by Anastasia Marchenko
Pocket Snail Free amigurumi crochet pattern
A taupe garden snail sitting low, its head raised at the front and two thin stalks leaning off its crown, with a round dusty-rose shell on its back and a cream spiral on each side of it.
- About 5.5 cm (2¼ in) long
- Confident beginner
- 5 pieces
- About 3 hours
- 7 languages
- DK cotton, 3.25 mm hook
Free pattern
Free
Every round and every diagram is here on the page, free to read with no sign-up.
Prefer paper? The printable PDF
The same pattern laid out for print: numbered pages, and each diagram beside the rounds it explains.
In 7 languages details
- English A4, 18 pages · US Letter, 19 pages
- Deutsch A4, 19 pages
- English (UK) A4, 18 pages
- Español A4, 19 pages
- Français A4, 19 pages
- Nederlands A4, 19 pages
- Українська A4, 19 pages
- 9 illustrations · 4 diagrams · 18 pages on A4
Made by hand
Photographs of real makes, crocheted from the written pattern.
Made by Anastasia in Círculo Amigurumi cotton on a 3.25 mm hook. 
From the side: the spiral shell on the back, the stalks standing up. 
On a ball of cotton yarn.
Free colouring pages
Pocket Snail to colour by number, with answers and a gift card. Print at home, no sign-up.
A4 · 6 pages
About this amigurumi pattern
- How it is made
- The head and body are worked in one piece from the top of the head to the tail, then folded back under the head. The shell is made in two halves, each with its spiral stitched on before they are sewn together, and the shell is sewn onto the body's back, where it holds the bend. Each stalk is a short chain finished with slip stitches. There is no wire and no hard part but the safety eyes, and the pattern shows how to embroider them instead.
- Skills
- magic ring
- spiral rounds
- increases and invisible decreases
- a chain worked back along itself in slip stitch
- fitting safety eyes
- straight stitches and running stitch
- sewing two halves together
- sewing a filled piece onto another
- In the wild
- A garden snail's head usually has four tentacles it can pull back in, and the top two carry its tiny eyes.Source: Slugs and snails — Royal Horticultural Society
Materials
A 3.25 mm hook and smooth cotton, one strand throughout. Suggested yarn: DROPS Muskat (50 g, 100 m a ball), or any smooth cotton of about 2 to 2.5 m per gram, in shades close to these. A finer yarn makes a smaller snail; a worsted or aran yarn on a 3.5 mm hook makes a slightly larger one.
| Yarn | Used for | Buy | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Mushroom taupe | the head and body, and the two stalks | 1 ball (50 g, 100 m), or a leftover | about 13 m (6 g) |
| B Dusty rose | the two halves of the shell | 1 ball (50 g, 100 m), or a leftover | about 9 m (5 g) |
| C Warm cream | the spiral on each side of the shell | a small amount of the same cotton | about 1.5 m |
| D Black | the mouth, and the eyes if you embroider them | a small amount of six-strand cotton embroidery thread | about 0.5 m, 1 m with embroidered eyes |
You will also need:
- one pair of 5 mm glossy black half-dome safety eyes, with no iris
- about 6 g polyester toy filling
- a blunt tapestry needle, and an embroidery needle with an eye large enough for six strands
- two removable stitch markers — one for the round, one to hold the loop at the pause — and pins
- two short scraps of yarn in two different colours, both contrasting with the snail, so the head's marker and the shell's can be told apart
- scissors
Tension and size
About 20 dc and 23 rounds to 10 cm, worked firmly. A dense fabric matters more than the exact figure: filling must not show through it.
The finished snail is about 5.5 cm long from the front of its face to the back of its shell and about 5.5 cm tall, not counting its stalks; it comes out anywhere from 5 to 6 cm long depending on your yarn, how tightly you work and how firmly you fill it. Change the size with your hook, never by adding or removing rounds: the rounds make the shape. Diagram 1, The side view shows how the one piece bends and where the shell sits on it.
Check at the head's R3. Lay the crown flat: the circle is about 2.8 cm across. Hold a little filling behind the fabric without stretching it. If gaps show, start again with a 3 mm hook; if the fabric is stiff and hard to work, use 3.5 mm.
