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Pink and Blue Snail

Free Crochet Pattern
By Sonny Curl (sonnysburning on Ravelry)
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Notes
I used a 4 mm hook, but I think a 3.0 mm or 3.5 mm hook may have been better.
The stuffing only really shows through in the shell though, so it doesn’t bother me
much. I just figured it would be worth mentioning what I actually used in the
project in the photos as well as giving my recommendation.

I used worsted weight (4) yarn. I used a mix of acrylic, cotton, cotton/polyester,
and cotton/nylon, but obviously using all one material would look best. I think it
looks okay in the end though, anyway.

For the antennae, I used 0.1 mm armature wire as opposed to trying to stuff
polyfill through a six stitch opening into a six stitch cylinder. After I sewed on
the eyes, I realized it may have been better to have the armature wire extend into
the sphere of the actual eyeball as well to prevent wobbling.

I’m giving instructions in the order that I made the parts, but if you want to skip
around to crochet them in an easier order, be my guest!

Yarn Colors Abbreviations (USTerms)

Yarn A teal/cyan Stitch/es (st/s)
Yarn B seafoam Single Crochet (sc)
Yarn C light pink/coral Double Crochet (dc)
Yarn D red Half Double Crochet (hdc)
Yarn E black Slip stitch (sl st)
Yarn F white Increase/Two Single Crochet in the
Yarn G lavender Same Stitch (inc)
Invisible Decrease (dec)*
Fasten/Finish Off (FO)

*You may use a regular single crochet two together (sc2tog) for the decreases if
you want to, but I would recommend using the invisible decrease at least on the
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eyes since those stitches will be visible in the final project. I think the invisible
decrease looks a lot neater.

Snail Foot
The foot is crocheted like a long oval (similar to how you make the base of bags and
baskets) with a few rows of no inc/dec to give the foot height.\

YARN A
Round 1: chain 21, sc in 2nd chain from hook, sc 18, 3 sc in last chain, 19 sc up the
other side of the chain, 3 sc in last the last chain of the second side (44 sts)

You may work the following rounds in a spiral or sl st to join, chain 1, and continue
sc’ing. I’m going to write the pattern as if you were working in a spiral, but either
way will turn out fine. However, if you are going to join with a sl st and chain 1, I
would recommend not skipping the first stitch. That’s how I worked the oval.

Round 2: (19 sc, inc, 3 sc in same stitch, inc) x2 (52 sts)

Round 3: 52 sc (52 sts)

I don’t honestly remember if I did one or two rounds of 52, but when I checked
how other people crochet slugs and snail feet, I usually saw that this was one
round, not two. I’m inclined to believe that I did two rounds, though. So,
optionally, repeat round 3 for a slightly taller snail foot!

Round 4: (7 sc, inc) x3, sc, inc, (7 sc, inc) x3, inc, sc (60 sts)

More apologies! I truly don’t remember exactly where I placed my increases, as I

decided I ought to write this pattern a whole week after completing the snail. But
This seems about evenly spaced. Make sure your increases in between the (7 sc,
inc) bits are on the ends of the oval. As long as you have 8 increases total in this
round, and they are evenly spaced along the sides and symmetrical on the rounded
ends, you should be okay. Sorry, again!
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Round 5: (sc 9, inc) x6 (66 sts)

Round 6: sc 66 (66 sts)

Depending on whether or not you repeated round 3, you may repeat this round. I’d
recommend only repeating either round 3 or round 6, but if you want to repeat
both, that’s totally fine and up to you. It’ll just end up being a marginally taller
snail foot!

Round 7: (sc 9, dec) x6, sl st to join and FO, leaving just a long enough tail to
weave in (60 sts)

FASTEN ON YARN B
Round 8: in BACK LOOPS ONLY, you have some options. I wanted my frilly bit to
look a little bit wonky, so I used a random mix of dc and hdc, placing three sts total
in each back loop of round 7. If you want it to look neater, you can do 3 dc in each
back loop of round 7, or 3 hdc in each back loop of round 7 if you want your frilly
bit to look shorter. Also, if you want your frilly bit to curl less, you can do 2 sts in
each back loop of round 7 instead of 3.

sl st into the first st of round 8, FO, and leave just a long enough tail to weave in.

