Tarepanda amigurumi

I've always loved tarepanda, the cute lazy panda. Lately, I've started making amigurumi (crochet dolls) and I really wanted to make a tarepanda one. I found the Japanese pattern here. At first, the Japanese pattern had me puzzled because I'm a noob at handwork and I had never seen any kind of pattern before, let alone in Japanese. But after reading this guide, it all makes sense to me. There seem to be some people that want this pattern written out in English though, so I'll do my best to write it out. If you see any mistakes or have suggestions, let me know so I can improve it.

You'll need white and black wool for this. Everything that should be black is highlighted in black, the rest is white. In the Japanese pattern, every round was joined with a slip stitch, but I didn't do that because it didn't seem necessary. You only really have to use slip stitch to join in the two round before you switch between colors in the body or it will look odd, so I wrote that in my pattern.

Explanation of terms used

Ch = chain
Circle = magic circle
Sc = single crochet
Sc-increase = increase single crochet
Sc-decrease = decrease single crochet
Dc = double crochet
Dc-triple = 3 double crochets inserted in the same stitch
Half-Dc = half double crochet
Half-Dc-increase = two half double crochets inserted in the same stitch

Head

Ch 14

1) 30x Sc (14 on each side of the chain and 1 extra at both ends) = 30

2) Sc-increase, 12x Sc, 3x Sc-increase, 12x Sc, 2x Sc-increase = 36

3) Sc-increase, 13x Sc, 2x (Sc-increase, Sc), Sc-increase, 13x Sc, 2x (Sc-increase, Sc) = 42

4) 2x Sc, Sc-increase, 14x Sc, 2x (Sc-increase, 2x Sc), Sc-increase, 14x Sc, Sc-increase, 2x Sc, Sc-increase = 48

5) 48x Sc = 48

6) Sc-increase, 15x Sc, 2x (Sc-increase, 3x Sc), Sc-increase, 15x Sc, 2x (Sc-increase, 3x Sc) = 54

7) - 8) 54x Sc = 54

9) 2x Sc, Sc-increase, 16x Sc, 2x (Sc-increase, 4x Sc), Sc-increase, 16x Sc, Sc-increase, 4x Sc, Sc-increase, 2x Sc = 60
10) - 14) 60 Sc = 60
15) 4x Sc, Sc-decrease, 16x Sc, 2x (Sc-decrease, 4x Sc), Sc-decrease, 16x Sc, Sc-decrease, 4x Sc, Sc-decrease = 54
16) 3x Sc, Sc-decrease, 15x Sc, 2x (Sc-decrease, 3x Sc), Sc-decrease, 15x Sc, Sc-decrease, 3x Sc, Sc-decrease = 48
17) 2x Sc, Sc-decrease, 14x Sc, 2x (Sc-decrease, 2x Sc), Sc-decrease, 14x Sc, Sc-decrease, 2x Sc, Sc-decrease = 42
18) Sc, Sc-decrease, 13x Sc, 2x (Sc-decrease, Sc), Sc-decrease, 13x Sc, Sc-decrease, Sc, Sc-decrease = 36
19)  Sc-decrease, 12x Sc, 3x Sc-decrease, 12x Sc, 2x Sc-decrease = 30
20) Sc-decrease, 11x Sc, 2x Sc-decrease, 11x Sc, Sc-decrease = 26
Sew the head closed

Body

Ch 12
1) Sc 26 (12 on each side and 1 extra on each end) = 26
2) Sc-increase, 10x Sc, 3x Sc-increase, 10x Sc, 2x Sc-increase = 32
3) Sc-increase, Sc, 3x half-Dc, 4x Dc, 3x half-Dc, Sc, Sc-increase, half-Dc-increase, Dc-triple, half-Dc-increase, 12x Sc, half-Dc-increase, Dc-triple, half-Dc-increase = 42
4) 2x half-Dc, half-Dc-increase, 3x half-Dc, 4x Dc, 3x half-Dc, half-Dc-increase, 2x half-Dc, Sc-increase, 2x Sc, Sc-increase, 18x Sc, Sc-increase, 2x Sc, Sc-increase = 48
5) 6x (Sc-increase, 7x Sc) = 54
6) - 10) 54 Sc = 54
11) 6x (7x Sc, Sc-decrease) = 48
12) - 14) 48 Sc = 48
15) 6x (6x Sc, Sc-decrease) = 42
16) - 17) 42 Sc =  42
18) Sc-decrease, 4x Sc, 2x(Sc-decrease, 5x Sc), Sc-decrease, 4x Sc, Sc-decrease, Sc, 6x Sc, Sc-decrease, 5x Sc, join with slip stitch = 36
19) 23x Sc, 8x Sc, 5x Sc, join with slip stitch = 36
20) 36 Sc = 36
21) 6x (4x Sc; Sc-decrease) = 30
22) 30 x Sc = 30

The extra black in 18) and 19) should be in the middle of the tummy. When I made my panda, this didn't work out, so you might have to adjust the pattern a little so it's in the middle.

Arm (make 2)

Circle 6
1) 3x (Sc-increase, Sc) = 9
2) 3x (Sc-increase, 2x Sc) = 12
3) - 7) 12 Sc = 12

Leg (make 2)
Circle 6
1) 3x (Sc-increase, Sc) = 9
2) 9x Sc = 9
3) 3x (Sc-increase, 2x Sc) = 12
4) 12x Sc = 12
5) 3x (Sc-increase, 3x Sc) = 15
6) 3x (Sc-increase, 4x Sc) = 18

Ear (make 2)
Circle 6
1) 6x Sc-increase = 12
2) - 3) 12x Sc = 12

Tail

Circle 6
1) 6x Sc-increase = 12
2) 12x Sc = 12


Attach the head to the body; the slit where you closed the head should be on the bottom. Then you can attach the arms, legs, ears and tail. Finally, you can make the eyes out of black and white felt and glue them on. Look at the following images for reference. You can print this on an A4 paper to get the shape of the eyes right.