- Sewn — the shell’s seam from F+4 to F+8 along the top of the body from R17 to R22, and the tack at the back of the head.
- The head and body, one piece: the crown on top, the tail closed at R24.
Abbreviations and techniques
Original English pattern, UK crochet terms. If you learned from American patterns, the dc used here is the short stitch with no yarn over before the hook goes in, not the taller American double crochet.
- dc
- double crochet
- ss
- slip stitch
- ch
- chain
- st, sts
- stitch, stitches
- inc
- 2 dc in one stitch
- invdec
- invisible decrease
- R
- round
- (18 sts)
- the count at the end of the round
- [ ] 6 times
- work what is inside the brackets that many times.
- R11–R22
- rounds 11 to 22, each worked the same way.
- Magic ring
- make a loop with the tail behind the working yarn, insert the hook, pull up the working yarn and ch 1 (not counted). Leave a 10 cm tail. Work the first round over the loop and the tail, then pull the tail to close the ring. Before you fill the piece, or before the shell's halves are joined, thread the tail through the backs of a few stitches on the inside and trim it, so the ring cannot loosen.
- Spiral rounds
- no joining and no turning. Mark the first stitch of each round and move the marker up as each round begins.
- Invisible decrease (invdec)
- insert the hook under the front loop only of each of the next 2 stitches, yarn over, pull through both front loops, yarn over, pull through the 2 loops on the hook.
- Slip stitch (ss)
- insert the hook, yarn over, and pull the loop through both the work and the loop on your hook in one movement.
- Working into the back bumps
- the back of a chain is a row of small bumps, one for each chain. Turn the chain over and put the hook under the bump of the chain you are working into; the cord comes out round.
- Holding the loop
- when the pattern stops mid-piece, slip the loop from your hook onto a spare stitch marker so nothing unravels, and put it back on the hook to carry on.
- Filling a piece
- push the filling in with the blunt end of the hook, a little at a time. The head and the neck are filled firmly, until they hold their shape and no filling shows through the fabric. The body behind the neck is filled only lightly, so that it bends and presses flat on the table. The shell is filled firmly through the last gap in its seam, until it is round and smooth.
- Safety eyes
- the post goes through the fabric from the outside, between two stitches; the washer is pressed onto the post from the inside, ridged side towards the fabric, until it clicks. Once the washer is on it does not come off again, so every eye is placed and looked at before its washer goes on.
- Running stitch there and back
- work a running stitch along the line — down, a stitch-length along underneath, up, a stitch-length along on top — about one crochet stitch long each way. At the end of the line turn round and work back along the same line, coming up and going down in the same holes, so that each new stitch fills a gap the first pass left: the line is continuous. Where the first pass used shorter stitches, the way back uses the same holes.
- Fasten off and secure
- cut the stated tail and pull it through the last loop. Unless the tail is kept for sewing, pass it through the backs of at least five stitches on the inside, back through three, and trim.
Order of work. Make the head and body first. The eyes and the mouth go into the head at its R7 pause, before any filling, and each half of the shell gets its spiral before the halves are joined — neither can be done later. The stalks go on the finished head, and the shell goes on last: sewn onto the body's back and resting against the head, it is what holds the body's bend. Diagram 2, Assembly order shows what is open at each step.
Head and body, one piece from the crown to the tail — make 1
Yarn A Mushroom taupe
Start with a magic ring. Work in spiral rounds.
- R1A6 dc in the magic ring.6 sts
- R2Ainc 6.12 sts
- R3A[dc, inc] 6 times.18 sts
The crown, the top of the head, is done. The next four rounds add no stitches and make the head.
- R4Adc 18.18 sts
- R5Adc 18.18 sts
Mark the face: counting the marked first stitch of R5 as 1, tie a short scrap of contrasting yarn through its 10th stitch. That stitch is the middle of the face, F. The line of first stitches runs down the back of the head, halfway round from it. Leave the scrap in until the shell is on.
- R6Adc 18.18 sts
- R7Adc 18.18 sts
Slip the loop on your hook onto a spare stitch marker so it cannot unravel while you work on the face. Fit the eyes now (Assembly step A) and embroider the mouth (step B), while the head is an open cup and you can reach inside it. Pick the working loop back up. This round draws the head in to the neck.
