Crochet a fish without sewing! · Mosaic Goldfish Amigurumi Crochet Pattern Tutorial

As a quick announcement, the Sweet Softies merch shop is now open. There are gifts for crocheters, crafters, yarn addicts, mamas, and more. It's all designed by yours truly. Here's a sneak peek at some of the apparel in my shop. I have hoodies, tees, and more designs and pieces coming. I also have different items for crocheters like water bottles, caps, zipper tote bags, and canvas pouches. The link to my shop is in the description box below. Thank you! Hi friends, Jade from Sweet Softies here. Today we're going to make this beautiful goldfish project. This is called the Mosaic Goldfish and I'm going to be showing you how to make this no-sew fish from start to finish in this video. Now for my written pattern, if you'd like to get it, it is available in my store for a low price and you would also have four different scale options to choose from. In this video, I'm going to demonstrate how to do the easiest option, which is, as you can see, this nice textured pattern here. But if you'd like to get the PDF pattern, which includes lots of photo references by the way, you will also get this special design. You can see here these variegated stitches, this one as well, and this one with the puffs. So once again, the PDF pattern will include four different types of scale designs, but if you'd like to follow along with this pattern, you will be able to make this lovely goldfish right here. Let's take a look at what we need to get started. For materials, you don't need very much at all. Go ahead and pick a yarn that will work for your fish. You can use medium weight yarn if you wanted to, like this one, or you can use really thin yarns. This is fingering, or weight one yarn, and the thickness of your yarn will sort determine how big of a hook you need and how big your fish will turn out. So this is the same pattern, but as you can see, this fish is much smaller. I used fingering, or weight one yarn, to make this fish, and I also used it with a 2.25 millimeter crochet hook. Oops, closed it up there. So small hook and thin yarn equals small fish. I used medium weight yarn and this larger hook, which is a 3.25 millimeter, and made this larger fish. So the main point is to find a hook size that will go with your yarn to make sure you can crochet tightly with no gaps in between. You don't want any stuffing to show up between the stitches. Other than your hook and your yarn, you'll need a pair of scissors and also plastic safety eyes and their backings. Again, the size for the eyes will depend on your fish. I used six millimeter eyes for this little one, and I think this is either eight or nine millimeters for the larger one. And you'll also need stuffing, and that's it. I'm using some incredibly beautiful yarn right here. This is Darn Good Yarns Sparkle Silk Worsted Weight in Citrin, and I think it's the perfect color for my goldfish. So let's go ahead and get started. In this first round here, we're going to make the magic ring and insert six single crochets in the magic ring. If you'd like a slower pace for starting off with the magic ring, check out my videos in the description box below. Here's one, two, three, four, five, and six single crochets. Tighten up your ring, and in the next round, round two, we're going to increase around. So insert two single crochets in each stitch here, increase. In my next stitch, I'm going to increase again. In the next one, I'm going to increase again, and keep going all the way around. I'm on stitch four. Here's my fifth increase, and here's my sixth increase. Oh my gosh, I just love the sparkle in this yarn. It's so pretty, and the colors are so much fun too. All right, after that, we're going to do round three. Round three is single crochet and increase, and repeat that all the way around. You're going to do that six repetitions. So here in the first stitch, you're just going to do one single crochet. In the next stitch, you're going to increase, repeating this around. So single crochet and increase, single crochet and increase, and you're going to have 18 total stitches at the end. For round number four, you're simply going to single crochet around without any increasing at all. You're going to keep your same stitch count of 18 here. So I'm just going to single crochet one in each stitch. All right, here I am, um, finished with round four. As you can see, um, I'm kind of using my yarn tail here as a way to see where I'm starting my rounds. You can use an actual stitch marker if you'd like. I'm just using the yarn tail out of, um, convenience. And for round number five, what you'll do is do, um, an increase here. So it's going to be single crochet two and then increase, and we're going to repeat that six times around. I'm going to do a couple of these first repetitions. So single crochet two, and in the next stitch, you're going to increase. So here I'm putting two single crochets in the same stitch, and we're repeating that around. So single crochet two, and then increase, single crochet two, and increase. And when you, uh, finish this round, you will have 24 stitches in the, um, total round count. And, um, as you keep working along, um, for round six, you're not going to increase at all. You're just going to single crochet around. For round seven, you're going to do single crochet three and then increase six times. You'll get to 30 stitches there. In round eight, simply single crochet around. I'm not going to show those instructions for, um, the purpose of saving time because, um, you should be able to do the increases just fine. So we are going to go ahead and meet back after round number eight is complete. Here is a look at round eight complete. As you can see, you will have sort of a cone shape at this point, and we're going to now work on the body part of the fish. If you look at my written pattern, I will have four different scale designs available for the midsection of the body. For this video and the free version, I'm going to show you the first version, or the first scale design, which is the easiest one to do. It's the most beginner-friendly, and it's simply single crocheting in