Sage the Sheep Free Amigurumi Pattern

I didn’t choose the yarn, the yarn chose me.

A standard single crochet design would be fine, but something that gave the fleece extra fluffy, plushy dimension would be even better.

I started experimenting with the Bobble Stitch and fell in love.

I got exactly the look I was going for, though I learned a few lessons about designing with bobbles the hard way:

1. There must be a single crochet between each bobble stitch. This helps the bobbles to “pop” and prevents overcrowding (more on this below).
2. Join your rounds. At the end of a round, you will slst into the first stitch of the round to join, then chain 1 before starting the next round (you do not turn the work).

   If you try to do a standard continuous spiral as with most amigurumi, the bobbles end up staggered rather than stacked, and it creates gaps in the work.

3. There must be a round of single crochets between each round of bobbles. Otherwise, the bobbles crowd each other and the work ends up too dense.

Designing with bobbles was a fun challenge.

For the sake of continuity, I wanted my sheep to have the same general dimensions as the rest of my farm animal crochet patterns.

After some quick calculations, I figured out that a bobble is roughly the same size as a 2×2 grid of standard single crochets. So for every bobble round, I’d subtract two rounds of single crochets.

To keep things easy, I avoided adding increases or decreases in bobble rounds, and simply doubled up the increases or decreases in the single crochet rounds.

I was able to recreate my standard animal body shape using bobbles, and was thrilled with the final result!

I’ve included a step-by-step video tutorial, and single crochet version of the pattern.

Making this sheep can be tricky because of the bobble stitches. I want to set everyone up for success–even if you’re not a particularly experienced crocheter–so I created a Sage the Sheep video crochet along.

I’ll walk you through making your sheep from start to finish. If you get stuck at any point while following the written pattern, be sure to check out the videos. It can really help!

If you attempt the bobble rounds and end up throwing your work across the room in frustration, don’t worry; I’ve included a single crochet version of this pattern as well. You can still make an adorable sheep without the fuss of bobbles.

Can’t find velvet yarn? No worries.

It’s important to me that the materials required to make my patterns are accessible and affordable for everyone.

I’ve heard how hard it can be to track down specialty yarns in some parts of the world, so I make sure all of my patterns can be made with inexpensive acrylic yarn that can be found at any craft store. Ol’ reliable Red Heart will work just as well.