Amigurumi Pattern | Chocobo from Final Fantasy

This post has hit 12k hits since published (29/12/2014)! Thanks for all the interest people! It's currently Dec 2016, and I am finally making my second chocobo. Yes, my second one. I have never had the chance to remake it in the end until two years later. I am going to add some more photos and fix some patterns for this chocobo, as I realized I wrote a lot of mistakes. Enjoy!

Have been wanting to write this up and post this every since I made it, and finally, it's up! The instructions may be incomplete because there's some part that I just did without noting it down. But I think it's really self-explanatory, you can figure it out without having to tell you what to do with that section/part. 

But of course, if you have any question, leave me a comment in this blog post or you can e-mail me too. I'll be happy to help. :) 

**I also sell this item on my Etsy shop. If you would like to have this item but you don't know how to crochet, you can order them from me. **

Materials

3.00mm crochet hook

Minlon Acrylic yarn (or any sport weight yarn)

# yellow

# orange

# brown

# white

eye washer

pipe cleaner/wire

Embroidery needle

Abbreviation
ch - chain
sk - skip stitch
ss - slip stitch
sc - single crochet
hdc - half double crochet
dc - double crochet
inc - increase
dec - decrease
* or * * - repeat following pattern until row ends
* * xA - repeat instr inside for A times
MR - Magic ring
FLO - front loop only
BLO - Back loop only
F/O - finish off

Some basic explanation for the pattern I have written 
"inc" means sc x2 in the next sc
"inc by 3" means sc x3 in the next sc
"2sc" means sc x1 in the next sc, repeat 2x
"2inc" means sc x2 in the next sc, repeat 2x

It is advisable to crochet out all the parts first before you sew them together so that you can adjust the parts accordingly.

Head
Use yellow yarn

R1: 6sc in MR (6)
R2: *inc (12)

R3: *sc (12)

R4: *sc, inc* (18)

R5: *2sc, inc* (24)

R6-9: *sc (24)

R10: *2sc, dec* (18)
Insert eyes & stuff!

R11: *sc, dec* (12)

R12: *dec (6)

F/O and leave a long tail.

I attached the eyes between R4-5, 6 sc apart

Head feather

Use yellow yarn

Middle
R1: 3sc in MR (3)
R2: sc, inc, sc (4)
R3: sc, 3hdc in next sc, dec (5)
R4: sc, 3hdc in next sc, sc, dec (6)

Sides - make 2
R1: 3sc in MR (3)
R2: sc, inc, sc (4)
R3: sc, 3hdc in next sc, dec (5)

I attached the head feather as how I doodle them. Meaning, I followed the curve. The curve from the middle will be very obvious, so it's easy. As for the sides, there might be only a slight curve, but you can look at the stitches to know which direction it curves to. 

And then I placed all three of them in this shape if you look from above (the beak facing upwards).

/ | \

Body
Use yellow yarn

R1: 6sc in MR (6)
R2: *inc (12)

R3: *sc, inc* (18)

R4: *2sc, inc* (24)

R5-9: *sc (24)

R10: *2sc, dec* (20)
R10: *4sc, dec* (20)  *corrected version, thanks to GothicSoprano for pointing this out!*

R11-12: *sc (20)

R13: *8sc, dec* (18)
Stuff!

R14: *sc (18)

R15: *sc, dec* (12)

R16: *dec (6)

F/O

Attach the head to the body (around R3-6 of the body)

Beak

Use Orange yarn

Part 1

R1: 3sc in MR

R2: *inc (6)

R3: *sc, inc* (9)

R4: 3sc, 2 inc, 3sc, 1ch, turn (10)

R5: inc, 4ss, inc (8)

Ss into next sc and F/O.

Part 2

2ch, 3sc in the first ch (3)

Now we make the thin line of the sides

ch4, sk1, 6ss, ch4, 

turn, sk1, 3ss (9)

F/O and leave a long tail.

When you sew the beak parts on the head, make sure Part 1 is at the top. Align the parts carefully. And on the Part 1 beak, the sides of the beak will have kind of a protruding part, make sure you sew that part into the side to have a more realistic beak shape.
Sorry, there isn't any picture tutorials to show you, I did it in a whim and I forgot to take some pictures. I'll be sure to take some next time when I re-make it.

