Amigurumi Aardvark crochet pattern
I usually keep my designs a secret while I work on them, in case I fail to create what I can see in my head (it happens!), but last week, I was crocheting away on my new design and I spontaneously decided to host a contest on my Facebook page, to guess what the design would be. I released one text clue every hour, and people could guess again after each clue was released. It took 5 hours and almost 100 comments before we had a winning guess of Aardvark, by which time my design was well on the way to completion. It was so much fun to have people keeping me company with their guesses as I worked, I think I might do it again some time 🙂
I don’t know why the idea to crochet an aardvark popped into my head, but, once it did, I had to drop all my other projects immediately and get to work – that’s the way my crazy brain works. The aardvark is just so cute and funny and distinctive looking, I thought it would be the perfect subject for a one-colour design, where all the magic is in the shaping.
It was easy enough to draw my aardvark sketch, but turning that 2D shape into the 3D reality involved a lot of trial and error to get it smooth and perfect and in proportion. I think I succeeded though!
I also went for a change of scale with this design: I think Aardvark is one of my largest worsted weight amigurumi, at 13.5″ long from snout to tail.
Aardvark Fun Facts
- Aardvarks are found all over Africa.
- The name “aardvark” means “earth pig” in Afrikaans.
- Aardvarks live in burrows and eat ants and termites.
- They weigh over 100lbs and their tail alone is 2 ft long.
- Aardvarks independently evolved similar features to the unrelated Anteaters (who come from South America) – isn’t nature amazing?!
I hope you like my funny little ‘earth pig’. I’m hoping he’ll be a talisman to keep the ants out of my house; he doesn’t seem to be making much difference so far, but I love him anyway 🙂
If you’d like to make an aardvark of your own, pick up the Aardvark crochet pattern from the PlanetJune shop!
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Kirsten said
I love it. They are so funky. Their feet are so Big.
Jana said
I love him! I don’t think I ever saw one when I was in SA! Is he beige or pink or a mixture of both? Isn’t amazing that both the anteater and the aardvark are so big and eat something so tiny like the ant and termite! Makes you wonder how they ever get a full meal! LOL! 😀
June said
My one is ‘buff’ coloured- it’s a sort of pinkish beigey brown yarn and looked perfect to me. Aardvarks are sort of dull brown but are normally covered in dust from burrowing and digging into termite mounds, so they can look yellowish or reddish or brownish or greyish depending on the colour of the dirt – so we have lots of choices for aardvark yarn colours without it looking wrong!
I think I read somewhere that they eat 50,000 ants in a day… By digging into the anthills they can get hundreds at a time on that long sticky tongue! I think they (both aardvarks and anteaters) know what they’re doing – they are very well adapted to their diet 😉
CrochetBlogger said
What a fun way to make the project more interactive as you were working on it! Super adorable.
Kathy said
He looks like he has such a quirky personality. I love it!
I’ve always thought that Aarvarks were from South America, and now I know why – very cool!
becky said
HE is adorable. I wish my budget could keep up with your designs 😀 You amaze me every time 😀
Gillian McMullen said
Oh my goodness, June, this is beautiful. But 13 inches? What can be next? “PlanetJune goes LIFE SIZE!”
June said
Heehee! Great idea… but no, that wouldn’t work – it’d use up my yarn stash too quickly, and I can’t get any more of my favourite soft ww acrylics in SA, so I have to make it last as long as possible. If anything, I should start going miniature to make sure I don’t run out 😉
(And actually, 5 inches of the 13 is tail, so my aardvark isn’t that huge! If you took off the long tail, he’d be only slightly larger than my Farmyard Pigs.)
Susan said
I love it! Can’t wait to make it.
wrchili said
So cute!
Nancy said
Oooh!! That is the most adorable thing EVER!!! Waaay too cute!!!