Crochet octopus: eight legs, nothing to sew on

Not yet craft-tested. The increase and decrease schedules are standard for a sphere of this size, but nobody has worked this octopus and measured it.

What this is

An eight-legged octopus worked in one continuous spiral, about 9 cm tall including the legs and about 5 cm across the body. It is a good first shaped piece: the body is a plain sphere from a single increase schedule, and the legs are chains worked straight into the base, so there are no limbs to sew on and no seams to line up.

The whole construction in one paragraph

Build a sphere from a 6-stitch ring, increasing by 6 stitches a round until you reach 36, work seven plain rounds for the middle, then decrease back down and stuff on the way. Work the legs as chain curls directly into the round below the base, three stitches apart, which gives eight legs from a 24-stitch round. Embroider the eyes so that nothing can be pulled off.

The body

1. Round 1 — 6 sc into a magic ring. (6)
2. Round 2 — 2 sc in each stitch. (12)
3. Round 3 — [1 sc, 2 sc in next] 6 times. (18)
4. Round 4 — [2 sc, 2 sc in next] 6 times. (24)
5. Round 5 — [3 sc, 2 sc in next] 6 times. (30)
6. Round 6 — [4 sc, 2 sc in next] 6 times. (36)
7. Rounds 7–13 — 1 sc in each stitch around, seven plain rounds. (36)
8. Round 14 — [4 sc, sc2tog] 6 times. (30)
9. Round 15 — 1 sc in each stitch. (30)
10. Round 16 — [3 sc, sc2tog] 6 times. (24)
11. Round 17 — [2 sc, sc2tog] 6 times. (18). Stop here and stuff: the opening is still wide enough to push filling into the sides with the blunt end of a hook.
12. Round 18 — [1 sc, sc2tog] 6 times. (12). Add a little more filling, keeping the shape round rather than hard.
13. Round 19 — sc2tog 6 times. (6). Fasten off, run the tail through the last six stitches and pull closed.

The legs

Work the legs into round 17, which holds 24 stitches — enough for eight legs using three stitches each. Turn the body upside down, join the yarn at the base, and for every leg:

1. Slip stitch into the next stitch of round 17.
2. Chain 12.
3. Slip stitch back along the chain (11 slip stitches). Working back down the chain is what gives the leg its curl.
4. Slip stitch into the stitch you started from, then slip stitch into each of the next two stitches to reach the start of the next leg.

After eight legs, fasten off and weave the ends into the body. If the legs hang limply, the chain is too short for the yarn weight: make the next one with 14 chains rather than pulling on a finished leg, which only stretches the chain.

The face

Embroider the eyes with two or three strands of embroidery cotton: two small upright satin-stitch ovals in round 9, about six stitches apart, with a single stitch over the top of each as a highlight. Nothing can then be pulled off or swallowed, which matters more than neatness on a piece that will be handled.

Bought safety eyes work too, but only lock when the washer is pushed down as far as it will go, and they cannot be removed once set. No toy standard certifies an eye fitted by hand at a kitchen table, so the honest position is that neither option replaces supervision with very small children.

What is still missing from this guide

• No worked sample, so the 9 cm height and 20 g of filling are estimates that move with how firmly you work.
• No check against any toy-safety standard for the eyes or the stuffing.
• No left-handed working notes and no joined-round variation.