The Nine Colored Deer – Free crochet pattern

• La traduzione italiana può essere trovata qui. Le abbreviazioni corrispondenti in inglese sono qui.
• La traduction française peut être trouvée ici. Les abréviations correspondantes en anglais sont ici.
• La traducción al español se puede encontrar aquí. Las abreviaturas correspondientes en inglés están aquí.
• A magyar fordítás itt található. A megfelelő angol rövidítések itt találhatók.
• Traducerea in limba română o puteți găsi aici. Abrevierile corespondente în engleză le găsiți aici.

My deer is created after the pattern of the Chinese designer Susan’s Family (KaiaCrochet on Etsy). The character is taken from the Chinese animated film produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio.

The Nine Colored Deer represent beauty , goodness and righteousness.

The original story is based on the Buddhist Jataka of the same name, which were discovered as cave paintings from the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China. The animated plot is essentially a spinoff.

In ancient times, a Persian merchant gets lost in a windstorm. Suddenly a spiritual deer of nine colors appears to guide the man. Later on, the deer rescues a man drowning in a river. In exchange, the man promises not to reveal the deer’s whereabouts. The man reaches an imperial palace. The king insists on hunting down the spiritual deer down to make clothes out of the deer skin. The man gives in to his greed and leads an army of warriors to the spot. He falls into the river again, hoping the deer will show up to rescue him. This time, all the warriors’ arrows turn into dust and the man is drowned.  

Materials of your choice. The size of the deer depends on the yarn used. I used cream color, 2 threads no. 12, but you can use yarn no. 8 to have the size from my deer photos (see below).

Abbreviations: here

РАRТ1 Main body (spiral crochet)  

VIDEO: https://www.bilibili.com/s/video/BV1eC4y187QB

HEAD (video 2:09)

• 1. 6sc in MR
• 2. 6 inc = 12
• 3. (1sc, inc)*6 = 18
• 4-5. 18 sc
• 6. 4sc, inc, 13sc =19
• 7. 19sc
• 8. 4sc, 2inc, 13sc = 21
• 9. (3sc, inc)*5, 1sc = 26
• 10. 26sc
• 11. 5sc, 3inc, 18sc = 29
• 12-17. 29sc (6 rds)
• 18. (2sc, dec)*7, 1sc = 22
• 19. (1sc, dec)*7, 1sc = 15. Stuff!
• 20. 7dec, 1sc = 8. Close the hole and leave a long tail for sewing!

LEGS (video 22:11)

Front leg

• 1. 6sc in MR
• 2-3. 6sc
• 4. 5sc, inc = 7
• 5-12. 7sc  (8 rds)
• 13. 6sc, inc = 8
• 14-15. 8sc
• 16. 3sc, 3inc, 2sc = 11
• 17. 3sc, 3dec, 2sc = 8
• 18. 2slst, 6sc = 8
• 19. 5sc, inc, 2sc = 9
• 20. (sc, inc)*2, 4sc, inc = 12
• 21. 12sc
• 22. (2sc, inc)*4 = 16
• 23. 4sc, inc, 3sc, inc, 7sc = 18
• 24. (2sc, inc)*6 = 24
• 25. Right front leg: 21sc / left front leg: 4sc. Put the wire (folded in half)

Hind leg

• 1. 6sc in MR
• 2-3. 6sc
• 4. 5sc, inc = 7
• 5-9. 7sc (5 rds)
• 10. 6sc, inc = 8
• 11-14. 8sc (4 rds)
• 15-16. 2sc, 2hdc, 2sc, 2slst = 8
• 17. 8sc
• 18. (3sc, inc)*2 = 10
• 19. 10sc
• 20. 3sc, inc, 2sc, inc, 3sc = 12
• 21. 1inc, 4sc, inc, 5sc, inc = 15
• 22. 15sc
• 23. 7sc, inc, 7sc = 16
• 24. 5sc, 4inc, 5sc, 2inc = 22
• 25. 22sc
• 26. 8sc, 2inc, 11sc, inc = 25
• 27. 1sc, inc, (6sc, inc)*2, 2sc = 28
• 28. 2sc, inc, 7sc, (inc, sc)*2, inc, 13sc = 32
• 29. Right hind leg: 8sc / left hind leg: 10sc. Put the wire (folded in half)

BODY (video 28:28)

The legs are connected.

Skip 3sc and from the 4th stitch of the right hind leg: 1ch, 1sc in the same stitch, 20sc – on the left hind leg, 14ch, from the 1st stitch of the left front leg: 16sc on the left front leg, 7ch, from the 20th stitch of the right front leg: 16sc on the right front leg, 14ch, from the 21th stitch of the right hind leg: 22sc, 3ch, and  from 3^rd stitch of the left hind leg: 1sc.

