Crochet caterpillar pattern — one spiral, fifty-two rounds written out
A caterpillar about 20 cm long and 5 cm across at the widest part of a segment, worked on a 4 mm hook in five colours over about three hours. Every colour change lands on a twelve-stitch waist, where the join disappears into the pinch, and all five segments repeat the same six rounds — two out, two straight, two back in. This free crochet caterpillar pattern writes out all fifty-two rounds, forty of them in the one unbroken body, each with the count it ends on.
Maths verified, not yet made. Every one of the 52 rounds was checked against the round before it by machine — the counts, the increases and the decreases all add up. What nobody can promise you yet is how it sits in the hand.How we check
6 of 8 checks ran on 2026-09-04
- 1 format and stitch chainscripts/validate.py — 113 patterns, all counts chain.
- 2 catalogue auditscripts/audit-patterns.py — 113 audited, 0 errors, 66 warnings.
- 3 geometrygeometry-check.py — 113 checked, 0 errors, 4 warnings.
- 5 not a duplicate113 distinct display names across 113 patterns
- 6c target on the recordseo.headKeyword, confidence and demand present and cross-checked by scripts/validate.py
- 8 page readinessscripts/check-completeness.py --gate — 0 required fields missing, 114 editorial flags, 0 unearned claims.
Not yet checked
- 4 render matches the pattern — no image has been compared against its own prompt, so a render showing a piece the rounds do not make would not be caught here. Nothing has counted how many do.
- 6a recognisability — provenance.recognisability is empty in every pattern, so there is no feature list to check the parts against.
Why it is rated Easy
Easy: one six-round segment worked five times without breaking the yarn. The thing to stay ahead of is stuffing each bump before the round that closes it back to twelve.
Sell what you make. Anything you crochet from this pattern is yours to sell — any quantity, no fee, no credit required.
00
00What you need before you start
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What you need before you start
Yarn — five colours, all weight 4
about 12 gAran / worsted acrylic, CYC 4
about 5 gAran / worsted acrylic, CYC 4
about 5 gAran / worsted acrylic, CYC 4
about 5 gAran / worsted acrylic, CYC 4
about 5 gAran / worsted acrylic, CYC 4
Tools
5 you probably own, 3 to buyYou likely have
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Stitch markers
A chopstick or dowel for stuffing
Measuring tape
You need to buy
8 mm black safety eyes x2
Polyester stuffing (~35 g)
Black embroidery floss for the mouth
Optional
A row counter
Pins for placing the antennae before you sew
Gauge and finished size
the last check before you cast onTension
Gauge is not critical. Work tight enough that the stuffing cannot show between stitches — a looser hand gives you a longer caterpillar.
Finished size
~20 cm long, about 5 cm across at the widest part of a segment
Any five worsted colours work and the order is yours, since the segments are identical. A smaller hook and DK yarn gives a shorter caterpillar on the same forty rounds.
How to make the caterpillar, piece by piece
Switching rewrites every round:US6 sc in mrUK6 dc in mrWork a US sc as a UK single crochet and the fabric comes out looser and taller.
1
01The body
Head first, then five bumps that all follow the same six rounds. Once…40 RNDS
starts in grassGreen· magic ring· Piece 1 of 3
First six rounds[6] [12] [18] [24] [24] [24]
The head
RND 1–91[6]
2[12]
3[18]
4[24]
5[24]
6[24]
7[24]
8[18]
9[12]
Segment one
RND 10–1510[18]
11[24]
12[24]
13[24]
14[18]
15[12]
Segment two
RND 16–2116[18]
17[24]
18[24]
19[24]
20[18]
21[12]
Segment three
RND 22–2722[18]
23[24]
24[24]
25[24]
26[18]
27[12]
Segment four
RND 28–3328[18]
29[24]
30[24]
31[24]
32[18]
33[12]
Segment five
RND 34–3934[18]
35[24]
36[24]
37[24]
38[18]
39[12]
Closing the tail
RND 40–4040[6]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is doneClose the last six stitches, weave the tail inside, and roll the whole length between your palms to even the bumps out.
2
02The antennae
Two the same. A ring of six stitches worked straight up for five more…6 RNDS
starts in grassGreen· magic ring· Piece 2 of 3
First six rounds[6] [6] [6] [6] [6] [6]
1[6]
2[6]
3[6]
4[6]
5[6]
6[6]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is doneThey stay unstuffed, which lets them bend where you set them.
3
03The antennae
— the same 6 rounds again, worked from piece 026 RNDS
starts in grassGreen· magic ring· Piece 3 of 3· mirrors the antennae
First six rounds[6] [6] [6] [6] [6] [6]
1[6]
2[6]
3[6]
4[6]
5[6]
6[6]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is doneHold the pair side by side before either one is sewn down. Both are six unstuffed rounds with no shaping anywhere in them, so any difference in length is tension alone — work the short one again rather than pulling it longer.
You are here
Three pieces from two lists. One list — the antennae — is written once and worked twice, identical round for round; the grey bars are piece length, all drawn to the same scale.52 ROUNDS IN ALL
Eight notes on the caterpillar
Read themClose
01An original Crochet Genie design.
02The whole caterpillar is one continuous spiral. Nothing is joined, nothing is turned, and there are no seams between the segments.
03Head and five segments run without breaking the yarn. Each segment opens to 24 stitches and comes back to 12, and the 12-stitch waist is where the next colour joins — the change disappears in the pinch.
04Stuff each segment while its mouth is still open, before you work the round that closes it back to 12. Reaching back into a finished segment is difficult.
05The safety eyes go on the head between rounds 5 and 6, about 6 stitches apart, and must be fitted before the head is stuffed.
06Embroider the mouth with a few straight stitches of black floss once the eyes are in.
07The antennae are the only sewn parts. Leave a long tail on each and sew them to the top of the head, just behind the eyes.
08For a child under three, leave out the safety eyes and embroider the eyes in black floss instead.
Four questions this pattern answers
Not questions anybody asked. Each one is written from this pattern's own record, and every answer is read off the fields it names.
How many pieces make up the caterpillar?
How much yarn will the caterpillar take?
What hook will the caterpillar need, and what is the finished size?
How long will the caterpillar take to crochet?
A round that will not add up?
Tell us the piece and the round number — the stepper already knows where you are.There is nowhere to send one yet.
Put the laptop down mid-round
The iPhone app keeps your place — piece of 3, round of — and hands it back where you left it.
