American Robin Keychain

And now for the final bird keychain in my set (for now!): the American Robin! These birds are a sure sign that spring is coming. Unforunately, I've yet to see one! We still have snow on the ground here. Maybe making this little guy will get the season started?

I couldn't find a yarn colour that struck quite that grey-brown plumage right, so I went with dark brown as that's what my first instinct was when thinking of a robin's colouring. A dark grey would probably work just as well. This is just a small little bird, standing at about 3"(~7.6 cm) tall without the keychain. There will be special instructions to work the keychain directly into the 6 sc of the starting magic circle, but you can easily skip the keychain if you'd like a little perching buddy.

You can buy a PDF copy of this pattern in a little ebook here on Ravelry! The book contains eight patterns: four coasters and four amigurumi keychains (including this one). It's the exact same pattern as you'll see here, but I bundled them up for $5 CAD to provide an easier-to-print PDF or for if you wanted to show me some support.

Here's some quick guff on the ways you can use my pattern:

• do not redistribute the pattern - just link to this page
• your results are free for personal use - but I ask that you don't sell your finished product. just hand them out as gifts, ok? your friends will love you for it

With that out of the way, on to the pattern!

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Materials

• Size E (3.5mm) Crochet Hook
• Worsted Weight Yarn
  • I used Red Heart Super Saver in:
    • Coffee
    • Soft White
    • Carrot
    • Cornmeal
• Yarn Needle
• Stuffing
• 2 6mm safety eyes
• Keychain (optional)

Abbreviations

• ch – chain
• sc – single crochet
• dc – double crochet
• inc – two single crochet in same stitch
• dec – invisible decrease
• ss – slip stitch
• cc – colour change
• blo – back loop only

Techniques

I have a useful guide on all the different techniques I use when I make amigurumi. Obviously, you should stick with whatever techniques you are comfortable with when making amigurumi, but I still recommend checking it out if you wanna get a result as close to mine as possible!

This pattern will ask you to work invisible decreases while working in BLO. To do this, work the invisible decrease the same as your would regularly, but use the back loop instead of the front loop.

Body

Using brown. (Red Heart Super Saver Coffee).

To start off, you’ll have to choose whether you want a keychain or not. Here’s how to attach the keychain as you’re crocheting. If you’d like to make a robin without a keychain, simply sc 6 in a magic circle.

Thread the keychain onto your yarn and push it out of the way for now. Create a magic circle and do a sc in it as normal.

Push the keychain up until it rests against the single sc in the magic circle.

Skip over the keychain to create another sc in the magic circle. Then do 2 more sc in the magic circle as normal. There are now 4 sc in the magic circle.

Now we'll work a 5th sc into the magic circle, working through the keychain (you’ll probably have the pull the magic circle tighter to do this). Enter into the keychain and the magic circle to draw up a loop for the 5th sc then finish it as normal.

Do a 6th sc in the magic circle and tighten. We'll be working in a spiral, so do not join to first..

Now you have a magic circle with 6 sc in it, with the keychain embedded in the stitches. We’ll continue on with the body.

Rnd 2: inc around. (12 sc)
Rnd 3: (sc, inc) around. (18 sc)
Rnd 4: sc 6, cc to white, sc 2, cc to brown, sc 2, cc to white, sc 2, cc to brown, sc 6. (18 sc)
Rnd 5: sc around. (18 sc)
Rnd 6: sc 6, cc to white, sc, cc to brown, sc, cc to white, sc 2, cc to brown, sc, cc to white, sc, cc to brown, sc 6. (18 sc)

Rnd 7: sc 2, inc, sc 2, cc to orange, sc 8, cc to brown, sc 2, inc, sc 2. (20 sc)
Rnd 8: sc 3, inc, sc 2, cc to orange, sc 8, cc to brown, sc 2, inc, sc 3. (22 sc)

Now attach the safety eyes. Place them in the space below and between the 2 white stitches.

Now is a good time to stuff the head. I like to add some stuffing above the posts of the safety eyes then add more below to help keep the eyes in a nice position.

With that done, let’s continue on with the body.

Rnd 9: sc 4, inc, sc 2, cc to orange, sc 8, cc to brown, sc 2, inc, sc 4. (24 sc)
Rnd 10-12 (x3): sc 8, cc to orange, sc 8, cc to brown, sc 8. (24 sc)
Rnd 13: sc 8, cc to white, sc 8, cc to brown, sc 8. (24 sc)
Rnd 14: (sc 2, dec) twice, cc to white, (sc 2, dec) twice, cc to brown, (sc 2, dec) twice. (18 sc)

Start stuffing the body.

Rnd 15: BLO: (sc, dec) twice, cc to white, (sc, dec) twice, cc to brown, (sc, dec) twice. (12 sc)

Finish stuffing the body.

Rnd 16: in both loops: dec twice, cc to white, dec twice, cc to brown and leave white tail to be hidden later, dec twice. (6 sc)

Fasten off with a weaving finish. You can hide the tail from the white part in the body.

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Wings

Make 2. In brown.

ch 5. ss in 2^nd. sc. hdc. 9 dc in last. Now you will work along the back of the chains. hdc. sc. ss in last.

Fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing.

Now we’ll bring the tail up in preparation for sewing.

Working along the wrong side of the wing, bring the tail up to the 2nd dc. For one wing, work in the same direction as the stitches and work in the opposite direction for the other.

Bring the tail to the front of the wing through the 2nd dc.

Attaching the Wings

Attach the wings using the 3rd to 7th dc, basically 5 stitches. Use the placement as follows:

The farthest point will be two stitches away from the orange belly edge, two rows below the start of the belly. The next point is one stitch inwards towards the belly. Next is one diagonal down and inwards, ending up right on the edge of the belly. The next is also one stitch diagonal inwards and down, now one stitch into the belly. The next is one row below. The final point is one stitch diagonal and down towards the back, at the edge of the belly again.

You’ll be sewing following the arrows. Enter into the 3^rd dc to start sewing.

After sewing to the final point, enter the 8^th dc and make a knot along the next stitch towards the back.

Tail

Mark 2 stitches along the BLO round that are roughly in the middle between the two ends of the wings. Depending on how twisted your seam is, this could be 2 stitches after the seam or 1 stitch on either side of the seam. Like so:

Attach brown yarn to the first stitch, working in whatever direction is most comfortable for you. ch 1, sc in that stitch. sc in the next stitch. This is the first row of the tail.

Row 2-4 (x3): ch 1, turn. sc 2. (2 sc)
Row 5: ch 1, turn. sc2tog. (1 sc)

Fasten off. Hide the yarn tail along the edge of the tail towards the body. Tie a knot in one of the stitches of the body, then hide the tail in the body.

Beak

You’ll be attaching the yellow yarn according to this placement. First insert your hook into the space between the two white stitches, then exit one row above, two stitches away from each eye.

dc in this stitch, then fasten off.

Hide the tail from attaching into the body. Hide the tail from fastening off along the top of the beak and into the body. If you pull the tail too tightly, the beak will get smushed. Pull on the beak until you get the desired shape, then trim the tail.

And you're done!

I hope you'll enjoy your little robin buddy! I have some other bird-themed patterns if you'd like to check those out! Or you could see all of my patterns here.

Happy birdwatching!