Make your own Snail

Today I have something a little different for you (I feel like I start a lot of posts like that). I have designed a little Snail Amigurumi pattern. I imagine this snail as a little character or alter ego that cheers you on while crocheting and celebrates taking your time, enjoying the process and making the progress at a pace that works for you. The design was inspired by Team Snail during the Festival of Lights CAL and the snail artwork done by CherriFire. (Read more about the design process and inspiration below)

Since I want this snail to be your own character, the pattern includes a lot of accessories and ways to personalize the pattern. You can make a snail version of yourself, or you could make a snail character of your imagination. Perhaps you just want a cute snail, or your snail could mean serious business, or be a magician, or a hippy reminding you everything is groovy. I had the hardest time deciding which snails to make as samples to show you.

The snail also comes with a tiny heart that it can hold. This heart pattern is also available for free on my website here and has a full video tutorial on my YouTube channel.

Important Links

• Purchase the pattern on Ravelry
• Buy the pattern on Etsy
• Free Amigurumi heart pattern

Pattern Support

This is an intermediate/advanced pattern, it uses short rows and some tricks with back/front loops for minimal sewing. I think that once you get the rhythm down it is a fairly elegant pattern and it is quite forgiving of small errors. To help out if you are having trouble getting started or get stuck along the way I have made a video tutorial.

Video Tutorial: this tutorial does not go over every single round of the pattern so you do still need to be able to read the written pattern but I cover the first section of the pattern and all the parts of the shell and body that I though might benefit from additional video explanation. The video is nearly three hours long, so I am hoping that I have covered everything needed. If you only need help with a specific part of the pattern I have put lots of chapters in this so you can skip ahead to the part that you need. 

To access the video tutorial, you can click on the link in the pattern or type it to your browser then enter the password provided in the pattern to access the video. There are right-handed and left-handed videos.

Jessica Wifall’s Crochet Studio: my facebook group it is a great place to ask questions of me and the community and share your creations and works in progress.

Yarn and Materials

I originally designed this pattern for Scheepjes Stonewashed or Scheepjes Stonewashed Flow, I specifically wanted the snail to be makeable with just two balls of yarn so the Snail shell will use up most of a ball 50g ball of stonewashed yarn and the body uses about half of a ball. I have made more snails with Scheepjes Catona than any other yarn because of the wide color range, it also uses most of a 50g ball for the shell and around half for the body.

For accessories for all versions, you will need additional yarn in smaller amounts.

For specific color ideas I have listed all the yarns used in my various samples as well as some ideas in the Snail Gallery below.

These are the yarn requirements for the snails that I have made.

Stonewashed or Stonewashed Flow Version

• Scheepjes Stone Washed (78% Cotton, 22% Acrylic; 50g/130m)  
• OR Scheepjes Stone Washed Flow (78% Cotton, 22% Acrylic; 65g/156m)  
  • 1 ball for the shell
  • ~ half a ball for the body
•   3mm crochet hook 

Catona Version

• Scheepjes Catona (100% Mercerised Cotton; 50g/125m)
  • 1 ball for the shell
  • ~ half a ball for the body
•  2.25mm crochet hook 

Big Darling Version (no arms, shorter body option)

fair warning: I found this pattern extra challenging with the chenille yarn. Extra stitch markers are recommended.

• Scheepjes Big Darling Monochrome Cake (100% Polyester; 300g/180m)
  • 2 cakes for the shell (you need 1 and about 1/4th of a second, you could use the remainder for the body if you wanted a fully monochrome snail)
• Scheepjes Big Darling (100% Polyester; 150g/90m)
  • a full ball for the body
•  6mm crochet hook 

Additional Materials

All linkes below are affiliate links. Shopping through this link earns me a small commission to support my design work at no additional cost to you. Thank You!

Stitch markers this pattern requires at least 4 stitch markers, preferably in three different colors.

Stuffing you can use just about any stuffing

Cotton Pipe cleaners these are optional but will make the eyestalks and arms movable and help keep the bottom in correct shape.  I recommend actual 100% cotton pipe cleaners not the craft chenille sticks as they are much studier.

Snail Gallery

Here are some ideas to get you started with your own snail. I made a few snails and a lot of accessories and dressed mine up in different ways to show you different options. I couldn’t make every idea that I had so I also did some drawings for additional inspiration.

