Uni the Unicorn
It’s happened – PipsRainbow is officially one year old!!! Blimey!!! Can’t quite believe it really!! I remember the idea of PipsRainbow popping into my head on a journey home from a family holiday in Lymington. I’d been crocheting for a good few years, but knew I needed to do something more. I think it was the desire to be able to teach others of this magical activity that was so dear to me. I wanted to share this crazy crochet addiction with anyone I could. The addiction is definitely getting stronger than ever at the moment! I reckon I could crochet in my sleep. Well I definitely think about it in my sleep!!
I feel like I have been on a huge learning curve this year. Starting PipsRainbow last year, has given my life a whole different chapter, that I never thought I would have. It’s a chapter that I seem to squeeze into a busy family life as best I can. I know my husband despairs at me when we get in the car or go anywhere and I will be crocheting in minutes. It’s only ever a real problem when we are starting to get lost!!! Now that’s not so good!!!
Last night I was trying to tot up all my projects this year. I think it stems from super sprouts, to mandalas, blankets, slippers, socks and even octopuses! Not including my Year of the Stitches Blanket CAL. Here’s a few.
There’s definitely a variety isn’t there. Nearly all of their patterns are written up and preciously squirrelled here on PipsRainbow for you to use. Just a few remain to be put from pencil to blog, which I will get around to as soon as I can. This year has definitely been the year of the stitches, with the blanket CAL each week. 52 different stitches with 52 different yarns and colours. Well, so far at week 40, I have managed it. Not long to go. Really enjoyed sharing all these amazing stitches with you! I’ve already started using them in different projects for next year. So many possibilities with them! So exciting!! Don’t forget, if you haven’t already started the blanket, you still can, as it will be snuggled up here waiting for you. I think next year will be socks, shawls and scarves. Well that and a few cheeky munchkins for my little ones to squidge!!!! My daughter requested a sausage dog this morning and I can imagine there might be some dinosaurs on the loose for my boy!
So as a celebration for PipsRainbow’s 1st Birthday, here is one of my all time favourite patterns – Uni the Unicorn. She was designed for my gorgeous girlie and one of her best chums. They both have a serious love for Unicorns. Uni is all soft and squidgy and seriously huggable. She is one of my daughter’s favourites and is snuggled up next to her each night in bed and gets taken out on day trips.
She is made with my all time favourite wool the Sublime Cashmere Merino mix – so it’s extremely soft and cuddly!! Really hope you like the pattern.
Level – Easy
Stitches –
Magic Ring – Fold over the yarn to make the loop. Insert your hook through the loop and grab the working yarn (long piece) and pull through the loop. Hold the tail and the working yarn and pull so that the knot tightens, but you still have a loop. This has created a magic ring.
Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over your hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.
Chain (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.
Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.
Double Crochet Decrease (2dctog) – This is where you crochet two stitches together to decrease the amount of stitches in the round. So insert the hook through the front of the first stitch only (the front V) and then insert again through the front of the second stitch (the front V). Now yarn over your hook and pull it back through both stitches, so you will then have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. And there is your 2dctog. (Basically 2 double crochet stitches crocheted together.)
Supplies –
Right then so this pattern can be made in any weight you like, from 4ply to super chunky. It just depends on how big you would like to make her. My daughter’s is made from double strands of dk, but you could easily use Aran. Or just made in a simple double knit yarn would be lovely.
For a double knit weight unicorn, you will need a 3mm crochet hook. You will need about 100g of the main cream colour and then 50g balls for the beige (the muzzle), light brown (the hooves) then all the colours you would like to use for the mane, tail and unicorn. You will obviously not use all of the 50g ball for all the different colours, it just depends on how long your mane pieces are.
For a double stranded dk or Aran weight Unicorn you will need a 5mm hooks. You will need about 200g – 300g of Aran and about 200g of dk for the double stranded unicorn of the main cream colour. Then once again you need 50g of beige (the muzzle) and light brown (the hooves) For the mane you can either double strand for mane with 2 strands of dk wool or use Aran coloured wool. I just had 50g of each colour and double stranded it using the inner and outer ends of the ball of wool.
And don’t forget you will need some scissors, some black or grey cotton yarn for the eyes and a blunt ended tapestry needle to sew in all your ends.
Ok so here we go …
Head –
For the head start off with your cream yarn and then move onto a beige yarn for the muzzle. If you are making it with double strands, don’t forget you can mix the original cream yarn with a beige yarn if you want to.
1 – Make a magic ring, chain 1 then, dc6 into the ring. Pull the tail tight to create the ring. (6)
2 – *2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)
3 – *1dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (18)
4 – *2dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (24)
5 – *3dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (30)
6 – 10 (5 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (30)
11 – *4dc, then 2dc in each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (36)
12 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (36)
13 – *4dc, then 2dctog*. Work ** 6 times. (30) (See stitch information above if you are unsure of how to work a 2dctog.)
