand .75 and stuff like that. Please I would like so much to make one of them krakens.

    THANKS IF YOU WILL.

  5. thank you for visiting! i understand that not everyone crochet the way i do, and the patterns i write may not be easy to read for everyone. the way the kraken was made does not involve counting rows, so i actually don’t know that information. but it sounds like you want some clarifications around the measurements? 

    by 0.75 inch, i meant 3/4 inch, 1.25 inches = one and 1/4 inches, 1.5 = one and 1/2 inches, and so on.

    hope that helps. there are also a few other free squid crochet pattern on Ravelry, and they might be written in different ways.

  6. This is absolutely perfect! I’m making one for a friend, but I think better in rounds, so I’m translating the pattern as I go. Once I’ve finished, I can post it and link back here if you like :)

  7. THIS IS AWESOME!!!! I have so many friends with little ones on the way! This will be PERFECT Thank you so much :) I might have to try it in a few different colours.
    THANK YOU AGAIN

  8. Just finished making one of these as my second ever amigurumi project. I didn’t have any grey that I liked for it, so I used some leftover pink yarn, since it still feels kind of ‘squidish’ to me.
    For a first try he came out pretty well, albeit there are several issues I’ll have to address if I make another one. Mine is a little bit smaller than yours, so I think my measurements were off; also, his head came out sort of wonky shaped. He still looks like a squid and is really cute, I’m just not very practiced when it comes to such small stitches.
    Nonetheless, I love the pattern, it’s absolutely adorable. If I get really good at these I’m thinking of attaching a couple to the tops of beanies, just for laughs. ^.^

  9. Hi, I absolutely love your (or Mike’s!) Kraken — I’ve gotten into making jelly fish recently, and this fella will make a happy addition to the family! Thanks for spreading the love :D Free crochet patterns (especially ones as good as this one) are always hugely appreciated! Thank you :)

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  11. Young kraken will be returning to sea soon! I am preparing a care package for a military friend who is currently at sea and Young kraken will be among the things I will be sending out! He will instill fear in Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Toronto! Or else people will find him so darn cute…

  12. young kraken and i are feeling so honoured that the pattern will be used for a care package! all our best wishes for you and your friend at sea!

  13. I made myself a little kraken and he is so cute! he has fiery orange and black eyes and sits next to me while I crochet. Thanks for sharing such a well written pattern and a really unique little guy!

  14. I love this!!
    After spending a night with a friend watching a doco on giant squids, I set out searching for ideas to crochet one to give him. This was easily the best pattern I found :)
    Thanks heaps!! Love your blog — am in the process of setting one up myself, will be a pic of my little dude made with this pattern and a credit to you :) Thank you again!! <3

  15. Thank you so much for sharing!

    your tutorial really taught me to be more free and freestyle in crochet! it’ awesome!
    i actually googled how to do tentacles cause at first it turned out straight ribbons- ‑and all i had to do is let go! not try to perfect straight stitches and hold on to the beginning of the row.

    so thank you so much, your tutorial gave me MORE then a super cool kraken:)

  16. I made two of these for my grown son who loves krackens. He liked them, of course. Now the hubby needs one. :) Thank you so much for your kindness of sharing this pattern.

  17. This is super awesome! The only suggestion I have is that you might want to include row/round numbers in case people want to make it in a different size or gauge. Other than that this is super rad, great work!

  18. Thank you for this cute pattern, and thank you to Gemma for translating it into rounds. That translation let me make a teeny little kraken using sock yarn. :D

  19. Omg! This is the best ever!!! I’ve made two now to add to my little menagerie, and am in the process of making up some for my nephews. 

    Thanks for sharing this great little guy!!

  20. Hey im new to crochet! I really wanna make this guy but im not sure what step 7 is saying, I understand it’s decreasing but im not sure about the ‘*’ and how many to decrease.

  21. I absolutely love this pattern, and I love the way you wrote it. I do my own in steps rather than rounds, too. Sometimes if I have a repeating round of 25 stitches, I’ll say “then sc 100 around” to make 4 rows… I just wanted to tell you I like your style!!!

  22. so sorry about the delay in reply Brooke! I’ve been out of the country and didn’t have access to my blog account until I came back a few days ago and somehow missed your message! thank you so much for giving the pattern a try. the * means repeating the stitches between the *‘s until the end of the round. for step 7, it means working a decrease stitch then 1 sc, dec., 1 sc, dec., 1 sc… repeatedly until you reach the end of the round. hope that helps! happy crocheting!

  23. Is there any way to put “fuzzy sticks” (aka pipe cleaners) in the tentacles to make them manipulable?

  24. hi Kaylee! thank you for visiting! using pipe cleaners for the tentacles is a great idea, i haven’t tried! i’d imagine you’d need to crochet around the pipe cleaners. would love to hear how it goes if you do give it a try. happy crocheting!

  25. Ot is awsome i am making it for my mom for halloween she is going to love it

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