Scheepjes Stone washed, Shell: 811 Deep Amethyst, Body: 818 Lilac Quartz. Accessories: Collar 801, Bowtie + Bandana ends 830, Cardigan 812, long curly hair 814, small flower 801, tiny leaves 806, Cardigan extra size 840, pointy hat 840, Sun/cowboy hat 852

Scheepjes Catona, Shell: 253 Tropic, Body: 157 Rootbeer. Accessories: short straight hair 507, bandana 115, long loosely curled hair 409, collar 105, bowtie 401 Catona Shine, Sun/cowboy hat 179, tiny flowers 409, 398, leaves 513 & 515, heart 128, Medium-ish curly hair 172, Long Tie 115

Scheepjes Stone washed, Shell: 806 Canada Jade, Body: 804 Boulder Opal. Accessories: Sun/cowboy hat 852, Mustache 803, heart 819, overalls 851, medium straight hair 809, small flower 801, tiny leaves 806, long curly hair 814, Top hat 852, Bow tie 851, Bandana 812

Scheepjes Catona, Shell: 504 Brick Red, Body: 179 Topaz. Accessories: Medium wavy hair 157, Tiny flowers 511, Heart 388, long layered curly hair 383, Overalls 511, Small flower 208 with center 162

Scheepjes Catona, Shell: 162 black coffee with 115 hot red and 192 Scarlet stripes, Body: 404 English tea. Accessories: Extra-long straight hair 157, heart 115, bow tie 192, long loosely curled hair 409, collar 105, top hat 192 with 395, Long Tie 115, Mustache 157, short straight hair 157 short loose curls 349

My big blue snail was made with two Scheepjes Big Darling monochrome cakes 414 Dragon for the shell and the body with one ball of Scheepjes Big Darling 411 Capybara. I made the body with the shorter snail option. I haven’t made any accessories for it yet as I am enjoying it just as it is. I may make holiday themed accessories and dress it up to surprise my kids, I think that they would like that.

This snail was made by one of my lovely testers and friend Sarah Dee. The snail shell is made with Scheepjes Stonewashed Flow in 09 Cocoon; the body is 831 Axinite and the vest is 851 Chlorite Green.

I liked Sarah’s shell with the stonewashed flow so much that I started one with Scheepjes Stonewashed Flow XL in 07 Bliss. I haven’t had time to finish it but the color gradient of Flow works perfectly for the shell.

Drawings

I did not have enough time to make every snail that I thought of, so I traced my pictures and drew some more.

And a few more (I used these on the chapter cards in the video tutorial).

Inspiration and Design

Two Things around the Same Time

During the Festival of Lights CAL I saw a lot of comments from people declaring themselves part of “Team Snail” because they where not crocheting as fast as some of the other people who were posting progress photos.  Around the same time a Minecraft YouTube Series, called the Life Series, was in its sixth season.  In the third week of the season each member of the series had a little snail version of their character that was chasing them around.  They later released a set of sticker and T-shirts with artwork of the snails by CherriFire.  The snails in their artwork are very cute. 

Seeing this art at the same time as so many team snail comments I started thinking about designing a little crocheted snail to celebrate team snail.  I even started working on a design that December to be made with the leftovers from the FOL CAL kit but I got stuck on the shell and put the idea aside. 

This blue bit of yarn is my first attempt at the shell, I remember working on this in route visit family for Christmas

The Design Process

Then last December (2025) I gave it another go.  Again, I struggled with the shell until one day while showering (some of my best ideas come in the shower) I thought of using short rows, and it finally came together.

It still took a lot of work to get the spiral of the shell right, but it was one of those projects that I just couldn’t put down.  After trying to improvise the shaping a few times without success I made a diagram to help work out the ratio of short rows and increases needed.  I still had to make a lot of adjustments, but it gave me a good base to start from.   

below are my two diagrams of the spiral that I made to help with my design process and some of my prototype shells. The white shells were the earliest and the brown one towards the middle is the closest to the final design.

The body came together a lot easier than the shell once I worked out how the two would attach. Though I still went through several iterations of the head shape and how to finish off the foot.

Below (left) my first complete version of the snail, (middle) a nearly final version before I redid the foot, the connection to the shell, and adjusted the shell a bit more and (right) the Final version.

The accessories were a lot of fun to design. As I was working on the shell, kept adding to a running list of ideas for accessories.

Go Team Snail!

In team snail fashion, more than a year after I original had the idea, I have a complete pattern for you to make your own snail. I want this snail to celebrate crocheting and crafting at a pace that works for you. Whether it takes you a few days, a month, a few months, a year or longer I hope you enjoy this pattern.