Crochet Penguin Toy from Craft Designer

Crochet Penguin Toy Inspired by Real Life Baby Penguin

When I show someone a design like this crochet penguin toy, I am often asked about the design process. That is why I decided to share my design process with you. The first step is to decide what to create. The second step is to decide what the design aesthetic will be.

The design aesthetic development process started with an image search of crochet penguins. Prior to doing the search, I thought I was going to crochet an amigurumi penguin. This style did not capture their physical characteristics that make them look so huggable. This why I chose to strive for a realistic design aesthetic. I wanted to capture their chubby physique and fur-like feathers. Prior to material selection I gathered up some visual reference of real baby penguins.  (Being such a big fan of Pinterest, it is hard for me to imagine someone not being familiar with this site.) Pinterest is an excellent resource for this step. Click here to see what type of baby penguin images you could find on their site.

Material selection was third step in the design process.  For the body’s fur-like feathers, I chose  Lion Brand® Yarns Jiffy® Silver Heather (category 5 -bulky) and for the head and feet I chose Lion Brand® Yarns Vanna’s Choice® (category 4-worsted) Black and White. I chose Poly-fil® fiberfill for the stuffing because what is on the inside counts.

The final step is to sit down and crochet. One of the design goals was to capture the baby penguin’s chubby-squatty physique.  For this realistic design aesthetic, I used the images as a starting point for the proportions and  the shape. It is a good practice to refer back to your photo images when real life is your inspiration. The step by step instructions for this sweet fuzzy baby penguin can be found in the December 2012 issue of Crochet World.