Hello crochet lion,

Rawr! I’m made this little guy for my adorable little nephew. Not sure if he’d appreciate a plush toy, but I know for sure that if he had a spirit animal lion would be it. So here’s my pattern for this lovely little toy.

Measure:

Height: 21cms.
Crochet hook size: 2.5mm
Yarn : 2 skeins of light brown coloured acrylic yarn
1 skein of dark brown coloured yarn
1 skein of white colored yarn

Pattern notes:

The pattern is worked in continuous rounds without joining at the end of each round. The semi colon between rounds indicates similar pattern is to be followed for the rounds between them. The mane is rooted*.
Rooted:
Follow the pattern under mane for the mane cap. To make the hair like appearance for the mane, cut yarn to strips of desired length to be worked into almost every sc on the mane cap. Fold the yarn in half; make a knot similar to the larks head knot in macramé into the mane cap.

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Head:
Round 1: Magic Circle, 6sc into the circle & then pull it close. (6)
Round 2: 2sc in sc around. (12)
Round 3: [sc in the sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (18)
Round 4: [sc in the next 2sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (24)
Round 5: [sc in the next 3sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (30)
Round 6: [sc in the next 4sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (36)
Round 7: [sc in the next 5sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (42)
Round 8: sc around. (42)
Round 9: [sc in the next 6sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (48)
Round 10: sc around. (48)
:
Round 17: sc around. (48)
Round 18: [sc in the next 6sc, dec in the next 2sc] * 6 times. (42)
Round 19: [sc in the next 5sc, dec in the next 2sc] * 6 times. (36)
Round 20: [sc in the next 4sc, dec in the next 2sc] * 6 times. (30)
Round 21: [sc in the next 3sc, dec in the next 2sc] * 6 times. (24)
Round 22: [sc in the next 2sc, dec in the next 2sc] * 6 times. (18)
Stuff the head. Finish off.

Lion’s muzzle:
Using a white coloured yarn,
Chain 5.
Round 1: Starting from the second chain from the hook sc in the next 3 chains, 3sc in the last chain, turn, sc in the next 3 chains, 3sc in the last chain.
Round 2: sc(3), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(3), 2sc, sc, 2sc. (16)  

 Round 3: sc(4), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(5), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc. (20)
Round 4: sc(5), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(7), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(2). (24)
Round 5: sc(6), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(9), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(3). (28)
Round 6: sc(7), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(11), 2sc, sc, 2sc, sc(4). (32)
Round 7: sc around. (32)
Round 8: sc around. (32)
Stuff the muzzle and attach it to the head.

Lion’s nostrils:
Starting off with a darker colour(I used the brown coloured yarn I used for it’s mane),
Round 1: Magic Circle, 6sc into the circle & then pull it close. (6)
Round 2: [sc in the next sc, 2sc in the next 2sc] * 2 times. (10)
Round 3: [sc in the next 4sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 2 times. (12)
Round 4: [sc in the next 5sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 2 times. (14)
Joining in with the other yarn used for the lion’s head,
Round 5: sc around.
Round 6: [sc in the next 6sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 2 times. (16)
Round 7: [sc in the next 7sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 2 times. (18)
Round 8: sc around. (18)
Round 9: [sc in the next 8sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 2 times. (20)
Fold and sew it to the top of the muzzle.

Crochet Lion - Head

Mane:
Round 1: Magic Circle, 6sc into the circle & then pull it close. (6)
Round 2: 2sc in sc around. (12)
Round 3: [sc in the sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (18)
Round 4: [sc in the next 2sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (24)
Round 5: [sc in the next 3sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (30)
Round 6: [sc in the next 4sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (36)
Round 7: [sc in the next 5sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (42)
Round 8: [sc in the next 6sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (48)
Round 10: sc around. (48)
Round 11: 22sc, sc2tog, 22sc, sc2tog. (46)
Round 12: 19sc, sc2tog, sc2tog, 19sc, sc2tog, sc2tog. (42)
Round 13: 19sc, sc2tog, 19sc, sc2tog. (40)
Sl st and finish off.

Now attach the mane cap to the head, and start rooting it for the lush mane. It’s time consuming but gives you the best effect. After about two or three rows of rooting the hair attach the ears.

