Crochet Red-Nosed Reindeer Pattern

I originally created this reindeer as a newborn prop for a photographer but it would make an excellent gift for any small child. When I was creating this crochet reindeer pattern my daughter kept begging me for one of her own!

Head

Start at nose. Begin with red yarn and smaller hook. I used a 2.5mm. The red yarn I used was slightly thinner than the brown yarn, if you are using the same weight yarn then you can the same hook throughout but the nose will be slightly larger comparatively.

Start: SC 6 in magic loop. Pull to close tightly.

Round 1: INC in each stitch around (12)

Round 2: SC around (12)

Round 3: DEC around *sc 2 tog* 6 times (6)    [I prefer to use an invisible decrease for all my decreases, to do this you insert your hook into the front loop only of the first stitch, DO NOT YARN OVER, then insert your hook into the front loop only of the second stich, yarn over, pull through both loops, yarn over, pull through remaining two loops.]

Stuff nose with tail from magic loop or use a little bit of stuffing if you don’t have enough of a tail.

Cut red yarn. Now this is where you join the brown yarn. If you don’t care about having those little steps in the color change then join normally and continue. I prefer a cleaner look so I like to use the seamless join for the nose. There’s a ton of great video tutorials on the seamless join, it’s fairly simple and so much cleaner.

Change to larger hook (3.5mm) and join brown yarn. The hook size does not matter so much just make sure you are getting a very tight gauge.

Round 4: SC around (6)

Round 5: INC around, *sc 2 in each stitch* 6 times (12)

Round 6: SC 1, SC 2 in next stitch, *SC 1, INC* repeat around 5 more times (18)

Round 7: SC around (18)

Round 8: SC around (18)

Round 9: SC 5, INC, SC, INC in next 4 stitches, SC, INC, SC 5 (24)

Round 10: SC 6, INC, SC 3, INC in next 4 stitches, SC 3, INC, SC 6 (30)

Rounds 11-17: SC around (30)

Round 18: *SC 3, Dec* around (24)

Place eyes between rows 10 and 11 on each side of the set of 4 increases from row 10.

Round 19: *SC 2, DEC* around (18)

Begin stuffing head.

Round 20: *SC 1, DEC* around (12)

Round 21: DEC around (6)

Finish stuffing. Fasten off, pull tail through remaining 6 stitches tightly.

 

 

Body

Start: SC 6 in magic ring

Round 1: INC in stitch around (12)

Round 2: *SC 1, INC* around (18)

Round 3: *SC 2, INC* around (24)

Round 4-9: SC around (24)

Round 10: *SC 2, DEC* (18)

Round 11-13: SC around (18)

Round 14: *SC 4, DEC* 3 times (15)

Round 15: *SC 3, DEC* 3 times (12)

Round 16: *SC 1, DEC* 4 times (8)

Finish stuffing. Fasten off, leaving long tail for sewing head onto body.

 

Arms

(Make two)

Start: (With lighter color and smaller hook) SC 6 in magic ring, join with slip stitch to first sc

Round 1: Ch 1, SC 2 in same stitch, INC in remaining 5 stitches. Join with slip stitch to first SC. (12)

Round 2: Ch1, SC in same stitch, INC in next, *SC, INC* repeat 5 times. Join with slip stitch to first SC. (18)

Round 3: Ch 1, SC around. Join with slip stitch to first SC. (18)

Round 4: Ch1, *SC 1, DEC* repeat around. Join with slip stitch or seamless join to first SC. (12)

Cut yarn, join brown color and use larger hook.

Round 5: Ch1, SC around. (12) (I like to slip stich to join on the first round with the new color then after I work the rounds continuously without joining)

Round 6: *SC 2, DEC* 3 times. (9)

Round 7: SC around. (9)

Round 8: SC around. (9)

Round 9: *SC 1, DEC* repeat 3 times (6)

Round 10: SC around. (6)

Round 11: SC around. (6)

Round 12: SC around. (6)

Fasten off. Stuff.

 

Legs

Make two.

With smaller hook and lighter color.

Start: SC 6 in magic ring.

Round 1: INC in stitch around. (12)

Round 2: *SC, INC* repeat around (18)

Cut yarn. Fasten off/seamless join.

With larger hook, join brown yarn.

Round 3-6: SC around (18)

Round 7: SC 3, DEC 6 times, SC 3 (12)

Round 8: SC around (12)

Round 9: SC around (12)

Round 10: SC 3, DEC 3 times, SC 3 (9)

Round 11: SC around (9)

Round 12: SC 1, DEC 3 times, SC 2 (6)

Round 13: SC around (6)

 

Ears

Make two.

With brown color.

SC 6 in magic ring, turn.

Chain 2, DC twice in same stitch, dc twice in each of the next single crochets (12).

Fasten off.

 

Antlers

With lighter color.

Start: SC 6 in magic ring (6)

Rounds 1-10: SC around (6)

Fasten off.

Second part of antler:

Start: SC 5 in magic ring (5)

Rounds 1-4: SC around (5)

Fasten off.

Attach small part of antler to longer part.

 

Finishing off.

Attach ears behind eyes and antlers behind ears.

Attach head to body. I like to sew the hole in the body in half and then attach to head.

Attach the arms and legs to the body in the same way.

Hope you all enjoy this pattern. If you have any question feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll try to answer them!