- R8A[dc, invdec] 6 times.12 sts
Fill the head now, through the neck: firmly, so that it is a round ball and the eyes' washers are bedded in filling.
- R9Adc 12.12 sts
- R10Adc 12.12 sts
Fill the neck firmly as far as this round, right up under the head: the neck is what holds the head up. From here the body is a plain tube that bends back under the shell and lies on the table. Fill it only lightly as you go, a little every three or four rounds: enough that the tube is not empty, never so much that it cannot be pressed flat.
- R11–R22Adc 12.12 sts
The last two rounds close the tail.
- R23A[dc 2, invdec] 3 times.9 sts
- R24A[dc, invdec] 3 times.6 sts
Fasten off, leaving a 20 cm tail. Thread the tail through the front loop of each of the six R24 stitches in order, pull to close the hole, make one small stitch across the closure and bury the tail inside the body. Now shape the body. Stand the head up with the face towards you and bend the body back under it, away from the face, so that the tube runs straight back from under the chin and lies along the table. The bend falls at R11 to R13, and the side that was the back of the neck becomes the top of the body. Press the body flat on the table from R14 to the tail, so that it lies low and wider than it is tall, ready for the shell to sit on. If it springs back round, it holds too much filling; push some of it forward into the neck with your fingers through the fabric. The head now stands on its neck with the face looking forward. The ring is the top of the head, R24 closes the tail, and the shell, sewn on later, holds the bend.
Shell half — make 2
Yarn B Dusty rose
Start with a magic ring. Work in spiral rounds.
- R1B6 dc in the magic ring.6 sts
- R2Binc 6.12 sts
- R3B[dc, inc] 6 times.18 sts
- R4B[dc 2, inc] 6 times.24 sts
The flat side of the half is finished. The next two rounds add no stitches and turn the edge over into a shallow rim.
- R5–R6Bdc 24.24 sts
Fasten off. Leave a 60 cm tail on the first half, for joining the two halves, and a 50 cm tail on the second, for sewing the shell to the body; coil that one and tie it in a loose bundle so it stays out of your way. Work the spiral on each half now (Assembly step C), while the inside is open and you can secure the ends there; then join the halves (step D). Make two the same.
Stalk — make 2
Yarn A Mushroom taupe
Ch 6. Start in chain 2 from the hook, working into each chain's back bump.
Leave a 10 cm tail at the start; it stays at the base, beside the tail you fasten off with. Work loosely: a tight chain and tight slip stitches twist the cord into a corkscrew.
- R1Ass 5.5 sts
Fasten off, leaving a 15 cm tail. The end you fastened off at is the base, and it is sewn to the head; the other end is the tip and needs nothing done to it. Do not fill it or press it: a gentle curve along it is right. Make two the same.
Assembly
How positions are given. Every piece carries its own marker, and left and right are always the snail's own: seen from the front, its left is on your right.
- On the head and body, the scrap on R5 marks F, the middle of the face, and the stitch straight above or below it on the other rounds. F+1 is 1 stitch towards the snail's left and F−1 is 1 towards its right. Count from the scrap, never from the round marker, which drifts in a spiral. B is the back line, halfway round from F: on the head it is the ninth stitch from F either way, down the back of the head; on the body it is the middle of the top, straight behind the face, found by looking at the snail as it sits.
- On the shell, each half's spiral ends at one stitch of its last round, E, and the halves are joined with their two E stitches together: that point is the bottom of the shell. Each position on the joined edge is one pair: a stitch of each half, sewn together. The scrap tied after joining marks F, the front, the sixth pair along the edge from E, counting the pair next to E as 1: it will point at the head. Count from F around the edge towards E and call that way +: F+1 is the pair next to F, and F+6 is E, the lowest point.
- 1Head R1–R7 openThe crown and the four plain rounds of the head; F marked with a scrap on R5.
- 2A. Eyes pausedAt the R7 pause: both posts in on R4, between F±2 and F±3, looked at, washers on.
- 3B. Mouth pausedAt the same pause: two straight stitches from R6 to one stitch on R7.
- 4Head and body R8–R24 closedThe head filled firm after R8, the neck firm, the body lightly, the tail closed at R24.
- 5Body bent closedFolded back under the head at R11–R13 and pressed flat on the table behind it.
