How to Crochet Tarantulas

Crochet your own little tarantula buddy.

Crocheting small toys or dolls is a fun way to use up small amounts of yarn to make gifts for children or decorate your house. A crocheted tarantula is highly appropriate for the Halloween season, or as a gift for your favorite arachnologist or arachnophile; there are people who actually like spiders, after all. With the ability to add color to the tarantula as you go, you can personalize your crocheted tarantula, in case your intended recipient already has a pet and would like to have a soft, fuzzy, huggable twin.

Things You'll Need

• Black or brown bulky weight yarn
• Size J 6.0 mm crochet hook
• Gray, orange or yellow eyelash yarn
• Scissors
• Stuffing product
• Yarn needle
• Safety eyes
• Sewing thread and needle
• Felt
• Fabric glue

Instructions

Body and Head

1. Make a two stitch long chain; tie a slip knot in your yarn, slide it on your hook and then pull the working yarn through the loop to make the first, then repeat to make the second stitch. Make five single crochet stitches in the stitch farther from your hook; to single crochet, slide your hook through the back loop of your stitch, wrap the working yarn around the hook and pull it through, yarn over again and pull the last yarn over through the other two loops on your crochet hook.

2. Work in a circular fashion around your crocheting, and make two single crochets into each stitch. You should have ten stitches facing outward. On your next row, make two single crochet into the next stitch then one into the stitch after that. Repeat this around to give you 15 stitches available.

3. Add in your contrasting color eyelash yarn. Make two single crochets into the first stitch, then single crochet once into the both of the next stitches and repeat around to have twenty stitches. The next round, two single crochet in the first stitch, three stitches of single crochet and repeat around to leave you with 25 stitches. Drop your contrasting color yarn, letting it fall to the inside of your work.

4. Single crochet every stitch for the next six rounds, knitting only with the bulky yarn for two rows, then both held together for two rows, then two of bulky alone to create stripes.

5. Pick up your eyelash yarn again and decrease your crocheting by single crocheting two stitches together and then single crocheting on the next three stitches. Repeat around the body of your spider. On the next round, single crochet two stitches together and single crochet in the next two stitches. You should have 15 stitches. Drop your eyelash yarn again and stuff the body with stuffing.

6. Single crochet two stitches together and single crochet into the next stitch all the way around the body. On the next pass around, single crochet two stitches together all the way around and slip stitch; slide your hook into the next stitch, yarn over the hook and pull it through both loops, leaving you with one loop, using both your bulky and eyelash yarns. Cut your yarn leaving a tail at least one foot long. Pull the tail through your loop to secure your stitches.

7. Make the head using only the bulky yarn, increasing until you have 20 stitches, then working three rounds in single crochet, then decreasing to 15 by single crocheting two together, then single crocheting the next stitch all the way around. Stuff the head with stuffing then slip stitch bind off and leave at least a one foot tail of yarn.

Legs and Assembly

1. Hold the bulky yarn and eyelash yarn together and chain 17. Turn your leg, single crochet the next six stitches, single crochet three times into the next stitch, and then single crochet the next nine stitches.

2. Slip stitch in the last stitch, then continue to chain two more. Bind off.

3. Take four of the spider legs and orient them so the toes face in the same direction. Thread your yarn needle and pass the tail of yarn through the stitches of the last row of your body until you reach the point you want your legs to extend from. Slip your needle through the top stitches of these four legs and then pass the tail of yarn through the stitches again to secure the legs in place. Continue around the body to the other side and affix the legs to that side. Pass the needle through several stitches and secure before pushing the yarn tail into the body cavity.

4. Sew the head onto the body by threading the yarn tail through the yarn needle and looping the yarn through the stitches of the body and head where the seam meets. Run your tail through several stitches before trimming the yarn into a one inch tail. Push your needle through the body of your spider, intentionally pulling the tail out of the needle while it is inside.

5. Sew your safety eyes to the head. Safety eyes have a loop on the back of the eye, so to attach them you simply pass your needle through the stitch where you wish to place your eye, loop it through the eye catch and back through the same spot on your crochet work several times before tying your thread. Glue a small round dot of felt between the eyes and a little below to serve as a nose.

Tips & Warnings

• You can place the legs along the side of the body by chaining 17 and then single crocheting it directly to the stitch you wish to attach it to on the body. Follow the rest of the leg directions from that point.

References

• Unique Homemade Gifts: Crochet Basics