Base of Snail Foot

YARN A OR B (I used Yarn B, to match the frilly bit, but if you’d like to use Yarn
A to match the foot color, that also looks nice)
Round 1: chain 21, sc in 2nd chain from hook, 18 sc down the chain, 3 sc in the last
chain, 19 sc up the other side of the chain, 3 sc in last chain (44 sts)
Round 2: (19 sc, inc, 3 sc in same st, inc) x2 (52 sts)
Round 3: Repeat whatever you did in Round 4 of the snail foot. I gave the
instructions as (sc 7, inc) x3, sc, inc, (sc 7, inc) x3, inc, sc (60 sts), but, again, refer
to the italicized note below round 4 to decide exactly where you are placing your
increases in both round 4 of the foot and this round of the base of the foot.
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sl st to join, FO, and leave a long enough tail to sew the base of the foot onto the
foot.
Sew the base of the foot to the foot using the front loops that we didn’t work in
round 8 of the foot. I used a whip stitch because I like the look of visible
stitching, but any stitch you’d like to use to get it secured is, of course, just fine.
When you are about 10 stitches away from closing the base and foot together,
stuff the foot firmly. You will want it to be firmly stuffed, so that your snail
stands, but not so overstuffed that the base won’t stay flat. Finish stitching, tie a
double knot with the help of your yarn needle, and weave the remainder of the tail
into the foot of the snail.

Base of the Shell

YARN C
Round 1: chain 12, dc in 2nd chain from hook, dc9, 3 dc in last chain of this side,
dc 10 up the other side, 3 dc in last chain on this side (26 sts)
Round 2: [dc 10, (2 dc in same stitch) x3] x2 (32 sts)
After this round, if this is large enough, you may sl st to join, FO, and leave a long
enough tail to sew it onto the foot of the snail. If you need it one round larger,
the next round would be [dc 10, (2 dc in same stitch, dc) x3] x2 (38 sts). Two
rounds was enough for me, but I wanted to give the option just in case!

Sew the base of the shell to the foot, centering the base of the shell toward the
back of the foot (refer to pictures on page one if needed) so that you have room
for the antennae to be stitched on the front of the foot. Tie a double knot and
weave the tail underneath the base of the shell and between the foot, or just into
the foot if you can. As long as it’s hidden, that’s all that matters!

Shell
The shell is worked in two halves that are single crocheted together, so make two!
Again, you may sl st to join rounds, or work in a spiral, I would just recommend not
skipping your first stitch after the chain 1, if you’re joining rounds.
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YARN C
Round 1: into magic ring, sc 6 (6 sts)
Round 2: (inc) x6 (12 stitches)
Round 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
Round 4: (sc 2, inc) x6 (24 sts)
Round 5: (sc 3, inc) x6 (30 sts)
Round 6: (sc 4, inc) x6 (36 sts)
Round 7: (sc 5, inc) x6 (42 sts)
Round 8: (sc 6, inc) x6 (48 sts)
Round 9: (sc 7, inc) x6 (54 sts)

The diameter of your shell should be about three-quarters the length of the snail
foot, so if you need to stop before round 9, do that! If you need to make more
increase rounds, do that as well! The next few rounds would be (sc 8, inc) x6 (60
sts), then (sc 9, inc) x6 (66 sts), and hopefully you see the pattern if you need any
more rounds after that.

Rounds 9-10: sc around (this st count will depend on which round you stopped
increasing)

sl st to join. If this is your first half of the shell, FO, and leave just a long enough
tail to weave in. If this is your second half of the shell, leave your yarn attached
and move on to the next steps.

To make the red spiral, make a slip knot with YARN D, adjust to your hook, but
then take it off your hook, because we are going to be surface slip-stitching the
spiral onto each half of the shell. For the first half of the shell, the spiral starts
in the bottom right, and for the second half of the shell, the spiral starts in the
bottom left. To surface sl st, insert your hook through the shell from the right
side through to the wrong side, get that loop from your slip knot around your hook,
and pull through to the right side. Decide where your stitch will end, insert your
hook through the shell, yarn over, pull the loop through the shell and through the
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loop on your hook. My spirals ended up being around 25-26 sl sts to complete, but
if your loops are tighter, you may need more, and if your loops are looser, you may
need less. It’s best to leave the slip stitches a bit loose to prevent scrunching the
surface of the shell.
Surface sl st’ing is one of those skills that’s easier learned visually, so here is the
link to the video that I learned from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQYx0u086w&ab_channel=naztazia

Once you have fastened off each surface sl st’ed spiral, you can either weave in
the ends or tie them. I just tied both ends together (being careful to pull the
first half of my square knot loosely as not to scrunch the shell, and the second half
of my square knot tightly to secure it), because we will be joining the two halves
and stuffing it and it’s easier and just as neat to make a knot rather than trying to
weave it in, which I personally found more tedious than it was worth.

Line up both halves of the shell, making sure your spirals are in the proper
positions, and single crochet through all loops (both loops of each half, so through
4 loops total) around until you have 12-10 sts left. Stuff the shell, I understuffed
mine a bit since my model has a taller, more ovular shell than a spherical shell, and
that way I could shape it better. If you stuffed it firmly, which is also fine, it
would always go back to being perfectly round. But, if you prefer that look, that’s
cool too! Finishing single crocheting.

