This fun Flamingo Hand Puppet was an idea my little niece gave me when she began telling me about how the flamingo is her favorite animal. That may or may not be because they are pink, but no judgement there! They are such a bright and colorful bird, it’s hard for me not to love them too, and I don’t even like pink!
I had so much fun designing her, that I believe she might just be the beginning of a collection of bird puppets! What kind of bird would you love to see in puppet form?
If you’re interested in a printer-friendly PDF of the Flamingo 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 for your Flamingo Hand Puppet:
Worsted weight 4 Yarn:
THE HOOK NOOK, Main Squeeze: Rose Gold (A) – approximately 100 yds
Small amount of THE HOOK NOOK, Small Stuff: Tattoo Ink and Minimalist (for the eyes and beak)
OR chunky weight (5) with:
THE HOOK NOOK, Yummy: Cherry Blossom (A) – approximately 95 yds
Small amount of THE HOOK NOOK, Yummy: Charcoal Toothpaste and Like a Dove (for the eyes and beak)
CROCHET HOOK, size H – 5mm (I LOVE this Interchangeable set from The Hook Nook!)
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
inc – increase, 2 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
Notes:
The body of the Flamingo Hand Puppet is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. The arms, wing feathers, and beak are made separately and sewn on. The eyes are stitched on with black yarn. I have made this pattern with both worsted weight, and a lighter (5) chunky weight yarn, and it turns out with both! In the above pictured, worsted was used for the body, and a dk (3) weight was used for the beak, but you can used worsted for the whole thing OR (5) for the whole thing, without issue, as long as you follow the gauge to be sure it doesn’t turn out too tight or too big. The same hook was used with both yarn sizes! Pages 2-4 are printer-friendly, with just the written pattern. Page 5 contains process pictures to better help with the steps.
Size: The Flamingo Hand Puppet is one size, about 8.5 inches tall, and about 10.5 inches wide through the wings, fitting children through adults, 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: 6-7 sts across and 7-8 rnds down = approximately 2 inches
Flamingo 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
Rnd 5: (3 inc, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnds 6-9: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Rnd 10: (3 inc, sc in next 12 sts)2x; 36 sts
Rnd 11: sc in each st around; 36 sts
Rnd 12: (6 invsc2tog, sc in next 6 sts)2x; 24 sts
Rnds 13-16: sc in each st around; 24 sts
Rnd 17: (ch 7, sk next 4 sts, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts, counting the chs
Rnd 18: (sc into each of the 7 chs, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnds 19-34: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Fasten off, and weave in ends.
Arms/Wings, in A (make 2)
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 4 sc in magic ring; 4 sts
Rnd 2: inc, sc in next 3 sts; 5 sts
Rnd 3: sc in each st around; 5 sts
Rnd 4: inc, sc in next 4 sts; 6 sts
Rnd 5: inc, sc in next 5 sts; 7 sts
Rnd 6: inc, sc in next 6 sts; 8 sts
Rnd 7: inc, sc in next 7 sts; 9 sts
Rnd 8: inc, sc in next 8 sts; 10 sts
Rnd 9: inc, sc in next 9 sts; 11 sts
Rnd 10: inc, sc in next 10 sts; 12 sts
Rnds 11-13: sc in each st around; 12 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Make the wing feathers before attaching to the body of the puppet.
Wing Feathers, in A
Row 1: Ch 10, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, and each ch across; 9 sts
Feather 1: ch 5, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 3 chs, sl st into each of the last 2 sts of row 1; 4 sts on the feather
Feather 2: ch 6, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 4 chs, sl st into the next st of row 1; 5 sts on the feather
Feather 3: ch 7, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 5 chs, sl st into the next st of row 1; 6 sts on the feather
Feather 4: ch 8, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 6 chs, sl st into the next st of row 1; 7 sts on the feather
Feather 5: ch 9, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 7 chs, sl st into the next st of row 1; 8 sts on the feather
Feather 6: ch 10, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 8 chs, sl st into the next st of row 1; 9 sts on the feather
Feathers 7-8: ch 11, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 9 chs, sl st into the next st of row 1; 10 sts on the feather
Sl st into the last st of row 1, and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the beginning ch down to the wing, with the shortest feather toward the point of the wing, and the longest feather toward the opening. Then sew the wings onto the arm holes of the body of the puppet. Weave in ends.
Beak, beginning in black
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 4 sc in magic ring; 4 sts
Rnd 2: inc, sc in next 3 sts; 5 sts
Rnd 3: sc in each st around; 5 sts
Rnd 4: inc, sc in next 4 sts; 6 sts
Rnd 5: inc, sc in next 5 sts; 7 sts
Attach white, and fasten off black.
Continue in white.
Rnd 6: inc, sc in next 6 sts; 8 sts
Rnd 7: inc, sc in next 7 sts; 9 sts
Rnd 8: sc in each st around; 9 sts
Rnd 9: inc, sc in next 8 sts; 10 sts
Rnd 10: inc, sc in next 9 sts; 11 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Knot the ends in, on the inside of the beak. Very gently stuff, allowing the front to bend down slightly due to the increases. Sew the beak onto the face between rnds 11 and 16. Weave in ends.
Eyes in black
The eyes are placed at about rnds 8 and 9 of the head, about 2 rnds above the beak, with approximately 4 sts between them. They cover about 3 sts. Wrapping the yarn around itself at the top of the eye, is a great way to keep it in place. Then pull lashes through, and knot off and weave in ends inside the head.
I hope you have enjoyed making the Flamingo Hand Puppet! If you love this design, be sure to check out some of my other free patterns on the blog! Follow me along on Instagram for more sneak peeks and new pattern releases! If you loved making any of my patterns, and show them off on Instagram, please be sure to tag @ekaygdesigns to let me know, and I will share in my stories!