The Koala Hand Puppet was first designed for a guest spot on The Hook Nook Life Blog, and can now be found here on EkayG! I designed this puppet specifically for The Hook Nook Yummy yarn line, and they make the softest puppets!
You can also make the bear and panda hand puppets for the perfect friends for your koala hand puppet, in my 2-in-1 design for both panda and brown bears! They are basically the 3 best friends!
If you’re interested in a printer-friendly PDF of the koala hand puppet pattern, you can find the design in my Ravelry or Etsy shops! You can also purchase all of the exact yarn needed for this puppet in this bundle from The Hook Nook! 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!
Notes: The body is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. The arms, ears, nose, and tuft, are made separately and sewn on. The eyes are sewn on with black worsted weight or dk yarn. Pictures below can give more details into the process.
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
Materials:
Bulky Weight 5 Yarn:
The Hook Nook, Yummy Tweed – Precious Metals (A) approximately 90 yds
The Hook Nook, Yummy – Like a Dove (B) approximately 8 yds
The Hook Nook, Yummy – Charcoal Toothpaste (C) approximately 4 yds
DK Weight 3 Yarn:
The Hook Nook, Small Stuff – Tattoo Ink
Crochet Hook, size H – 5mm I REALLY love the Interchangeable Designer Hook set from The Hook Nook!)
Stitch marker
Tapestry needle
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
Dec – decrease, combine 2 sts to make 1 st
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.
3sctog – decrease, turning 3 sts into one
- Insert hook into designated st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Sk next st and insert hook into the second st from first st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over and pull through all 3 loops
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 18-30: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Fasten off and weave in ends.
Arms – Make 2 (A)
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts
Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts
Rnd 3: BLO, sc in each st around; 12 sts
Rnds 4-12: sc in each st around; 12 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew onto the arm holes in the body. Turn the arms inside out, pushed them into the arm holes, and sew through the stitches. Then turn the arm right side out, and weave ends in on the inside of the body.
Ears – Make 2 (A)
Begin with 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
Rnds 4-6: sc in each st around; 18 sts
Rnd 7: (invsc2tog, sc in next 7 sts)2x; 16 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Make the white parts of the ears before sewing onto the head.
Whites of ears – Make 2 (B)
Ch 6
Row 1: turn and inc into 2nd ch from hook; sc in next 3 chs, inc in last ch; 7 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 7 sts
Row 3: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 3 sts, dec; 5 sts
Row 4: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next st, dec; 3 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew onto the front of the gray ear. Then sew the whole ear onto the head of the puppet. Sew ears approximately 3-4 rnds down from the top center of the head.
Nose (C)
Ch 3
Row 1: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next st; 2 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, inc in each st; 4 sts
Row 3: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 4 sts
Row 4: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 2 sts, inc; 6 sts
Row 5: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 6 sts
Row 6: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 2 sts, dec; 4 sts
Row 7: ch 1 and turn, 2 dec; 2 sts
Do NOT turn, sc around the whole nose (Row 7 is bottom of the nose, and row 1 is the top). Sc 6 up the side, sc 2 across the top, sc 6 down the other side, and sc 2 across the bottom, sl st to join; 16 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the nose to the face with the top (row 1) of the nose at about rnd 8 of the head, and the bottom of the nose at about rnd 16. Do not sew it too stretched out in the middle. You want it to puff out a little.
Use your black DK yarn to stitch on the eyes. Their placement depends upon the nose, but approximately rnds 7-8 with about 2 stitches in between the eyes.
Chest Tuft (B)
Ch 10
Row 1: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 8 chs; 9 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 9 sts
Row 3: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 5 sts, dec; 7 sts
Row 4: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 3 sts, dec; 5 sts
Row 5: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next st, dec; 3 sts
Row 6: ch 1 and turn, 3sctog; 1 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the tuft between the arms, on the front of the body, with the point down.
I hope you have enjoyed making the koala hand puppet! Don’t forget to check out the panda and brown bear puppets as well! If you loved making these toys and show them off on Instagram, please be sure to tag @ekaygdesigns to let me know, and I will share in my stories!