11 – *3dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (24)
12 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (18)
13 – Change colour to a cream in the last dc stitch of the previous round with your beige yarn, then work 1dc into each stitch. (18)
14 – In this round, you need to follow each stitch carefully. So work 2dctog, 2dc in next 5 stitches, dc, 2dctog, dc, 2dc in next 5 stitches, 2dctog. (25)
15 – 1dc in each, then 2dctog in last 2 stitches. (24)
16 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (18)
17 – 18 (2 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (18)
19 – *1dc, 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (12)
At this stage, I usually stuff the head and use my thumbs to smooth and shape it. Shaping the head, helps the stuffing to sit where you want it to.
20 – *2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (6)
Now slip stitch into the next stitch, stuff with toy stuffing and sew up using your needle.
Ears – make 2
1 – Make a magic ring, then chain 1 and 4dc into the ring.
2 – 1dc into each stitch. (4)
3 – *2dc in each stitch.* Work ** 4 times. (8)
4 – *1dc, then 2dc into next stitch.* Work 4 times. (12)
5 – 6 (2 rounds) 1dc in each (12)
7 *1dc, then 2dctog.* Work 4 times. (8)
8 – 9 (2 rounds) Work 1dc into each stitch. (8)
Now fasten off your end, leaving a good long tail for you to sew your ears to the head.
Body –
1 – Make a magic ring, chain 1, then dc6 into the ring. Then pull the tail tight to create the first round. (6)
2 – *2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)
3 – *1dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (18)
4 – *2dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (24)
5 – *3dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (30)
6 – *4dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (36)
7 – *5dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (42)
8 – 9 (2 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (42)
10 – *5dc, then 2dctog*. Work ** 6 times. (36)
11 – 12 (2 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (36)
20 – *4dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (30)
21 – 26 (6 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (30)
27 – *3dc, then 2dctog. Work ** 6 times. (24)
28 – 33 (6 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (24)
34 – *6dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (21)
25 – *5dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (18)
26 – 1dc into each stitch. (18)
27 – *4dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (15)
29 – *3dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (12)
30 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (9)
Now it’s time to stuff your body with toy stuffing, sew up and fasten off your body using your needle. Remember to leave a tail, so that you can sew your body onto your head.
Hooves and legs – make 4
Ok so we are going to now use the light brown yarn for the hooves and then cream for the leg/arm.
1 – Make a magic ring, chain 1, then work 6dc into the ring. (6)
2 – Now work 2dc into each stitch in the round. (12)
3 – *1dc, then 2dc in each stitch* Work ** 6 times. (18)
4 – *2dc, then 2dc in each stitch* Work ** 6 times. (24)
5 – Now in this round, work 1 back loop dc in each stitch. (24)
Working in the back loop will help to shape the hoof. You can see where the back loop is, where the arrow is pointing in the picture below.
You can see in the picture below that I’ve crocheted only in the back loop, leaving the front loop.
This is what your round 5 should look like.
6 – Work the rest of the hooves in both loops as normal. Work 1dc into each stitch in the round. (24)
7 – Work *2dc, 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (18)
8 – Work *1dc, 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (12)
Change colour in last stitch of the previous round to the main cream colour.
Ok so two of your hooves are for the legs and two are for the arms.
For the legs (make 2) –
9 – 27 (18 rows) Work 1dc for in each stitch in the round. (12)
For the arms (Make 2) –
9 – 28 (19 rows) Work 1dc in each stitch in the round. (12)
29 – *1dc, 2dctog* Work ** 4 times. (8)
Now make a slip stitch and fasten off. Now it’s time to stuff the arms and legs. Start with stuffing the hoof. Now you can either leave the arms/legs empty or give them a little stuffing, but not too much. You don’t want them to stick out too much and not have any movement!
Now you have 2 arms and 2 legs done. You’ll be able to tell the difference easily between the two, as the arms are a little longer and taper in at the top. (Arms on the left)
Horn
Ok for the horn, I have used a strand of each of these as I wanted to give it real sparkle and texture. But obviously, you can just use some double knit wool. For the double stranded/Aran one use 2 strands of double knit together, but for the double knit size just use double knit as normal.
1 – Make a slip knot and chain 12. Now slip stitch into a ring.
2 – 3 (2 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (12)
4 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work 3 times. (9)
5 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (9)
6 – Work *1dc, 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (6)
7 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (6)
8 – Work *1dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 2 times. (4)
Now slip stitch and sew up the top so that it has a point and fasten off. Leave a long tail, so that you can sew on the horn to your unicorn’s head.
Phew that’s all the body parts done.
Right then, you should now have 2 legs, 2 arm, 1 body, 1 head, 1 horn and 2 ears.
