Day 8 of our 12 Days of Christmas Crochet-a-Long, may not look all that Christmas-y to the untrained eye. The Clara Hand Puppet is made in the likeness of Clara from The Nutcracker! Last year, my sister-in-law and I began what we thought would be an annual tradition of taking our girls to see The Rochester City Ballet perform The Nutcracker, but then…you know…2020 happened. I did, however; discover that they put the performance online so we could bring it to our living rooms for only $12.99!! If you’re interested CLICK HERE, you would be supporting the arts, while enjoying a Christmas classic, and no affiliate sales involved here. I just wanted to spread the creativity!
Over the next 5 days, I will be releasing a different puppet character based on The Nutcracker, in order of appearance in the story. There are lots of great books based on this story, but The Nutcracker from the Little Golden Books, is always a great addition to a child’s library. Stick around for the whole collection of puppets to make!
If you’re interested in a printer-friendly PDF of the Clara hand puppet pattern, you can find the design in my Ravelry or Etsy shops! If you prefer to use the free blog copy below, I still appreciate you being here! And another great way to support my blog is simply by sharing! Thank you for supporting my business!
Materials:
Worsted Weight (4) Yarn
- Buff (skin color) (A)
- White (B)
- Periwinkle (light blue) (C)
- Coffee (brown for hair) (D)
- Small amount of black for the eyes
THE HOOK NOOK CROCHET HOOK, size H – 5mm (I LOVE the hooks from the Designer Interchangeable Hook Set)
Scissors
Terms and abbreviations to know:
magic ring
rnd, rnds – round, rounds
st, sts – stitch, stitches
sl st – slip stitch
sk – skip
sc – single crochet
hdc – half double crochet
dc – double crochet
tr – triple crochet
inc – increase, 2 sc sts in same st
invsc2tog – invisible single crochet 2 together; this is essentially a decrease, but done in such a way as to make the continuous stitching smoother, and the decrease not as noticeable.
- Insert hook into front loop only of next stitch, DO NOT yarn over.
- Insert hook into front loop of second stitch.
- Yarn over. Pull through 2 loops.
- Yarn over and pull through last 2 loops.
Dc bobble – double crochet bobble
- Yarn over, and insert hook into designated st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over, and pull through 2 loops, leaving 2 loops on hook.
- Yarn over, and insert hook into same st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over, and pull through 2 loops, leaving 3 loops on hook.
- Yarn over, and insert hook into same st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over, and pull through 2 loops, leaving 4 loops on hook.
- Yarn over, and insert hook into same st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over and pull through 2 loops, leaving 5 loops on hook.
- Yarn over and pull through all 5 loops.
picot –
- Ch 3
- Sk 2nd ch from hook
- Sl st into 3rd ch from hook
Notes: The body of the Clara Hand Puppet is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. The arms, hair, and ruffles, are made separately and sewn on. The eyes and nose are sewn on.
Size: This is one size, fitting child through adult, but if you wish to make it smaller for a smaller child to play with, simply tighten the gauge or go down a hook size.
Gauge: 6 sts across and 7 rnds down = approximately 2 inches
Clara Hand Puppet Pattern
Body – beginning at the head, with A (skin color)
Begin with a magic ring.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts
Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts
Rnd 3: (inc, sc in next st)6x; 18 sts
Rnd 4: (inc, sc in next 2 sts)6x; 24 sts
Rnd 5: (3 inc, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnds 6-14: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Rnd 15: (3 invsc2tog, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 24 sts
Pull White (B) through to complete the last st of rnd 15, and fasten off your skin color. Continue with White.
Rnd 16: (ch 7, sk next 4 sts, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts, counting the chs
Rnd 17: (sc into each of the 7 chs, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnds 18-23: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Pull C (light blue) through to complete the last st of rnd 23, but do NOT fasten off white.
Continue with light blue for two rnds.
Rnd 24: sc in next st, 3 invsc2tog, sc in next 9 sts, 3 invsc2tog, sc in next 8 sts; 24 sts
Rnd 25: sc in each st around; 24 sts
Pull white back up through the last st of rnd 25, and fasten off C.
Continue with White.
Row 26: (5 inc, sc in next 7 sts)2x; 34 sts
Rows 27-31: sc in each st around; 34 sts
Row 32: sc in next 6 sts, inc, sc in next 16 sts, inc, sc in next 10 sts; 36 sts
Rnd 33: [sc in next st, (hdc, dc) in next st, (dc, hdc) in next st, sc in next st, sk next st, sl st in next st]6x; 6 ruffles
Fasten off, knot and weave in all ends inside the body.
Arms, Make 2
In skin color A
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 6 st in magic ring; 6 sts
Rnd 2: (inc, sc in next st)3x; 9 sts
Rnds 3-4: sc in each st around; 9 sts
Rnd 5: dc bobble, sc in next 8 sts; 9 sts
Rnds 6-7: sc in each st around; 9 sts
Pull white through to complete the last st of rnd 7, and fasten off skin color.
Continue in white.
Rnd 8: sc in each st around; 9 sts
Rnd 9: (inc, sc in next 2 sts)3x; 12 sts
Rnds 10-13: sc in each st around; 12 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Weave in all the ends inside the arm, and then use the long tail to sew onto the arm holes of the body. Weave in ends.
Sleeve Ruffle (make 2) in Blue and White
Begin in blue, ch 12, and connect to the first ch with a sl st, pulling white through to complete the sl st and fastening off blue, with a long tail for sewing. This is to create a ring. Continue in white.
Rnd 1: ch 1, and begin in the same ch as the joining sl st, [(hdc, picot, hdc) in next ch, sc in next ch]6x; 6 ruffles
Fasten off the white and weave in the white ends. Using the long blue tail, sew the chain of the ruffle around rnd 9 of the arm, with ruffles pointing toward the hand. Weave in ends.
Shirt Ruffle in White, make 2
Ch 6
Row 1: beginning in 2nd ch from hook, 2 sc tog in first 2 chs, 3 sctog in next ch, 2 sc tog in last 2 chs; 11 sts
Row 2: ch 2 and turn, (3 dc tog in next st, 2 sc tog in next st)5x, 2 dc tog in last st, ch 2, sl st back into last st; 28 sts counting last ch 2 as a dc
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew each ruffle with right side facing, and first ch in a diagonal straight, so that they come together like a V, sewing behind them as well, just the sc sts of the last row down to the shirt, to create the ruffled look with the dc sts poofing out. Weave in ends.
Hair, in Brown
Ch 7
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and next 5 chs; 6 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 4 sts, inc; 8 sts
Row 3: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 6 sts, inc; 10 sts
Rows 4-12: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 10 sts
Row 13: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 6 sts, dec; 8 sts
Row 14: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 4 sts, dec; 6 sts
Do not turn
Pull blue through to complete the last st of row 14, and carrying the brown yarn under it, work the first 13 sts of rnd 1 in blue for the headband.
Rnd 1: continue to work 38 sc evenly around the hair until you get back to where you started. Work first 13 sts across the top in blue (carrying brown under the sts), pull brown through to complete the last of those 13 sts, and finish the rnd in brown. 6 sc across the beginning ch, 13 sc across the bottom, and 6 sc across row 14; 38 sts
Pull blue through to complete the last st of rnd 1, but fasten off brown here. Do NOT carry brown under sts here.
Rnd 2: in blue sc in next 2 sts, hdc in next 2 sts, dc in next 5 sts, hdc in next 2 sts, sc in next 2 sts, pull brown through to complete last sc, and fasten off blue,
Continue rnd in brown, sc in next 5 sts, ch 11, inc in each ch, sl st into next st of rnd 1, ch 13, inc in each ch, sl st into next 2 sts of rnd 1, (ch 15, inc in each ch, sl st into next 2 sts of rnd 1)5x, ch13, inc in each ch, sl st into next 2 sts of rnd 1, ch 11, inc in each ch, sc in next 5 sts of rnd 1. Do not fasten off. Continue on for bangs, over the blue sts. You won’t be going all the way around.
Bangs: (sc, hdc) in next st, (dc, tr) in next st, (dc, hdc) in next st, sc in next st, 2 hdc in next st, 2 dc in next 2 sts, tr in next 3 sts, dc in next 2 sts, hdc in next sts, sl st into the first brown st after the headband, and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the turning rows to the back of the head, with the bangs folded over the forehead. The blue of the headband should be at the folded over part at the top of the head, so that it can be seen. Do not sew all the curls down, but sew two of them to each side a little so that they will fall in front of the arms. Weave in ends.
Eyes, in black
Using black yarn, st the eyes onto the face, just over rnd 10, with the eye covering 3 sts. Insert your needle through about 2 to 3 sts from the outer edge of the face. Pull it back through 3 sts over. Insert the needle back into the original st, and pull it back out above rnd 10 (under rnd 9), pulling the black yarn under the arch you just made. Wrap the yarn around itself to help hold that curve in place, and then create the top eyelash by inserting the needle to the side and slightly above the eye. Use the beginning tail to create the lower lash in a similar fashion. Place the other eye to the other side, over the same ends, about 3 to 4 sts from the first eye. Knot and weave in the ends on the inside of the head.
Nose in skin color
Use the same yarn used for the face and hands, cutting about an 8 inch strand. Sew it over about 3 sts between the eyes, at about rnd 12. Sew the yarn over the same spot about 5 or 6 times, or until nose is as puffy as you’d like. Knot and fasten off inside the head, and weave in ends.
I hope you have enjoyed making the Clara hand puppet! If you love this design concept, be sure to check out some of my other hand puppets, always free on the blog! So far during our 12 Days of Christmas Crochet-a-Long, we’ve made a snowman, gingerbread man, Rudolph, Santa, Mrs. Claus, and elf puppet, and our Holly Christmas stocking ties for hanging our stockings! Follow me along on Instagram for more Christmas themed puppets to come! If you loved making any of these patterns, and show them off on Instagram, please be sure to tag @ekaygdesigns to let me know, and I will share in my stories! Use the hashtag #12DaysofChristmasCAL