I thought I’d spruce up a clock I bought from Daiso by making it look like a penguin 🙂 I used black, white and yellow 8 ply wool and a 4 mm hook. This pattern is written in American crochet notation.
Body
With black wool
Round 1: chain 80, slip stitch in the first chain to form a ring
(to customise this pattern for your own clock crochet a chain ring the same size as the circumference of the dial)
Round 2: sc in the first 11 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
(to customise this pattern you can determine the number of sc stitches between each increase by roughly following this guide (I don’t think it really matters if you are one or two stitches off – in retrospect I didn’t exactly follow this guide)
| Number of stitches in Round 1 chain ring | Number of sc stitches between increases |
| 24 | 3 |
| 30 | 4 |
| 36 | 5 |
| 42 | 6 |
| 48 | 7 |
| 54 | 8 |
| 60 | 9 |
| 66 | 10 |
| 72 | 11 |
| 78 | 12 |
| 84 | 13 |
| 90 | 14 |
| 96 | 15 |
| 102 | 16 |
As you can see, if the number of chains in the ring is x and the number of sc stitches between increases is y, the equation is
y = (x ÷ 6) – 1
If you get a decimal, round down to the nearest whole number.
Maths isn’t my strong point but I think this is about right. Of course the beauty of crochet is that mistakes can easily be fixed. As always, try something and if it doesn’t quite work unravel it, adjust it and try again.
Then just increase the number of sc stitches between each increase by one for each subsequent round. Keep going like this until your doughnut shape is a bit larger then the clock face, then decrease as per the pattern.
Round 3: sc in the first 12 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 4: sc in the first 13 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 5: sc in the first 14 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 6: sc in the first 15 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 7: sc in the first 16 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 8: sc in the first 17 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 9: sc in the first 18 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 10: sc in the first 19 stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat
Round 11: decrease two stitches together – repeat
Round 12: decrease two stitches together – repeat
Fasten off, weave in end.
Cut a length of black wool and weave it through the inner edge of the ring around the dial – pull it tight, fasten off, weave in ends (this will stop your crochet drifting away from the dial)
Head
With black wool
Round 1: 6sc in a magic ring (6 stitches)
Round 2: increase in every stitch (12 stitches)
Round 3: sc in the first stitch, increase in the next stitch – repeat (18 stitches)
Round 4: sc in the first two stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (24 stitches)
Round 5: sc in the first three stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (30 stitches)
Round 6: sc in the first four stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (36 stitches)
Round 7: sc in the first five stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (42 stitches)
Round 8: sc in the first six stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (48 stitches)
Round 9: sc in the first seven stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (54 stitches)
Round 10: sc in the first eight stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (60 stitches)
Round 11: sc in the first nine stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (66 stitches)
Round 12: sc in the first ten stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (72 stitches)
Rounds 13 – 16: sc in each stitch (72 stitches)
Round 17: sc in the first ten stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (66 stitches)
Round 18: sc in the first nine stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (60 stitches)
Round 19: sc in the first eight stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (54 stitches)
Round 20: sc in the first seven stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (48 stitches)
Round 21: sc in the first six stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (42 stitches)
Round 22: sc in the first five stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (36 stitches)
Round 23: sc in the first four stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (30 stitches)
Round 24: sc in the first three stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (24 stitches)
Round 25: sc in the first two stitches, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (18 stitches)
Stuff
Round 26: sc in the first stitch, decrease the next two stitches together – repeat (12 stitches)
Round 27: decrease until the hole closes.
Fasten off, weave in end.
Wings (make two)
With black wool
Round 1: 6sc in a magic ring (6 stitches)
Round 2: increase in every stitch (12 stitches)
Round 3: sc in the first stitch, increase in the next stitch – repeat (18 stitches)
Rounds 4 – 5: sc in each stitch (18 stitches)
Round 6: sc in the first two stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (24 stitches)
Round 7 – 8: sc in each stitch (24 stitches)
Round 9: sc in the first three stitches, increase in the next stitch – repeat (30 stitches)
Rounds 10 – 30: sc in each stitch (30 stitches)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.
White patch for the underside of the wings (make two)
With white wool
Row 1: chain 4 (one of these is a turning chain so won’t ultimately become a stitch)
Row 2: sc in each chain except the turning chain (3 stitches)
Row 3: increase in the first stitch, sc in the next stitch, increase in the last stitch (5 stitches)
Row 4: sc in each stitch (5 stitches)
Row 5: increase in the first stitch, sc in the next 3 stitches, increase in the last stitch (7 stitches)
Row 6: sc in each stitch (7 stitches)
Row 7: increase in the first stitch, sc in the next 5 stitches, increase in the last stitch (9 stitches)
Rows 8 – 20: sc in each stitch (9 stitches)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Feet (make two)
With yellow wool
First we need to make three toes.
Round 1: 6sc in a magic ring (6 stitches)
Round 2: increase in every stitch (12 stitches)
Rounds 3 – 5: sc in each stitch (12 stitches)
Fasten off for the first and second toes. Don’t fasten off when you finish the third toe because we will launch straight into round 6.
Once you have followed the instructions for rounds 1 – 5 three times and have three toes we need to join them together.
Round 6: (decrease two stitches together) x 3 on the first toe, (decrease two stitches together) x 3 on the second toe, (decrease two stitches together) x 6 on the third toe, (decrease two stitches together) x 3 on the second toe, (decrease two stitches together) x 3 on the first toe (18 stitches)
Rounds 7 – 9: sc in each stitch (18 stitches)
Stuff
Round 10: decrease until the hole closes.
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the hole so it is completely closed.
Beak
With yellow wool
Round 1: 6sc in a magic ring (6 stitches)
Round 2: sc in each stitch (6 stitches)
Round 3: increase in every stitch (12 stitches)
Rounds 4 – 5: sc in each stitch (12 stitches)
Round 6: sc in the first stitch, increase in the next stitch – repeat (18 stitches)
Round 7: sc in each stitch (18 stitches)
Stuff
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Assembly
Sew the white patches to the underside of the wings. Sew the wings, head and feet to the body. Sew the beak and googly eyes to the head.
To stop the head flopping forward tie some wool to the back of the head and sew it to the back of the body. Make sure the wool is tightened so there is not enough slack for the head to fall forward. Alternatively you could try using something stiff, like a pen, to keep the head and body in line.