back loops only all the way around. So what you'll do is work into the back loop here. You would normally be crocheting through both loops of your stitch, but back loop means the loop that is farther from you. So here's the front loop up here. Oops, let's see if I can get my hook under. Here's the front loop, and here is the back loop. So now I'm going to work in back loops only. Insert your hook into the back loop and make a single crochet like normal, and you'll just do that all the way around, working only in those back loops. As you do that, you might notice that your front loop gets pushed forward, and this creates a nice little ridge here, and you can see the texture of the loops taking place. So you're going to repeat rounds 9 to round 13, doing just a single crochet in back loops only all the way around. We're going to meet back after round 13 is complete. Here's a look at round 13 now complete. You can see the back loops, um, excuse me, you can see that working in the back loops has created this lovely texture going around the mid section of the fish. Now it's time to insert the plastic safety eyes. Since I'm using medium weight yarn, I'm inserting some bigger eyes than called for in my original pattern, which I used fingering yarn for. So just find whatever size you find to be suitable for your fish. I'm using 10 millimeter eyes here, and insert them between rounds 5 to 6. You can count from the beginning here. That's round 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. So right in between rounds 5 and 6 would be a good spot to insert the eyes, and you'll want to put them on both sides of the head. Now go ahead and secure the backings onto the eyes as well, and after you have attached the eyes, we can continue working on the following rounds. All right, you will weave in the starting hair and tail at the end too. I'm just going to keep that out for now. All right, so for round 14, we're going to start doing some decreases. Excuse me, instead of round 14, I know we finished off with 13 here, but we're going to count the second part, the latter part of the body, brand new as round 1 again. So for body part 2, round 1, we're going to single crochet 3 and then decrease, repeating that 6 times around. Here's what it's going to look like, and I'm going to choose to do this next round in back loops only. That's an option you can do if you've done the back loops only midsection. So here we go, single crochet 3, 1, 2, and 3, and then decrease in the next stitch. Decrease is to single crochet 2 stitches together. Let's continue on, single crochet 3, 1, 2, 3, and decrease. Let's do that again, single crochet 3, 1, 2, and 3, and then decrease, and we'll keep working around like this. After you've done round 1 of the bodies part 2, you're going to do round 2, which is just to single crochet all the way around. I'm going back to working in both loops here. Round 2 is complete here. For round 3, you're going to single crochet twice and then decrease all the way around. That'll give you 18 stitches in the end. So here we go, single crochet 2, and then decrease in the next stitch. Single crochet 2, and then decrease. You're going to work that repetition around 6 times total. For round 4, you're going to single crochet around, and we'll meet back when we get to round 5. After round 4, now is a good time to go ahead and stuff your fish. You don't want to stuff it at the very end when the hole is too small, so let's go ahead and fill it up now. Now that you have stuffed your amigurumi, it's time to kind of get ready to finish up the end part. So for round 5, we're going to continue with a single crochet and decrease, repeated around 6 times. Here's what it'll look like. You're going to single crochet in the first stitch, and decrease in the second stitch, or the next 2, excuse me. Alright, let's do that again. Single crochet, and then decrease. Single crochet, and decrease. And we're going to work this all the way around, repeating 6 times total. So this is my 4th repetition, my 5th, and 6th. Alright, once you've got that, you'll notice that the hole is getting significantly smaller at the end. What we're going to do soon is make the tail. So at this point, you are now going to single crochet until you reach the very bottom of the fish. And to do that, you're going to find out where the eyes are first. You want the eyes on the sides, and I like to place my fish right side up, and then I can kind of pinch the tail to see where the bottom of the fish would be. So the bottom of my fish would be right over here. See how that matches up? Again, pinching your fish's body in the back is going to help with figuring out where the top and the bottom would be. Okay, so I'm gonna see, I just need, um, looks like maybe a couple more stitches to get to the very bottom here. So I'm going to just add two more. We want to make sure we start at the very bottom of the fish for the tail. Alright, because the tail is going to be worked from the bottom, and row by row, we're going to work up to the top. Now, before you start the tail, you'll want to make sure your fish is stuffed appropriately. So I still am missing some stuffing at the end here. I want to add just a bit more. Here I have stuffed the back of the body a little more. Make sure you can still fold the ends together and see that your fish isn't so stuffed to the brim that you can't fold the ends together. As we make the tail, we're going to be stitching through the two layers, so you'll want it to be aligned with the eyes. You don't want the tail to be this way, for example. You want it to be like this. Alright, so to get started with the tail, um, and here I'm gonna start, um, instead of sharing the written instructions, uh, which I think are more confusing, I, because they're quite long, actually, with all the numbers and such, I'm going to talk you through it. So, um, hopefully it'll be easier this way. Now, you're going to start off with 15 chains. So that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, oops, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. After the 15 chains, we're going to start on round one. In round one, you're going to insert