• 1. 21sc on the left hind leg, 14sc on the chain, 16sc on the left front leg, 7sc on the chain, 16sc on the right front leg,  14sc on the chain, and 22sc on the right hind leg  , 3sc on the chain, 1sc on the left hind leg = 114
• 2-4. 114 sc (3 rds)
• 5. 54sc, inc, 59sc = 115
• 6. 1sc, dec, 12sc, dec, 37sc, inc, 37sc, dec, 11sc, dec, 8sc = 112
• 7. 53sc, inc, 58sc = 113
• 8. 54sc, inc, 58sc = 114
• 9. 2sc, dec, 9sc, dec, 20sc, dec, 34sc, dec, 20sc, dec, 9sc, dec, 8sc = 108
• 10. 7sc, dec, (27sc, dec)*3, 12sc = 104
• 11. 3sc, dec, 6sc, dec, 19sc, dec, 30sc, dec, 19sc, dec, 6sc, dec, 5sc, dec, 2sc =97
• 12. 6sc, dec, (24sc, dec)*3, 11sc = 93
• 13. 1sc, dec, 32sc, dec, 16sc, dec, 32sc, dec, 4sc = 89
• 14. 5sc, dec, (34sc, dec)*2, 7sc, dec, sc = 85
• 15. (sc, dec)*4, 57sc, (sc, dec)*4, 4sc = 77
• 16. (sc, dec)*3, 56sc, (sc, dec)*3, 3sc = 71
• 17. (sc, dec)*2, 56sc, (sc, dec)*2, 3sc = 67
• 18. 2dec, 57sc, 3dec = 62. Leave a long tail for sewing! (about 40 cm long)

Belly (video 37:21)

Crochet the belly around the inner part of the legs and sew up the opening when finished.

• 1. Right part: 1ch, dec, 8sc, dec, 14sc, dec, 6sc, dec, 7sc, dec, 6sc, dec, 14sc, dec, 8sc, dec, 3sc = 74
• 2. 1dec, 30sc, 4dec, 28sc, 3dec = 66
• 3. 2dec, 25sc, 4dec, 25sc, 2dec = 58
• 4. 2dec, 21sc, 4dec, 21sc, 2dec = 50. Leave a long tail for sewing! (about 40 cm long)

Neck (video 49:28)

Find the 2 stitches in the middle of the body (to the front) to mark them, then mark the 16^th stitch to the left and then to the right.

First sew the body, leave the opening in front, crochet the neck in a spiral. Start from the left back corner (see video):

• 1. 1ch, 34sc, 2sc = 36. There must be 34 stitches and where you have sewn the back you make 2 more single crochets. There will be 36 stitches in the end.
• 2. 16sc, dec, 18sc = 35
• 3. 16sc, dec, 17sc = 34
• 4. 34sc
• 5. 15sc, dec, 16sc, dec (on the back) = 32
• 6. 30sc, dec = 31
• 7. 14sc, dec, 15sc = 30
• 8. (4sc, dec)*5 = 25
• 9-10. 25sc
• 11. 11sc, dec, 12sc = 24
• 12. 11sc, dec, 11sc = 23
• 13. 10sc, dec, 11sc = 22
• 14. 5sc, 5slst, skip 1sc, 7slst, 4sc = 21
• 15. 4sc (only) = 4.

EARS and TAIL (video 59:48)

On the last row to each ear, use a thin wire and crochet around it.

Right ear

• 1. 6sc in MR
• 2. 2inc, 1sc, 5ch, from the second ch of hook: 4sc, 1sc – in the same stitch where you start the chain, 2inc, 1sc, 3ch, from the second ch of hook: 2sc, 1sc –  in the same stitch where you start the chain
• 3. (sc, inc)*2, 5sc, inc, 5sc, (sc, inc)*2, 3sc, inc, 3sc = 32
• 4. Put the thin wire and crochet 32sc, leave a thread 30 cm long.
• 5. With gold metalized yarn: 32sc

Left ear

• 1. 6sc in MR
• 2. 2inc, 1sc, 3ch, from the second ch of hook: 2sc, 1sc (in the first ch of the chain of 3 ch), 2inc, 1sc, 5ch, from the second ch of hook: 4sc, 1sc (in the first ch of the chain of 5 ch)
• 3. (sc, inc)*2, 3sc, inc, 3sc, (sc, inc)*2, 5sc, inc, 5sc = 32
• 4. Put the thin wire and crochet 32sc, leave a thread 30 cm long.
• 5. With gold metalized yarn: 32sc

Tail

• 1. 6sc in MR
• 2. 5sc, inc = 7
• 3. 5sc, 2inc = 9
• 4. 6sc, 2inc, sc = 11
• 5. 2sc, inc, 4sc, (inc, sc)*2 = 14
• 6. 1inc, 13sc = 15
• 7. 11sc = 11. Leave a long tail for sewing! (30 cm long)

ASSEMBLY (video 70:49)

First fix the head and neck, then fix the ears, and finally fix the tail.

PART2 Accessories

VIDEO: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1tK4y1Y7do?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0

• Eyes, antlers (video 00:11)

The eyes can be made with small colored beads or gold ribbon cut in the shape of the eyes.

Firstly, the eyes are applied to the head, then the antlers made with a shaped wire and a golden yarn.

After wrapping the thread on the wire, fix it on the top of the head.

• Decoration

The beaded decorations are placed on the upper surface and then fixed in the appropriate position on the body.  (video 11:35)

• The flower on the back

Finally, the decoration of the flower pattern is fixed on the back, and on both sides of the body. Please see the 28:44 video demonstration.

MY DEER

Some details:

Some work phases:

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