- 6Shell halves R1–R6 openTwo the same, each left open at its 24-stitch edge.
- 7C. Spirals openOn each half while it is open: E pinned, three turns out in running stitch and back, ends tied inside.
- 8D. Halves joined closedE against E, sewn edge to edge, filled before the last pairs; F marked on the sixth pair from E.
- 9E. Stalks closedBoth cords rising at F±2 on R3, their bases sewn on the crown.
- 10F. Shell on the body closedF+4–F+8 along R17–R22, then tacked to the back of the head.
- 11Finish closedPins and scraps out, the body pressed flat, the filling settled.
- open — the piece is still open: rounds continue after the step, and the inside can be reached through the opening.
- paused — crochet has stopped with the loop held on a marker; the inside is reachable through the opening.
- closed — filled and shut; only surface stitches and seams, with tails buried through the fabric.
Finding the rounds. On the head, the magic ring is the top of the head and each round is the next ring down; R5 is the round with the scrap. On the body, count back from the tail: the closing round at the very tip is R24, the next is R23, and so on, so R22 is the third ring from the tip, R20 and R19 the fifth and sixth, and R17 the eighth. On each half of the shell, R1 is the ring in the middle and R6 is the edge that is joined; R4 is the last round of the flat side.
Sewing stitches:
- Seam through the edges: hold the two edges together, and take the needle through one stitch of each edge, always from the same side, so that the yarn wraps over the edge: one stitch of each half each time, pulled until the edges meet.
- Rim seam: catch one pair of the shell's edge — the joining yarn and the top loops of the two stitches it holds together — then a shallow bar of the stitch under it on the body, without going through to the inside, and so on along the line. Pull until the surfaces just touch.
- Tack: a few small stitches in one place, through the surface of both pieces, pulled just firm.
- Bury a tail: needle into the piece at the seam and out 3 cm away, tug so the end disappears, go back through a nearby stitch and trim flush.
Place, pin and look before you fix anything: every position below is a starting point, and the pins are there to be moved.
A. Eyes (at the head's R7 pause, before any filling)
- Eyes — 5 mm, each post in a gap on R4, the first round below the crown: between F+2 and F+3 for the left eye, F−2 and F−3 for the right.
- Mouth — two straight stitches in the dark thread, from F+1 and F−1 on R6 down to F on R7.
- Sewn — each stalk’s base, lying on the crown from R2 to R3; the cord rises at F+2 (left) and F−2 (right).
- F — the scrap tied through the 10th stitch of R5, and the line straight above and below it.
Hold the head with the open edge down and the ring at the top: it is an open cup, and the scrap on R5 marks the middle of its face. Diagram 3, Face map shows the rounds, both eyes, the mouth and where the stalks go later.
| Left eye | Right eye | |
|---|---|---|
| Post | R4, between F+2 and F+3 | R4, between F−2 and F−3 |
- R4 is the first round below the crown, one round above the scrap. Find the stitch on R4 straight above the scrap, count 2 stitches from it towards the snail's left (your right), and push an eye's post through the gap just past the second stitch, from the outside, without its washer.
- Place the other eye the same way on the other side. Look at the face from the front: both eyes on R4, level with each other and the same number of stitches from the middle of the face, set wide on either side of it. Look from above: both the same distance below the crown. Move a post one gap if they are not.
- Press both washers on from the inside.
The eyes sit high on the front of the head, just below the crown and wide apart.
If you would rather have no plastic parts, embroider the eyes instead: at the same pause, with all six strands of D, work small straight stitches over the same gap, one over another, until a round dot about 5 mm across stands. Knot the ends inside the cup.
B. Mouth (at the same pause)
The mouth is a small V of two straight stitches below the eyes, worked from inside the open head with the embroidery needle and all six strands of D.
| Left arm | Right arm | |
|---|---|---|
| Upper end | R6, at F+1 | R6, at F−1 |
| Point | R7, at F — the same stitch for both arms | R7, at F |
- On R6, two rounds below the eyes, the stitch 1 along from F towards the snail's left is the left arm's upper end; 1 along the other way is the right arm's. The point is F on R7, the next round down, straight below the middle of the face.