a single crochet in the second chain from your hook. So, skip the first chain and go into the second one, and you're going to single crochet across in each of the remaining chains. Here, I'm going all the way back towards the body. Alright, so here I've done all the chains going back to the body. What I'm going to do now is insert my hook into both the front and the back layer of the body. So, I'm going into a stitch, uh, pinching the tail shut. I'm going in from the front through to the back. We're going to stitch that tail together, uh, stitch that opening up. So, I'm going to yarn over, or sorry, I'm going to pull my yarn through and finish my slip stitch, like so. Now, for round two, what I'm going to do is turn my piece. I'm going to work back towards the end of the tail, and I'm going to work in single crochets in back loops only, all the way across the tail, and leave the last stitch unworked. So, here, let me get my yarn ready over here. Insert my hook into the back loop and single crochet. Go into the back loop and single crochet. And let's work all of these single crochets in back loops only. I want to say don't worry too much about stitch count here. It's all right if you, um, don't end up with exactly the same stitches as me, because your fish is an organic animal, and missing a stitch here or there in the tail is only going to make it more beautiful. So, don't you worry. You know, all of this going back and forth is pretty confusing with the numbers of stitches, so I've chosen to include that only in the written pattern and, um, not here as I explain. All right. So, the main point is you just want to make sure you don't work in that very last stitch. You want to leave that last stitch unworked. Now, we're going to turn our piece around, and for round number three, you're going to work back towards the body, and you're going to single crochet in back loops only towards the body. You want to skip that very first stitch. So, skip this first stitch and work in the next stitch right in the back loops. When you get to the very end, you're going to insert a slip stitch back into the body, going through both the front and back layers like we did for round one. All right. Go right back, slip stitch into the same stitch as round one. The next time we come back towards the body, we're going to slip stitch in the next stitch, but for this one, I want you to go back into the same stitch as round one so that it creates a nice little cinch in the tail. Okay. So, after you do that, we're going to go on to round four here. For round four, you're going to turn your piece. We're going to work back towards the outer part of the tail, and we're going to work in back loops only. So, insert your hook into the first stitch, just the back loop, and make a single crochet. And again, single crochet in back loops only all the way across. Make sure you don't single crochet in the very last stitch. There we go. So, I'm leaving that last stitch unworked, and I'm going to turn my piece and work back towards the fish's body. So, I'm going to skip the very first stitch here, single crochet in the back loop of the next stitch, and all the way back along the body. All right. As you get back, you're going to insert a slip stitch into the next two stitches going through the front loop of the front stitch and the back layer. And I'm just doing a slip stitch here, and then we're going to continue back this way. All right. So, for this round, we're going to single crochet six in back loops only towards the tail. After you single crochet six, it means we're going to leave the last one, two, three, four stitches unworked, and then you're going to single, excuse me, you're going to chain five. One, two, three, four, and five, and we're going to go on the next round. For the next round, you're going to turn, insert your hook into the second chain from the hook, and make a single crochet. Then, you're going to single crochet along the tail. So, insert a single crochet in each of those chains, and when you get to the stitches, you're going to, single crochets I mean, you're going to work in the back loops only. Then, you're going to slip stitch back into the same stitch in the body, then turn your piece, for round eight here, we're going to now work six, excuse me, ten single crochets back along all of these towards the end of the tail. Eight, nine, ten single crochets, and at the end, you're going to chain two. Then, you're going to turn your piece for round nine, insert your hook into the second chain from the hook, and make a single crochet. Then, you're going to single crochet in back loops only all the way across, back to the body. When you reach the very end, what you will do is slip stitch back into the next stitch in the body now. We're basically going into each of the front and back layers twice, so round one and three went back into the same stitch, round five and seven went back into the same stitch, and now for round nine, we're going into the next stitch in the body, and let's go ahead and do round ten now. We're going to single crochet ten in back loops only across the tail row, leaving the last stitch unworked. All right, so here, I'm leaving the very last stitch unworked, and I'm going to turn my piece, and we're going to work back towards the body. For round number eleven, skip that first stitch, and then single crochet in back loops only back towards the body. So, skip that first stitch in the next one, work in the back loops. We're going to single crochet nine here, and let's go back into the same stitch in the body as the previous round. All right, this time, as we single crochet across, we're going to only single crochet five in back loops only, and leave the last four stitches unworked. So, that's one, two, three, four, and five stitches. Leave the last one, two, three, four unworked. We're going to make a chain of one, two, three, four, and five. Then, we're going to turn our piece again, and you know the drill. We're going to work round thirteen by single crocheting in the second chain from the hook here. Single crochet in each of those chains, and single crochet in back loops only back towards the body. All