Ladybug crochet pattern — one piece, fourteen rounds, no seams
A ladybird about 7 cm long and 6 cm across, worked on a 4 mm hook in three colours over roughly an hour and a half. Round 3 puts its six increases in two groups of three instead of spreading them evenly: the count comes out at eighteen either way, and the grouping is what starts tilting the circle towards an oval. This ladybug crochet pattern writes out all fourteen rounds with the count each one ends on.
Maths verified, not yet made. Every one of the 14 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 Beginner
Beginner: fourteen rounds in one piece with a single colour change at round 4. The one unusual move is grouping round 3's increases, and that does not change the count.
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 — three colours, all weight 4
small amount, about 15 gWorsted / aran cotton
scraps, about 8 gWorsted / aran cotton
scrapsWorsted / aran cotton, or six-strand embroidery floss
Tools
4 you probably own, 1 to buyYou likely have
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Stitch markers
A chopstick or similar for stuffing
You need to buy
Polyester stuffing (~15 g)
Optional
A stitch marker in a contrast colour for the round start
Pins, to place the seven spots before you sew them
Gauge and finished size
the last check before you cast onTension
Gauge is not critical here. What matters is that the fabric stays dense enough that the stuffing does not show between stitches — a looser hand only makes a larger ladybird.
Finished size
~7 cm long and ~6 cm across
Worsted cotton on a 4 mm hook keeps the dome firm. DK on a 3.5 mm hook gives a smaller ladybird on the same fourteen rounds, and finer French knots for the spots.
How to make the ladybird
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 ladybird
The whole thing, start to finish. Out to thirty stitches, straight…14 RNDS
starts in black· magic ring· Piece 1 of 1
First six rounds[6] [12] [18] [24] [30] [30]
The black head
RND 1–31[6]
2[12]
3[18]
Opening out in scarlet
RND 4–54[24]
5[30]
Straight sides
RND 6–106[30]
7[30]
8[30]
9[30]
10[30]
Closing in
RND 11–1411[24]
12[18]
13[12]
14[6]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasesl stslip stitchst(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is doneStuff it as you close, and press it flat while you work the last rounds so it settles into a dome. Then the needle work: a black line of surface slip stitch down the middle of the red, seven black French knots for spots, two white ones on the head for eyes.
You are here
Seven notes on the ladybird
Read themClose
01An original Crochet Genie design.
02Worked in a continuous spiral, one piece from the magic ring to the closing round. Nothing to join, nothing to turn, nothing to sew to anything else.
03The head is a colour change rather than a separate piece. Rounds 1 to 3 are black; round 4 starts the scarlet and carries it to the end.
04Round 3 puts its six increases in two groups of three, one group at each side, instead of spreading them evenly. The stitch count is identical either way, so the counter still reads six increases and six single crochet — the grouping is what starts tilting the circle towards an oval.
05The wing-case line and the seven spots are surface embroidery worked after stuffing: a line of black surface slip stitch down the centre of the scarlet, from the back of the head to the tail, then seven black French knots — three on each wing case and one straddling the line near the head. The app counts crochet rounds only, so the embroidery is described here rather than counted.
06The eyes are two small white French knots on the black head, about four stitches apart. Nothing is glued in and nothing snaps in, so the finished ladybird is safe for a small child.
07Stuff lightly and press the piece flat between your palms as you work the last three rounds. A ladybird is a low dome, not a ball, and it will keep whichever shape you close it in.
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.
Can the ladybird be made with a different hook or yarn?
How much yarn will the ladybird take?
What hook will the ladybird need, and what is the finished size?
How long will the ladybird 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 1, round of — and hands it back where you left it.