So it’s now time to start sewing up your lovely unicorn. After many slightly wonky sewn up crocheted animals, I have come to the conclusion that the best place to start is the arms. If you attach both arms first and then the head, the whole toy seems to come together easier. Right so let’s get started.
To sew any of these lovely body parts on that you have created, you need to use your needle and obviously scissors to chop all the ends off.
First things first, use the tail from the top of the arms to sew each arm on to the top of the body.
When you’re sewing on the arms and legs, make sure you sew the top of the arm/leg and the under side of it. You wouldn’t want an arm or leg to fall off – how traumatic would that be to your little bod. You can also see in the picture below, that I am sewing through both arms and the body, to really secure them on and give a good little ledge for the head to sit on.
Now it’s time for the head. Make sure you sew the head on in the correct orientation. Can you see there is a dip where the head and the muzzle come together on the side, where as the other is flatter. The flat side is the side that you are going to attach to your body.
Now you may have noticed there are no ears on our head. This is due to the fact that they need to go on at the end of the sewing up process. (Once again, I have learnt from experience – if you sew them on before, it’s really hard to line up all the body parts i.e wonky toys!!)
Right now with this head, you really need to make sure that you anchor it down to the body, as the mane can become quite heavy.
The key is to keep checking that it’s all in line.
Right now for those legs. You can decide how you want them to lie, but this is the angle I tend to use, as it helps the toy to sit properly.
Sew your legs on with the same kind of technique as the arms. Just need to make sure you keep checking the angle they are sitting at to each other and that you sew both sides of them on securely.
Right then, ears. These definitely need to be left till one of the last parts to sew on. Again it’s all to do with alignment and how it looks at the end. So start by pinching the bottom of the ears together, now sew a few stitches through the bottom to secure the ears into this little pinched shape.
Now sew your ears in place. Make sure you work your way around the base of each ear.
Make sure you keep checking the alignment!
Ok, so now it’s time for the eyes and eyebrows. Start by threading your needle with black/grey yarn and then knotting the end. Then thread it through from the back, through the middle of the white part of the eye. The knot at the back should be small enough to fit through the middle of a stitch so that it is hidden, but be able to nestle in the stuffing to anchor the eye in place. Now finish your eyes by working little pupils on each eye, by sewing up and over a stitch. You can make these pupils as small or as big as you like. I seem to usually go over 2 stitches and usually sew it over about 4 times.
To work the eye brows, you can carry on using the black yarn from the eyes. So come up where you want the eyebrow to start and then literally insert it back into the stitch where you want the eye brow to end. It’s pretty simple, but very effective. Don’t make it too big, as they can get caught and snag later on! Obviously you can make any expression you would like to, just by changing the angle of the eyebrows!
Now for the nostril. These are worked exactly the same as the eyes, but with a beige coloured yarn. Work 2 little nostrils on the end of the muzzle, quite close together.
Mane –
Right now it’s time for the fun bit. The mane. So you can use whatever colours you like. (Remember if you have made a double knit Unicorn, just use double knit yarn as normal for the mane. But if you are making an Aran or double dk stranded Unicorn you need to use double strands of dk or Aran yarn to make the mane.)
Ok so attach your yarn and chain 1.
Now work 19 more stitches, so you have 20 in total.
Now work 2dc in the second chain from the hook. *Now miss a stitch and work 1dc in the next chain.* Repeat this back to towards the head, down the side of the chain. This will give you a nice gentle spiral effect. If you wanted a really tight strand, work 2dc in each chain. This gives a spiral effect like on the my Octopus’s tentacles.
Once you have worked all of your dc stitches into your chain and you are back at the head of the unicorn, slip stitch into the stitch next to the base of your first chain. This will anchor your strand of mane to the head.
Now repeat this process as many times as you like. I used 6 different colours on my daughter’s and maybe worked 4 chains of each one. Just remember the more you add the heavier the head will get.
Whooops – now we have all those lovely ends to thread using your tapestry needle.
And there you have your beautiful mane!
Tail –
So for the tail we are going to work it exactly the same as the mane, but only one strand of each colour. I have also made sure they are all worked in the same area, so they look like they are sprouting out of one place.
Liking the smaller amount of ends to weave in!
And there we have it, my little Uni Unicorn. She is a few weeks old now, so is rather loved, hugged and decidedly squiged now. I really hope you have enjoyed this pattern and have fun making her.
Can I just take this opportunity to say a huge thank you for following me! I hope you are enjoying my rainbow ride of yarny loveliness! It means so much that you are with me and I hope to bring you lots of crocheting wonderful fun in the years to come.
Happy hooking everyone!
🌈Xx
(Free pattern designed and brought to you by PipsRainbow. Thank you for not copying or recreating it. ☺️Xx)