right, when you get to the end, you're going to slip stitch into the next stitch, going through both layers here. Let's go ahead and work the next round. For round fourteen, you're going to turn, single crochet in back loops only across, then chain two at the end. So, I'm going to single crochet across. All right, let's add some length. Chain two, turn your piece, skip the first chain, and single crochet in the second chain from your hook. Then, single crochet in back loops only back towards the body. You are going to insert a slip stitch into the same stitch in the body when you get back. All right, so going back into the body and out the other end here, just do the slip stitch. All righty, we've got a pretty tail going on here. All right, now we're going to turn the piece and single crochet all the way across. When you get to the very end, chain two, then you're going to turn your piece and then single crochet in the second chain from your hook, and then in back loops only back to the body. All right, when you get back to the body, you're going to go ahead and slip stitch back into the next stitch in the body. Oops, sorry, I meant the same stitch here. I think we didn't get this one in yet. Okay, there we go. All right, and we're gonna work one more row. Turn your piece and single crochet across in back loops only. When you get to the end, chain two, um, as you've been doing to build a little more length at the end of the tail. So here, I'm going to chain two, and then I'm going to single crochet across, um, single crochet into the first or the second chain from the hook, and then in back loops only towards the body. In this very last row, you're going to slip stitch in the final, um, two stitches of the round, uh, of the body, I mean. And here, slip stitch into the very last stitch. Once you have done that, your fish's beautiful tail is going to be all done. Simply fasten off with a tail, and you're going to weave in the ends here. And if you notice that your tail's a little bit frumpy, um, never fear. What you're going to do is simply stretch out the stitches a little bit, because that usually happens when you've got, um, tight tension. And if you just stretch the stitches a bit, it'll relax the stitches and help the tail lay a little flatter. So here's the tail all done, and I'm going to quickly show you how to attach the fin and the flippers. All right, with the head facing to the left, you're going to insert your hook underneath a stitch on the very last, uh, part, round of the midsection. So I'm going to, and you're going to have to line it up with the top of your fish's body. So it's going to be right along here. I'm going to insert my hook underneath that last stitch. Oops, I think I need to go back a little bit. There we go. Here we're going to work towards the front of the head. Attach your yarn, and to start, you're going to make a chain and then a single crochet in the same stitch. Then you're going to do a single crochet and a half double crochet in the next stitch. So we're going to work towards the front of the fish here. You're just moving into, um, the next stitch up. Single crochet and half double crochet. Then go into the next stitch for a half double crochet and a double crochet. Go into the next stitch with a double crochet and a half double crochet. Oops. And then you're going to make a chain and a slip stitch at the very end. This is not a very exact science here. Um, it's going to depend a little on, uh, where you want to place your fin, but, um, this is kind of how it'll look when you're done. Okay, so now, um, when you are all done with the top fin, you're going to just fasten off and weave in the yarn ends there. I'll get that done in a little bit. Here's a look. All right, so on to the flippers. Um, firstly, I apologize for the lighting here. I ran out of natural daylight and really wanted to finish this video. So, um, hopefully it doesn't look too bad. Um, but basically for the flippers, you just want to find a spot to the side of the fish that you would like to insert the flippers in. I like to hold the fish, um, facing me to see kind of where the flippers would be poking out of. I like them kind of at an angle. So I've decided to put it, um, a little lower, uh, towards the bottom of the body and, um, a couple rows inside the midsection. So when you found the place that you want to do the flippers, just attach your yarn and then you're going to chain two, insert a double crochet in the same stitch, chain two, and you're going to slip stitch in the same stitch. Once you've done that, you'll notice that, um, your little flipper is then in place and you can go ahead and fasten off with a yarn tail and weave in the ends. You'll just need to re, uh, repeat the instructions on the other side. So I'll fasten that off a little, uh, weave it in a little later and let me find kind of where I want to put the next one. You want to match it up with the front to see, um, if it's aligned or not and I think, yeah, right about here. Okay, so here, repeat the instructions with a chain two, double crochet in the same stitch, chain two, and make a slip stitch. And there you have it. Your flipper is done. All that's left to do is to weave in all your ends. So make sure you get that pulled into the body. Gotta hide all those yarn tails here. And I'm just using my hook, which makes it a very, um, easy no-sew method. You're gonna wonder why I even own yarn needles because all my latest projects are just no-sew, which honestly I love so much because I am not, um, a talented sewer at all. Sewist? Sewer? I don't know. I'm bad at sewing. That's what it is. Yep. All right, and just pulling in all my yarn tails here. Let's find a spot for you. Okay, and there you have it. Um, once you've got your fin and your flippers sewn onto the body, you are all done with your beautiful goldfish. You can go ahead and enjoy it. I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial. You can see how quick and easy it was to make this goldfish, and I love that, um, there's no sewing involved, so that makes for a much more efficient, um, project. All right, thanks so much for watching. Have a good one. Bye now!