Dread Crocheted Cthulhu

The stars are right! Dread Cthulhu has been sleeping in R'yleh and has awakened to adorably eat all his cultists!

This project is perfect for ALL your geek friends. Dread Cthulhu is an elder god of the H.P. Lovecraft mythos. I included a more traditional rendition of him in my slideshow for reference.

He is made of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn in olive and all crocheted in rounds, each piece worked in a spiral. His tentacles are sc chains of varying length and his wings have v-shaped pipe cleaners woven in.

I can send out a pattern if you're interested, but I'm afraid the instructions on the wings might be a little fuzzy. I think I can at least explain my improvisations there, though :).

Oh yeah, and if you have any tiny crocheted cultists, send them my way...Dread Crocheted Cthulhu is hungry!

Okay...I'm finally going to do it. I'm just going to go ahead and post the pattern. I was e-mailing it on request because that way I could keep track of who had it and how many people liked him, but I'm just going to have to trust you guys to give him a positive rating and recommendations to all your friends if you use the pattern. Also, if you do, please share pictures of the finished product! I'd love to see other interpretations of the crochet horror that is Cthulhu.

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Cthulhu is made from Vanna's Choice yarn in olive. I used an F hook (which is 3.75 mm) and my gauge is 10 st X 10 rows = 2" x 2 1/8" or so. I'm not sure that the gauge is super-important; just make sure you use a small enough hook that the stuffing is hidden. All of Cthulhu's limbs and his head and torso are worked in spirals, so get those stitch markers handy!

You'll also need a yarn needle and some tiny black buttons or safety eyes, as well as two 6" lengths of pipe cleaner. And some stuffing. I also used some rice, but this would definitely be optional.

ARMS (make 2)

Work 6 sc into magic ring.

2 sc in each sc around

1 sc in each sc around (7 rounds)

Stuff now and add more later as necessary.

St 2 tog, sc in next 3 sc, repeat around

Sc in each sc around. End off with sewing length.

LEGS (make 2)

Work 8 sc into magic ring.

2 sc in each sc around

1 sc in each sc around (10 rows)

Stuff now and add more as necessary

St 2 tog, sc in next 3 sc, repeat around

St 2 tog, sc in next 2 sc, repeat around

Sc in each sc around. End off with sewing length.

TORSO (Just one of these)

Work 6 sc in to magic ring

2 sc in each sc around

2 sc in 1st sc, 1 sc in next sc, repeat around

2 sc in 1st sc, 1 sc in next 2 sc, repeat around

2 sc in 1st sc, 1 sc in next 3 sc, repeat around

2 sc in 1st sc, 1 sc in next 4 sc, repeat around

2 sc in 1st sc, 1 sc in next 5 sc, repeat around

2 sc in 1st sc, 1 sc in next 6 sc, repeat around

Sc in each sc around (10 rounds)

Start stuffing now! I made a little pocket in my stuffing near the bottom of the torso and added some rice to make him sit more cooperatively.

St 2 tog, sc in next 4 sc.

Sc in each sc around

St 2 tog, sc in next 3 sc

Sc in each sc around

St 2 tog, sc in next 2 sc

Sc in each sc around

St 2 tog, repeat around. End off. Weave tail back through last round and pull tight. Weave in this end.

HEAD (One of these as well)

Work 6 sc into magic ring

2 sc in each sc around

2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next sc, repeat around

2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next 2 sc, repeat.

2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next 3 sc, repeat.

2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next 4 sc, repeat.

2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next 5 sc, repeat.

Sc in each sc around (2 rounds)

Now would be stuffin' time! Before you do that, though, add the eyes and eyebrows, if desired. A surface crochet is made by holding the slip knot just under the surface. Bring your hook through the front and grab the loop through the fabric. Pull it to the front but hold the rest of the slip knot on the back. Push your hook through the next spot and yo from the back. Then pull the loop up through the other loop on your hook. That's it! I did 3 of these for each of his brows.

St 2 tog, sc in next 5 sc, repeat

St 2 tog, sc in next 4 sc, repeat

St 2 tog, sc in next 3 sc, repeat

St 2 tog, sc in next 2 sc, repeat. End off with sewing length.

WINGS (two of these!)

Cut a pipe cleaner to 6" Bend it at the 3 3/4" mark. Make it a fairly acute angle. The shorter side will be the side you will attach to the body.

Ch 41 and turn

Sc in each ch across. Turn.

Ch 1. Sc in each sc across.

This is where my directions will get a little fuzzy. Wrap the work around the short end of the pipe cleaner. Sc in each sc to close the length around the pipe cleaner, until you get to the bend. Starting here, you're going to work your way between the two lengths of pipe cleaner. As you get to the far end each time, use the last sc in the row to attach the original 3 rows of work to the rows between the cleaners. Make sure you increase somewhere in each row (either by doing 2 sc in 1 sc space or by adding an extra stitch in the sideways crochet space where you'll attach to the sides) so that the work will span between the two pipe cleaner ends.

At about the 15th row in my wings (about 4 rows from the ends of the pipe cleaners), I closed up the far side and stitched one stitch in on the next row up and two on the row that joined the rest of the work. Then I slip stitched for about 3 stitches. I did about 6 sc across here and then worked downwards in rows, not using a turning stitch, so that they decreased by one stitch every row. Then I slip stitched back down the side and back toward the body-adjacent pipe cleaner end. Here I just added two stitches to that row and one to the row beneath it and called it done! Oh yeah, and I left a sewing length, as always.

By the way, if you can help me clarify these directions (or tell me how you did it differently), I'd love the input.  I know the wing pattern is unclear, so if you've figured it out, drop me a line :)

TENTACLES (make 8 or so; however many you feel he needs)

These are easy. Chain the desired number, turn and sc in each ch. That's it! My Cthulhu's tentacles are in varying lengths between 20 and 40 ch. To create even more unevenness, work your end in as you go on a few of them. That makes one end much less curly and mixes things up a bit.

Then just attach everything with a yarn needle and those sewing lengths you left and he should be finished and ready to devour any cultists you might have around the house!