Schnoodge, crochet Schnauzer pattern

I proudly present to you something completely different: Schnoodge the crochet Schnauzer pattern!

After I finished my second dog pattern, I got so many requests for all sorts of dogs that I decided to do at least two dog patterns a year. One night when I was in bed I suddenly thought, ‘How much fun would it be to design a bearded Schnauzer?’ and I pictured a very cute hairy Schnauzer face.

When still working on the Siamese cat, I tried a first bearded dog head just to check if it would work, and the result was so delightful that I knew this was going to be the first new dog.

To make a bearded dog, there was one thing I had to find a new solution for: the loop stitch that would create the long brows and beard. Normally, the loop forms on the inside of your work, so you have to turn the piece inside out. That would mean that the complete head had to be turned inside out and the stitches without loops would also be the wrong side, and I don’t like that look. I had to find a way to get the loops to the front side.

How hard could it be to just pull the loops through each stitch after it was finished? I tried several ways and each time I cut the loops very short after I’ve pulled them through the stitches to see if the stitches would hold. Most of my methods were as secure as the ‘normal’ loop stitches, so I could just pick the one that had the best look. In the end it works the same as the normal loop stitches. As long as you don’t cut the loops shorter than 1 cm/ 0.5 inch, the stitches will hold, even if you put a lot of pressure on them. And for those of you who don’t like doing a complicated loop stitch, I added the instructions for how to attach the hair later.

Now, I could write more about designing this dog, but I want to tell you something about making choices.

Personally, I find that making choices is the most difficult thing about designing crochet animals. And it’s not a few choices I have to make! For every little thing there are options to consider. Mostly it’s about sizing, but also about how realistic I want a design to be. It’s like, ‘Shall I make the legs 10 stitches wide, or would they look better a little bit bigger?’ I have to try both to see how it looks. When I see the result I think, ‘What if I make them shorter, would that be better’? So I have to make another body with shorter legs to see how that looks, et cetera. After many more choices, I assemble the animals, and then come new questions. ‘Would it have looked nicer if I made the neck a little bit thicker?’ I can choose to try that, or I can leave it as it is. I could go on like this for a while, lol. In the end I always love the result and all the choices that can drive me nuts are worth the effort!

Here are some more pictures of this super-cute Schnauzer amigurumi, and below them you can find all the info about the pattern.

Info about & links to buy the pattern

This pattern is quite advanced because of the reversed loop stitch. I’ve added the link to a tutorial online and added a clear description of how to pull the loops through, but a stitch like this requires more skill than basic stitches. For beginners who really want to make this dog I also added an instruction for how to insert the hair later.

This dog is made with Istex Lett Lopi, a 100% wool with a lot of fuzziness. It’s 5.1 inch /13 cm sitting. The pattern contains a clear and colour-coded description of how to crochet and assemble the doll, with instruction images next to the text and example pictures at the bottom to help you get everything right. In the pattern you can also find out what materials you need, the yarn colour numbers — in short, everything you need to know to make your own silly Schnauzer doggy. All the additional information you need to know about this pattern you can find in the shop listings. You can purchase it in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here.

And heads up! This pattern has a one dollar release discount till the 5th of May.