- Bring the needle out at the left arm's upper end, take it down into the point stitch, and out again at the right arm's upper end; then back down into the point stitch. Go into the body of the point stitch, below its top loops, so that the hook does not catch the thread when R8 is worked into it. Two arms meeting at a point.
- Pull each arm just snug: loose and it sags off the fabric, tight and it dents the face. Tie both ends together inside the head and trim.
The mouth is a small V about 7 mm wide, below and between the eyes, with nothing else on the face.
C. The spiral on each half (before the halves are joined)
- The spiral — running stitch out from the middle through points 1 to 7, then back along the same line to fill the gaps.
- E — the stitch of R6 where the spiral ends, and the end’s line through the middle; F — the scrap on the joined seam.
- Sewn — the shell’s seam from F+4 to F+8, onto the top of the body from R17 to R22.
One line of running stitch in C winds out from the middle of each half in three turns and comes back along itself. Work it from the outside, with the half open so the ends can be tied inside. Diagram 4, The shell spiral shows the path and the points.
| Point | Where |
|---|---|
| 1 | the middle of the half, at the ring |
| 2 | R1, across the ring from the end's line |
| 3 | R2, on the end's line |
| 4 | R3, opposite |
| 5 | R4, on the end's line |
| 6 | R5, opposite |
| 7 | R6, at E — the end |
- Choose any stitch of R6 as the end, E, and put a pin in it: the spiral finishes there, and it will be the bottom of the shell. The line from the ring to E is the end's line; the line straight across from it is the opposite line. Pin points 2 to 6 on those two lines, one round further out every half turn.
- Starting at point 1 and looking at the outside of the half, work running stitch outwards in a smooth curve through the pins, turning anticlockwise, and take out each pin as you reach it: three turns, the line bending evenly between points rather than running straight from pin to pin. Make the stitches shorter on the first turn, where the curve is tight.
- At E turn round and work back along the same line to the middle, filling each gap the first pass left, so the line is continuous. Knot both ends inside the half. Leave the pin in E.
- Work the second half the same way, but turning clockwise, seen from its outside: on the finished shell the two spirals then mirror each other, as a real shell's do.
The spiral reads as one unbroken line winding out from the middle in three even turns, with the pink showing evenly between them. Its last half turn lies on the rim, beside the seam, and shows little on the finished shell.
D. Joining the halves
| Position | |
|---|---|
| The two ends of the spirals | together: E on the first half against E on the second |
| The front of the shell, F | the sixth pair along the joined edge from E, counting the pair next to E as 1 |
- Hold the halves together, their insides facing, the spirals out, with the two E pins together and R6 of one half against R6 of the other, stitch for stitch.
- With the first half's 60 cm tail, sew the two edges together with a seam through the edges, one stitch of each half each time, all the way round. Before you start, pull the second half's 50 cm tail out between the edges so that it hangs outside the shell, still coiled: it must not be sewn in or filled over, because it sews the shell to the body in step F. Stop when about 6 pairs are left.
- Fill the shell firmly through the gap, then sew the last pairs. Bury the first half's tail inside the shell.
- Counting the pair next to E as 1, count 6 pairs along the seam, either way: the sixth is F, the front of the shell. Tie the second scrap, the colour not on the head, through a stitch of that pair. Take out the E pins.
The shell is round and firm, about 3.5 cm across and about 3 cm thick, with the seam running round its edge and a spiral on each side ending at the bottom.
E. Stalks (on the finished head)
Each stalk is a thin cord sewn by its base — the end you fastened off at — to the crown, one either side of the face's middle line, where the flat top of the head turns down into its front. Diagram 3, Face map shows both places.
| Left stalk | Right stalk | |
|---|---|---|
| The cord rises from | R3, at F+2 | R3, at F−2 |
| The base's inner end lies on | R2, at F+1 | R2, at F−1 |
- Two stitches along R3 from the face's middle line towards the snail's left, pin the left stalk's base flat on the crown, its first 5 mm lying across R3 and R2 with its end towards the ring, and the rest of the cord rising from R3 and leaning a little outwards.
- Pin the right stalk the same way on the other side. The two cords rise about 2 cm apart, above the eyes.