Slip stitch to join the round of single crochet, and FO. If your tail is close to the
bottom of the shell, you can leave a long enough tail to sew it on. If your tail is
closer to the top of the shell, you can either weave the tail through the stuffing to
get to the bottom, or cut it short, weave in, and fasten a long cutting of YARN C
to the bottom side of the shell to sew with.

To sew the shell down, you’re going to have to sew a bit higher than just the rim.
If you sew only through the rim, the shell will just flop to either side. This is the
first time I’ve made a snail like this, so I just stitched the rim, and then stitched
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back a bit higher, and continued stitching back and forth a bit higher each time
until the shell stopped wobbling. Tie a double knot and weave the tail into the snail,
either between the base of the shell and the foot, or just into the body of the
shell. Again, I wish I had a round count to give you for where the stitches should
go, but I finished this project a week ago, and I simply do not remember. My
apologies!

Antennae
Make two! I did not count my rounds on these, I just made them the height I
needed to match my model.

Round 1: into magic ring, sc 6 (6 sts)

Rounds 2-until you get your desired height: sc 6 (6 sts in each round)
Sl st to join and FO, leaving a tail for sewing.

For the armature wire, cut a piece twice the length of your antenna, plus a few
inches. Fold the wire in half, twist the wire down just the length of the antenna,
and bend the two ends at a perpendicular angle, and if the remaining ends are long
enough, fold them back toward the middle for extra stability. Do this twice, once
for each antenna. Sheath each antenna over the twisted portion of the wire (the
magic ring will be the top of the antenna), and shove the two perpendicular ends
through the foot of the snail on either side of the middle so that the antennae are
lined up neatly. Using your tail, sew through the last round of your antenna and
through the foot of the snail a few times, just enough that it feels secure. Tie a
double knot with the help of your yarn needle, and weave the remainder of the tail
into the foot.

Like I mentioned in the notes on the first page, I wish I had foreseen that it would
have been more secure to extend the armature wire through the sphere of the
eye. Since I didn’t do that, I’m not sure how to instruct others to do it. I just
wanted to mention it because it would be much more secure. I suppose you’d have
to make the twisted portion longer, shove it through the magic ring, and then when
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you’re ready to sew the eye, shove the bottom of the eye through the showing bit
of wire. I don’t know how well that will work, but if I make a second snail, I will
update the comments on Ravelry (if I can figure out how to do that) to give better
instructions!

Eyes
Make two!

START WITH YARN E

Round 1: into magic ring, sc 6, sl st to join, FO, leaving a long enough tail to work
over (6 sts)

FASTEN ON YARN D
Round 2: working over your tails, (inc) x6, sl st to join, FO, leaving a long enough
tail to work over (12 sts)

Take a moment to grab a small length of YARN F, and embroider the eye shine.
The way I did this was threading my yarn needle to the middle of the length of
yarn, and tying the ends (so that my yarn will be doubled over). Then, I inserted
my needle from the wrong side to the right side, stitched straight across, then
stitched the middle of the straight line up to make a curved line. This is how most
folks will make smiles for their amigurumi, if that helps you understand my written
instructions a bit better. Refer to pictures on the first page for placement. Tie
the ends of YARN F to secure the tails, and carry on to round 3.

FASTEN ON YARN B
Round 3: working over your tail form round 2, (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
Rounds 4-5: sc 18 (18 sts each round)

If you want the eyes to be wider, and more perfectly spherical, add one more
round of sc 18 (18 sts). I wanted my eyes to be a bit skinny so I opted to only
crochet two rounds sc 18 (18 sts) instead of three!
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Round 6: (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)

PAUSE HERE TO STUFF THE EYE
Round 7: (dec) x6, sl st to join, FO, leaving a long enough tail for sewing (6 sts)

Sew the hole shut, leaving a long enough tail to sew the each eye onto each antenna.

To sew the eye to the antenna, weave your tail from your FO to the bottom of the
eye (between rounds 4 and 5, directly under the middle of the eye shine). Sew a
few times through the top of the antenna, just enough that the eye stops wobbling
when you gently shake the snail. Tie a double knot, and weave in the remainder of
the tail into either the eye of the antenna. Repeat for the second eye.

Spots
My model has five spots on each side of the shell (see images on the first page for
placement), so make 10 of these!

YARN G
Round 1: into magic ring, (sc 2, dc 2) x2 (8 sts), sl st to join, FO, leaving a long
enough tail to sew the spot to the shell.

Please refer to the images on the first page for spot placement.

Voila! You’ve done it!

Feel free to share if you made this guy along with me, I’d love to see how they all
turned out! If you need any additional help, feel free to message me on Ravelry,
my username over there is SonnysBurning!