Veronica Reingold

Silly Alien

Free Amigurumi Crochet Pattern

I crocheted this adorable silly alien inspired by the xenomorph from the masterpiece Alien (1979, dir. Ridley Scott). But like, if it was a sock monkey toy? Less terrifying and more floppy. Squishable. I mean look at this little friend!! Don't you want to make one too? For yourself or perhaps a sci-fi-loving Alien nerd in your life? Sure ya do! Let me walk you through it!

Materials And Terminology

You'll need your basic crochet materials: a yarn in whatever colour you like, a crochet hook which matches your yarn size, stitch markers, scissors, and a large yarn needle.

I used a fine velvet yarn that I found at Dollarama, and a 3.25mm hook. I didn't even end up using the whole skein! Keep in mind, if you use a thicker yarn (e.g. medium/weight 4 which is the most common), you'll need a slightly larger hook, and your stuffie will end up larger than mine in the images!

This crochet pattern is written in US terms, with the following abbreviations:

SC: single crochet
INC: increase
DEC: decrease
SLST: slip stitch
HDC: half-double crochet
DC: double crochet
CH: chain

Legs (Make 2)

Repeat row 6 as many times as you like for whatever length of leg you want. I did a total of 21 sc rows (including row 6), so each leg was a grand total of 26 rows. Count how many rows you did for one leg, so you can make the second leg the same size. Putting a stitch marker in the first stitch of row 6 will help you count.

Once you get your desired length, stuff as much as you like, fasten off, leave a long tail for sewing, and cut your yarn.

Arms (Make 2)

Just like you did with the legs, repeat row 3 as many times as you like for whatever length of arm you want. I did a total of 20 sc rows (including row 3), so each arm was a grand total of 22 rows. Count how many rows you did for one arm, so you can make the second arm the same size. Putting a stitch marker in the first stitch of row 3 will help you count.

Once you get your desired length, stuff as much as you like, fasten off, leave a long tail for sewing, and cut your yarn.

Tail

Just like we did with the arms and legs, you can change the number of stitches for whatever length of tail you want. Just make sure that you have an even number of stitches in total. For example, you can do 6 of each type of stitch [24 st total], or do slst 7, sc 8, hdc 9, dc 10 [34 st total]. You can play around with these number as much as you want! The tail will be worked flat, on both sides of the original chain, so if you change the number of stitches, write down what you did so you can do the same number on the other side.

I also recommend you read ahead to the sewing section and attach the arms and legs to the body so you can see how long your tail is in comparison. I made my tail slightly longer than the legs. I folded it in half along the original chain, and held it up to the body to see how it looked before I finished it off.

To start, chain 31 (or whatever your total is + 1), and start working into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Row 2 will be done on the other side of the original chain 31, so set up for that by doing the following:

Or, if you find that the above is too tight or too small, you may want to try CH 2, SLST, CH 2 instead. We are going to fold the tail in half later, and this will be the widest part of the tail. To make it the same on both sides, do row 1 backwards, working into the other side of the original chain 31.

You should now have a long, thin triangle. Fold it in half lengthwise, along the original chain 31. We will now join the two sides of the tail and do the spikes simultaneously. If you have never crocheted two things together using outer loops only, or the method described below is too difficult, you can also crochet the spikes onto one side of the tail only. Once you reach the end, you can fold the tail in half, and sew the two sides together (see sewing section).

To crochet both sides together, start by finding the first slst of row 1, and locating its back loop. It will be on the outside after you folded your tail. SLST into that back loop. To join the two sides, work into the outside loops only of each corresponding pair of stitches. This means:

Insert your hook into the outside loop of the stitch on the side facing you.
Insert your hook into the outside loop of the corresponding stitch on the opposite side.
Yarn over, and pull through both stitches/loops.

If you choose to do the spikes on one side and join by sewing later, just work into the stitches of one side as normal!

Note: this means CH 1 then DC into the first stitch, SLST into the second stitch, CH 1 then DC into the third stitch, and so on.

You can stuff the tail if you want, but I chose to leave mine flat. Fasten off, leave a long tail for sewing, and cut your yarn.

Spikes (Make 4)

Again, you can change the number of stitches to change the size of the spikes. The original design has 4 spikes of the same length on the back and one frilled one. Other designs have only 4 spikes, but two are longer than the others. To keep the stylistic simplicity of my design, I chose to do just 4 spikes, all of the same length. You can make more than 4 spikes and adjust their lengths!

To start, CH 11.

Fasten off, leave a long tail for sewing, and cut your yarn.

You are now done with all the body parts! It’s time to sew the final pieces onto the body!

Sewing Instructions

The body has “sides”: the two DEC in each row are the sides, and the SC in between them are the front and back. The stitch marker in the first stitch of row 7 (body) marks one of the sides. Keep this in mind as you sew your alien friend together.

Legs

You can either sew the legs closed before sewing them onto the body, or sew them onto the body directly.

The legs have feet (where we did the decreases in row 5), so make sure they are both facing the same way when you sew them on!

Line up the legs on the bottom of the body, in a straight line approximately along the middle. Use the body stitch marker to guide you. I sewed the legs onto rows 2-5 of the body.

Arms

You can either sew the arms closed before sewing them onto the body, or sew them onto the body directly.

The arms do not have a right or wrong side, so you can sew them on whichever way you like!

Line up the arms with the sides of the body, making sure to keep them at the same height. I sewed the arms onto row 20 of the body (5th last row).

Head

Start by pinning the head to the body in between the arms. If you want your alien friend to sit on its own, you might need to adjust the head position slightly until it balances. You might need to stuff the body slightly more to hold it up as well. While my alien can sit up on its own, it also tips over very easily—this is normal!

Once you're happy with the head position, sew it on!

Tail

If you did not crochet both sides of your tail together, start with that. Fold your tail lengthwise, along the original chain 31. The side where you did your spikes will be slightly wider, so make sure you are not folding exactly in half—the thinner side without spikes should end up below the spikes. Sew both sides together below the spikes.

Line up the tail on the bottom of the body. Remember that the feet are facing the front, so make sure you are lining the tail up on the back of the body! I sewed the tail onto rows 3-5 of the body.

Spikes

Once the limbs, tail, and head are attached, you can pin the spikes onto the back and play around with the arrangement. When you're happy with the positioning, sew them on!

All Done!

You just finished making your silly little alien friend! If you decide to post them on social media, I'd love to see them! Feel free to tag me on any of my socials! You can also DM or email me any questions or feedback you may have!

If you really liked my pattern, you can tip me on Ko-fi or on PayPal !