- Look from the front: both cords rise the same height and lean out by the same amount. Look from the side: both lean the same way. Move the pins until they do. A cord this thin leans rather than stands to attention, and a gentle outward curve along it looks right.
- Sew each base down with its tail: four or five small stitches along the flat part, each through the cord and a shallow bar of the head stitch under it, without going through to the inside, spread over the R3 stitch and the R2 stitch inside it. Do not pull so hard that the crown dents.
- Bury both of each stalk's tails in the head, bringing the needle out at the back of the head rather than 3 cm away, since the head is small: at R7 on the back line B, where the shell will cover the ends.
The two cords sit on the crown above the face, rising and leaning slightly apart. If a stalk lies down on the crown instead of leaning, take one small stitch through the cord about 4 mm above its base and into the head on the side away from the way it lies: that one tack stands it up.
F. The shell on the body
The shell sits on the top of the body, upright, its front resting against the back of the head and its back over the tail. It is sewn along the bottom of its seam to the body, and tacked at its front to the head. Diagram 1, The side view shows the line on the body, and Diagram 4, The shell spiral the same line on the shell.
| Position | |
|---|---|
| On the shell | the 4th to 8th pairs from its scrap along the seam: F+4 to F+8 |
| The lowest point of the shell | F+6, where the spirals end, over the body between R19 and R20 |
| On the body | along its top line, B, from R17 to R22 |
| The front of the shell | the shell's scrap, F, rests against the back of the head at R6, B |
- Stand the snail on the table with its face towards you and its body pressed flat. Count the body's rounds back from the tail and put a pin in the middle of the top at R17 and at R22.
- Set the shell on the body with the shell's scrap pointing at the head and a spiral facing out on each side, so that F+4 sits over R17 and F+8 over R22, and the spirals' ends between R19 and R20. Press it down gently: the body flattens under it.
- Look from the side: the front of the shell rests against the back of the head, and the end of the tail shows under the back of the shell. If the shell does not reach the head, move the whole line towards the head a round or two, the pins with it: the head resting against the shell matters more than the round. Look from the front: the shell stands straight up, not leaning to either side. Look from above: its two sides stand the same distance from the sides of the body. Pin through the rim into the body at both ends of the line and in its middle.
- Thread the second half's tail, hanging from the seam, through the inside of the shell and bring it out at F+4. Sew along the line with a rim seam, pair to round: F+4 to R17, F+5 to R18, F+6 between R19 and R20, F+7 to R21, F+8 to R22. If you moved the line in step 3, shift every round by the same amount. Then work back along the same line once more, so the shell cannot rock.
- Take the tail through the inside of the shell and bring it out at the shell's scrap, F. Tack the edge there to the back of the head at R6, B — the stitch halfway round from the head's scrap — with three small stitches, pulled only until the head rests against the shell without being drawn back. Bury the tail in the shell and take out both scraps.
The shell stands upright on the snail's back with a spiral facing out on each side, the head in front of it resting against its front, and the end of the tail showing beneath its back. If the shell leans to one side, take two more stitches into the body on the side it leans away from.
Finishing
Remove any pins. Press the body flat on the table under the shell and at the tail, roll the shell gently upright between two fingers, and settle the filling in the head with a fingertip through the fabric. Do not block, steam or starch.
Your snail should sit low on its flat body, the shell standing upright on its back with a cream spiral on each side, the head standing in front of it and looking forward, and two slim stalks leaning apart on its crown. If it tips to one side, press the body flatter under the shell.
Care: spot-clean only, and dry flat away from heat.
What is checked
passed
Stitch check: every round's count recomputed from the stitch record
passed
Placement check: every placement checked against the rounds it names
passed
Diagram check: every diagram checked against the same record
2
finished makes from the written pattern
3
photos of finished makes
Using this pattern
The toys you make from this pattern are yours to keep, give or sell. The pattern itself is for your personal use: please do not share, copy or resell it.
Safety
This pattern uses plastic safety eyes, which are not suitable for toys for children under three. If you would rather have no plastic parts, embroider the eyes instead.
Not for children under three. A handmade toy has not been safety-tested, so sew every part on firmly, and check the seams and stuffing before you give it to a child and every so often after.
Illustrations are generated previews. Your finished piece will differ with yarn, hook, tension and stuffing. © 2026 Anastasia Marchenko