Crochet Bee Amigurumi Free Pattern Keychain - Mini Striped Bee Plush

Clip a crochet bee amigurumi keychain onto a honey jar ribbon or a gardener's tote, where the chunky yellow body pops against canvas. Garden parties and teacher thank-you bags get a mini striped bee plush as a favour, and two bees on separate key rings make a best friend set.

Colour changes are the whole job on this crochet bee amigurumi keychain, so you settle into a rhythm fast. Stuff, close, sew the wings. Finishing a bee amigurumi keychain in one sitting is the part makers like most. No limbs to line up, no legs to count.

Crochet Bee Amigurumi Keychain

Black stripes wrap the sides of the ball, leaving the middle of the face clear yellow for the eyes. The whole body is one round shape with no separate head, so the face and the stripes share the same piece. Two white wings sit flat against the back of the head, overlapping slightly at the top. Black eyes go in near the centre with pink stitched just below each one for cheeks. Ring at the top, wings sewn on, body stuffed. That is the whole build. The stripes mean carrying two colours around the round, which is the one thing worth practising before you start.

Materials and Tools

• Yellow yarn for the body
• Black yarn for stripes
• White yarn for wings
• Pink yarn for cheek embroidery
• 3 mm crochet hook
• 6 mm safety eyes
• Polyester fiberfill stuffing
• Stitch marker
• Yarn needle
• Scissors
• Keychain ring or loop (for keychain version)

Abbreviations

• MR: magic ring
• SC: single crochet
• INC: increase, work 2 SC into the same stitch
• DEC: invisible decrease
• SL ST: slip stitch

Pieces List

• