Next in our Read Across America Crochet-a-Long is the Cowardly Lion Hand Puppet! Add him to Dorothy, Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman, for a fun puppet set for your little one! You may remember that last year’s CAL included a lion already. The was Shalock the Lion Hearted, and he went with the book, Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams, written and illustrated by C.F. Lawrenson. You are welcome to make that lion or THIS lion pattern for your Wizard of Oz set, whichever you prefer!
Ohhh, the poor cowardly lion! If only he had a better undstanding of courage! He faces so many difficulties and fears, and just because he feels afraid, he think he lacks in courage. What a fun lesson for our little ones to learn; that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the action we take regardless of fear.
If you’re interested in a printer-friendly PDF of the Cowardly Lion 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
- Gold (A) approximately 90 yds
- Warm Brown (B) approximately 26 yds
Small amount of worsted black for the eyes, nose, and mouth
Crochet hook size H – 5mm
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
inc – increase, 2 sc sts in same st
FLO – front loop only
BLO – back loop only
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.
Notes:
The body of the Cowardly Lion Hand Puppet is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. The arms, ears, mane, and nose are made separately and sewn on. The eyes are sewn on as well.
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
Cowardly Lion Hand Puppet
Body – beginning at the head, with (A)
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
Rnds 5-7: sc in each st around; 24 sts
Rnd 8: (3 inc, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnds 9-12: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Rnd 13: (3 invsc2tog, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 24 sts
Rnds 14-15: sc in each st around; 24 sts
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 18-32: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Fasten off and weave in ends.
Arms – Make 2, in Yellow (A)
*NOTE: the paws are made in a row of dc bobbles, and then the arm is worked in a rnd from the front loops of those sts.
Ch 7 to begin.
Row 1: turn and dc bobble in 2nd ch from hook, (sl st in next ch, dc bobble in next ch)2x; 5 sts (3 bobbles)
*Now begin working in continuous rnds around the FLO of row 1
Rnd 1: ch 1 and turn work, use FLO and sc in 5 sts across, do not flip, but rather turn as in working a rnd, and sc in next 5 FLO sts on the other side, do NOT join; 10 sts
Rnds 2-5: sc in each st around; 10 sts
Rnd 6: (inc, sc in next 4 sts)2x; 12 sts
Rnds 7-12: sc in each st around; 12 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the arms into each of the arm holes on the puppet, and weave in ends. I also used a little bit of the brown yarn to sew lines between the paws, for some definition.
Mane – the main is made around a large chain that’s connected to form a ring, and made in a series of rows of different lengths. To keep the pattern shorter, I have written out the different sized rows below, with the pattern just showing you which size to make and how many
In brown (B)
Ch 48, and sl st to first ch to join, forming a ring.
41 S, 2 M, 1 L, 1 XL, 1 L, 2 M; 48 rows total, against the ring. Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Use pins to pin the mane in place where you want it. Sew with the single XL row at the bottom most point, between the arms, and all the S rows around the sides and top of the head. Weave in ends.
Small (S)
Ch 5, sl st into 3rd ch from hook, sc in next ch, hdc in last ch, sl st into the next ch on ring.
Medium (M)
Ch 6, sl st into 3rd ch from hook, sc in next ch, hdc in next ch, dc in last ch, sl st into the next ch on ring.
Large (L)
Ch 7, sl st into 3rd ch from hook, sc in next 2 chs, hdc in next ch, dc in last ch, sl st into the next ch on ring.
X Large (XL)
Ch 9, sl st into 3rd ch from hook, sc in next 3 chs, hdc in next 2 chs, dc in last ch, sl st into the next ch on ring.
Ears – Make 2, in Yellow (A)
Begin with magic ring, but you will not close it with a joining st.
Rnd 1: in magic ring, sc, hdc, dc, ch 2, dc, hdc, sc, sl st back into magic ring to fasten off. Pull beginning tail to close it, and weave in that end. Use long tail to sew onto the head, about ends 4-5.
Nose, in black
Ch 2
Row 1: turn and inc in 2nd ch from hook; 2 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, inc in each st across; 4 sts
Fasten off, and leave a long tail for sewing. Sew the nose to the lower front of the face, about ends 10-12, then use the tail to form the mouth, and weave in ends.
Eyes, in black
Using your tapestry needle and about 8 inches of black yarn, sew the eyes over about 3 sts, above and to each side of the nose, about rnd 8. Knot and weave ends inside the puppet.
As a bonus to this pattern, one of my testers, Crystalynn of @hooked.with.heart, has offered up her pattern for a tail! If you want to make a tail for your lion, to sew onto the back, follow this pattern, and check out my YouTube video HERE, on how to crochet an I cord!
Make an I cord
Using gold
Leave long tail for sewing and Chain three turn
- Insert hook into 2nd chain from hook YO and pull through
- Insert into third chain YO and pull through
- Remove hook from two loops leaving one remaining (HOLD the remaining two loops so they don’t get pulled out)
- YO and pull through loop on hook
- Insert hook into the closest loop, YO and pull through
- Insert hook into the next loop, YO and pull through.
- Repeat steps 3-6 until your cord is 3 inches long. Fasten off and weave tail into the center of the cord.
- To make the end of the tail cut a length of roughly 24 inches of brown yarn and thread your needle. Insert into the end of the tail (that doesn’t have the gold yarn to sew) and pull through until there’s three inches left, continue to do so until you’ve used all the yarn making sure you’re evenly sewing around the tail.
- Take a small strip of brown and tie around the bundle of brown and tip of the tail, use a needle to bring ends under the knot and with the rest of the bundle.
- Unravel the yarn or brush out the brown to create a fluffy tail. Trim to your preference.
- Sew to center back of lion at round 26, knot inside puppet and weave in ends.
I hope you have enjoyed making the Cowardly Lion hand puppet! If you love this design, be sure to check out some of my other hand puppets, always free on the blog! This is the fourth puppet of our 2nd annual Read Across America Puppet Crochet-a-Long. Find Dorothy HERE! And the Scarecrow HERE! And the Tin Woodman HERE! Follow me along on Instagram for more Wizard of Oz 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!
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