The final pat­tern in our 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures (and Their Favourite Things) project!

Bad­ger’s favourite thing might be mush­rooms! Accord­ing to this (ridicu­lous and kind of hilar­i­ous) video.

I googled “bad­ger” and quick­ly learned that it’s got grey fur. But I’ve always imag­ined it hav­ing brown or tan colour fur. Maybe I’ve been con­fus­ing it with gophers :S But any­way, this is why my bad­ger is tan-coloured. Strange­ly, it does­n’t look right to me in grey. But of course you can make yours in grey or any oth­er colour you like :)

Bad­ger has a chub­bier body than the fox and the opos­sum (so I have been told by Wikipedia). It also has a tail made of loop stitch but less fluffy and short­er than the fox’s.

I used:

Worsted weight yarn in white, tan and grey (for nose)

3.5 mm hook

Small beads for eyes

Nee­dle and thread for sewing

Pat­tern:

Head

Head is worked in rounds and also back and forth, i.e. turn at the end of each round, so that the stripe pat­tern on the bad­ger’s face does­n’t start to slant.

*IMPORTANT*

*To switch colours in an sc row: in the stitch before colour change, insert hook and draw up a loop, then drop the cur­rent colour of yarn you’re using, attach or pick up the new colour of yarn, yo and pull through both loops on hook to com­plete the sc, then make the next stitch in the new colour.

*When switch­ing colours on the wrong side (WS), move the strand of yarn cur­rent­ly in use to the front of the work (the side fac­ing you) before mak­ing the next stitch with the new colour.

*Car­ry the strand of colour not in use with you as you cro­chet the front of the head, wrap­ping the strand not in use in the stitch­es you make, but drop the strand of tan colour yarn when you cro­chet the back of the head in white.

Round 1 (right side): with white, ch 2, 4 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 2 (wrong side): ch 1 (does not count as a stitch), 2 sc in each sc around, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 3 (RS): ch 1, sc in first sc, attach tan yarn, sc in next sc with tan, sc in same sc with white, sc in next sc with white, sc in next sc with tan, sc in same sc with white, *sc in next sc with white, 2 sc in next sc with white*, repeat from * to * once more, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 4 (WS): con­tin­u­ing with white, ch 1, sc in first sc, sc in next sc with tan, sc in next 2 sc with white, sc in next sc with tan, sc in each sc with white till end of round, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 5 (RS): ch 1, sc in first sc with white, 2 sc in next sc with tan, sc in next 2 sc with white, 2 sc in next sc with tan, sc in each sc with white until end of round, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 6 (WS): ch 1, sc in first sc with white, sc in next 2 sc with tan, sc in next 2 sc with white, sc in next 2 sc with tan, sc in each sc with white until end of round, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 7 (ears): press head flat with work­ing loop in the right top cor­ner of head. Cro­chet­ing through both front and back lay­ers of head, ch 1, sc in next sc with white, switch to tan, ch 1, dc in next sc, ch 1, sl st in same st as last dc just made, sl st in next sc, switch to white, sl st in next 2 sc, switch to tan, sl st in next 2 sc, ch 1, dc in same st as last sl st just made, ch 1, fas­ten off tan, switch to white, sc in last sc, sl st in same sc, fas­ten off, weave in ends.

Body

Round 1: with tan, 6 sc in mag­ic ring, do not join.

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around, do not join (12 sc).

Round 3: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc*, repeat from * to * around, do not join (18 sc).

Con­tin­ue with 1 sc in each sc around until piece is 3/4″ tall.

Decrease round: *sc in next sc, 2‑sc-tog over next 2 sc*, repeat from * to * around, do not join (12 sc).

Con­tin­ue with 1 sc in each sc around for 2 more rounds of 12 sc in each round.

Last round: *2‑sc-tog over next 2 sc* 6 times. Leav­ing a tail for sewing, fas­ten off.

Tail

Row 1: with tan and leav­ing a tail for sewing, ch 3, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next ch, turn.

Row 2: ch 1 (does not count as a st), 2 loop stitch­es (lp st) in first sc, lp st in next sc, turn.

Row 3: ch 1, lp st in each st across, turn.

Row 4: ch 1, lp st in first st, skip next st, sp st in last st, turn.

Row 5: ch 1, lp st in each st across, fas­ten off, weave in end.

Assem­bly:

Sew on eyes and embroi­der nose. *Tip: when sewing on eyes, insert sewing nee­dle and tie off thread in the bot­tom part of the head where it will be cov­ered by the neck part of the body when attach­ing the head and body together.

Sew head on body, sew tail on body. Weave in ends.

 

The bad­ger is feel­ing very hon­oured to con­clude our 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures (and Their Favourite Things) project :D

Thanks so much for jour­ney­ing along, every­one! I think I will make a pho­to col­lage of all the crea­tures and things in this project, and will post a call for pho­tos so there can be a pho­to col­lage of your cre­ations as well. Stay tuned! Have a great start to the week!