Ears:
Round 1: Magic Circle, 6sc into the circle & then pull it close. (6)
Round 2: 2sc in sc around. (12)
Round 3: [sc in the sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (18)
Round 4: sc around. (18)
Round 5: sc around. (18)
Make two of these ears and sew it into the head appropriately.

Crochet Lion-mane

Lion’s Body:
Round 1: Magic Circle, 6sc into the circle & then pull it close. (6)
Round 2: 2sc in sc around. (12)
Round 3: [sc in the sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (18)
Round 4: [sc in the next 2sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (24)
Round 5: [sc in the next 3sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (30)
Round 6: [sc in the next 4sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (36)
Round 7: [sc in the next 5sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (42)
Round 8: [sc in the next 6sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (48)
Round 9: [sc in the next 7sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (54)
Round 10: [sc in the next 8sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (60)
Round 11: [sc in the next 9sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (66)
Round 12: sc around. (66)
Round 13: sc around. (66)
Round 14: sc around. (66)
Round 15: [sc in the next 9sc, dec] * 6 times. (60)
Round 16: sc around. (60)
Round 17: [sc in the next 8sc, dec] * 6 times. (54)
Round 18: sc around. (54)
Round 19: [sc in the next 7sc, dec] * 6 times. (48)
Round 20: sc around. (48)
Round 21: [sc in the next 6sc, dec] * 6 times. (42)
Round 22: sc around. (42)
Round 23: [sc in the next 5sc, dec] * 6 times. (36)
Round 24: sc around. (36)
Round 25: [sc in the next 5sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (42)
Round 26: sc around. (42)
Round 27: sc around. (42)
Round 28: sc around. (42)
Round 29: sc around. (42)
Round 30: [sc in the next 5sc, dec] * 6 times. (36)
Round 31: sc around. (36)
Round 32: [sc in the next 4sc, dec] * 6 times. (30)
Round 33: [sc in the next 3sc, dec] * 6 times. (24)
Round 34: [sc in the next 2sc, dec] * 6 times. (18)
Stuff body and finish off.
Haha! Look at his pear shaped body.

Crochet Lion-body

Lion’s Legs:
Round 1: Magic Circle, 6sc into the circle & then pull it close. (6)
Round 2: 2sc in sc around. (12)
Round 3: [sc in the sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (18)
Round 4: [sc in the next 2sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (24)
Round 5: [sc in the next 3sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (30)
Round 6: [sc in the next 4sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (36)
Round 7: sc around. (36)
Round 8: sc around. (36)
Round 9: [sc in the next 4sc, dec] * 4 times, 12sc. (32)
Round 10: [sc in the next 3sc, dec] * 4 times, 12sc. (28)
Round 11: [sc in the next 2sc, dec] * 4 times, 12sc. (24)
Round 12: sc around. (24)
:
Round 20: sc around. (24)
Make two of these, stuff and join it with the body.

Crochet Lion - Arms

Lion’s Arms:
Round 1: Magic Circle, 6sc into the circle & then pull it close. (6)
Round 2: 2sc in sc around. (12)
Round 3: [sc in the sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (18)
Round 4: [sc in the next 2sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (24)
Round 5: [sc in the next 3sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (30)
Round 6: [sc in the next 4sc, 2sc in the next sc] * 6 times. (36)
Round 7: sc around. (36)
Round 8: sc around. (36)
Round 9: [sc in the next 4sc, dec] * 4 times, 12sc. (32)
Round 10: [sc in the next 3sc, dec] * 4 times, 12sc. (28)
Round 11: [sc in the next 2sc, dec] * 4 times, 12sc. (24)
Round 12: [sc, dec] * 4 times, 12sc. (20)
Round 13: sc around. (20)
:
Round 26: sc around. (20)
Make two of these, stuff and join it with the body.

Eyes:
Using black colored yarn,
Magic circle, chain 1, 6sc in the circle. Join.
Make two of these and sew it onto the head.
Then thread white colored yarn to a needle and make a single stitch on it so that it appears like the light reflecting through his eyes.
Do the same for both eyes.
Now thread the yarn used for his body to a needle and make parallel stitches(like satin stitch in embroidery), covering quarter of his eyes. These should appear like the eyelid, almost making him a droopy eyed lion.

Tail:

Using tan colored yarn
Magic circle, chain 1, 6sc into the circle. Make several rounds of 6sc till your desired length. Make a 2sc increase for the next two rows and finish off. Sew the tail to the body. Root little strips brown colored yarn to the end of his tail.

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