**Update 09/12/16** 
I tried to re-create the realistic beak look but I failed. I don't remember how I did it last time, but below is my current version which is different. I still prefer the old one..... I still have the first chocobo with me, will look for it and figure it out.

You can sew the lower part of the upper beak to cover away the yellow part if it doesn't destroy the beak look. Else, just use leftover orange yarn to cover them up. 

Tails

Use yellow yarn

Big tail

R1: 3sc in MR (3)

R2: *inc (6)

R3: *sc, inc* (9)

R4: *2sc, inc* (12)

R5: *sc (12)

R6: *2sc, dec* (9)

R7-8: *sc (9)

R9: *sc, dec* (6)

Medium tail - make 2

R1: 3sc in MR (3)

R2: *inc (6)

R3: *sc, inc* (9)

R4-5: *sc (9)

R6: *sc, dec* (6)

Small tail - make 2

R1: 3sc in MR (3)

R2: *inc (6)

R3-4: *sc (6)

R5: *sc, dec* (4)

You can use this picture as a reference on how to arrange the tails or you can make your own version of it. For me, I overlap some parts of the smaller ones onto the bigger ones to have a fan effect.

Wings - make 2

Use yellow yarn

R1: 2ch, turn. 3sc in the first ch, ch1, turn (3)

R2: 3sc, turn (3)

R3: [2ch, hdc, ss] in first sc, [2ch, 2dc, ss] in second sc, [2ch, hdc, ss] in last sc

Sc around the edges but not the rounded parts that we did in R3. Also, make 3sc at the corner stitch. 

Front(breast) feather
Use yellow yarn
ch5
hdc & ss into 3rd chain from hook
2ch, 2dc & ss into the next ch
2ch, hdc & ss into the next ch

Sc around the edges but not the rounded parts.

Leg

Use yellow yarn

R1: 4sc in MR (4)

R2: (FLO) *ss, 2ch, ss* into same sc x4

F/O.

Use brown yarn

R2: (Continue from back loop of the yellow piece we just made, BLO) *sc (4)

R3-4: *sc (4)
F/O.

Nails
This, in my opinion, is the harder part to crochet because of it's tiny details! I even hurt my fingers a lot because of crocheting this part. Some tips regarding the nails, make sure the crochet side facing you (right side) will be facing outwards. To give it a more realistic look, roll the nails around your fingers (like how you do it with a dough when you want the diameter to be smaller, make sense?).

Short nails - make 2

Use white yarn

R1: 3sc in MR (3)

Use brown yarn

R2: *sc (3)

F/O and leave a tail

Long nails - make 4

Use white yarn

R1: 3sc in MR (3)

Use brown yarn

R2-3: *sc (3)

F/O and leave a tail

*Click for bigger image

For the leg,

1. Cut a piece of pipe cleaner, make sure it is longer than the leg but shorter than the chocobo body, as we are going to insert this into the body.
2. Insert into the leg part at one end and bend a small part at the other to fit the small nail nicely in it. Measure first before you bend.
3. Cut another piece of pipe cleaner of much smaller length (3rd picture from left). Insert two long nails onto each of the ends.
4. Put the "V" shape onto the main leg. So that they sit well on it. You don't need to glue it as we are going to sew the empty parts.  
5. Sew around the space to cover up the pipe cleaner. 

The finished look

You can also use a thin wire but I find that with thin wire, I have to bend the ends to avoid pointy ends coming out. But as you can see in the picture above, it is still visible. I decided to use pipe cleaner instead since they are thinner and easier to bend around. 

Insert the ends into the body and sew the legs too. 

It's done!

Kweh....

KWEH!!  A very excited chocobo.

The chocobo is actually very flexible, I didn't thought it would be when I made it though. The beak could be opened and closed. The side feathers can be moved. It can sit too. It really feels like a pet to me. Haha.

Link me up with your creation if you used this pattern to make your chocobo! I would be happy to see what you guys have done. :)

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**Disclaimer: I do not own this character, this character solely belongs to Square Enix. This is purely a fan-based work and pattern by me. Please do not sell the finished product. Please credit me if you're using this pattern in anyway. Thank you.