Free Crochet Black Sheep Wool Pattern up ahead for you brilliant crocheters! I had lots to crochet and only a week off work to do it in, so I focused my efforts on this little lamb! I was asked by a friend of mine who works at Black Sheep Wool (I love that place! They even have a comfy leather couch that all the guys sit and wait on) to create a Black Sheep Free Crochet Pattern for them.

Over coffee in their onsite coffee shop we decided that I would have to design and crochet a Black Sheep!

I’ve recently come back from my holidays, me and my lovely Mr. Crochet-Widow stayed in a cosy log cabin, overlooking a lake in the middle of nowhere and just a 5 minute walk away there was 13 fishing lakes, these kept Mr. Crochet-Widow quite entertained while I spent my days happily crocheting away my little lamb.

After quite a few months of focusing on specific character designs it was nice to just sit down and doodle some lambs to see what my little crochet sheep would look like.

I had originally thought of doing quite a sturdy lamb/sheep but Black Sheep Wool had given me some brilliant yarn to use for the free crochet pattern. I have to admit that I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to yarn, I tend to buy cheap Double Knitting yarn, as I tend to crochet amigurumi toys you usually need lots of different colours and shades of wool and not use a lot of it, so I keep it cheap. Well, I now know the error of my ways, as I mentioned, the Sheep Free Crochet Pattern was going to be sturdy (like an ornament) but after just 5 minutes of working with this wool I completely changed my mind. It was so soft that I needed to create a proper cuddly toy as this yarn needed to be snuggled.

I wanted to do something a little different, as most of my crochet amigurumi toys tend to be crocheted in basic single crochet stitches, I’m getting quite fast at getting them finished now, I could single crochet in my sleep. So it was time to push myself and work with a new stitch – Double Loop Crochet!

Just before we set off for our holiday I quickly watched a 5 min youtube tutorial for Double Loop Crochet. Then I made sure in my handbag I had a ball of yarn and my trusty 3mm hook and practised doing the stitch whilst I was driven to the cabin hours away (the best way to start a holiday). In the tutorial they started off with a chain and then turned the work to do the double loop stitches, which was fine, but at the end of the first proper row, I did as you would and turned the work and the double loops came out the other side. Any how I never figured out how you’re supposed to make a square of double loops with them all facing the same side but decided I didn’t need to now as I would be working in rounds.

I am glad I tried Double Loops, but I will warn you they’re so time consuming, glass after glass of wine I was still working on the same bit of body of the lamb (I ended up drunk!)! So in my tutorial I have advised that if you are running low on time to make the lambs body in single crochet and just do the hair on their head in Double Loops. The finished result is amazing, all the fluffy soft wool is so touchable. So the choice is up to you, if you do make one it would be brilliant if you could email me a photo, I absolutely love getting evidence that people do work and create stuff from my patterns.

And if you are ever in the North West of England, I can highly recommend Black Sheep Wool. I first went there only in 2014 and have been about 20 times since. I was in a proper mood, me and Mr. Crochet-Widow were in Warrington whilst I tried to source bright neon wool to make a pillow for a friend of mine, well virtually all the stalls that sold yarn only sold dark/pastels. I wasn’t happy, I was muttering under my breathe how crochet and knitting isn’t just for Grandma’s making baby clothes etc.. Well Mr. Crochet-Widow took me in his car and within 15 minutes we were inside Black Sheep Wool. As he hadn’t said where we were going and only offered that when we got there it would cheer me up, walking through the doors into the massive shop felt like entering Narnia. He quietly sat on the leather couch reading on his phone while I did about 6 laps of the shop. They had every colour imaginable, I came out with two big bags full of yarn, amigurumi eyes, and even Handbag straps so you can crochet your own proper fancy handbag! I still have some really nice yarn I bought on that first trip there that I haven’t used yet as its too nice to waste on some of my projects.

So now Black Sheep Wool have decided to do a competition to choose on what to name the Sheep and whoever wins get all the supplies provided and a print out of the free pattern, as I didn’t even know whether they were a he or a she I was eagerly awaiting to find out what name would win!

And the results are in, Ewe-Gene was the name choosen. I love the name, as he looks like a Ewe-Gene.

Here is a link to the pattern on black sheep wool: http://www.blacksheepwools.com/free-patterns

And here is the PDF: Black Sheep PDF

Here is a full detailed description of the pattern with images: http://www.happycrocheting.co.uk/free-amigurumi-sheep-pattern/

Happy Crocheting!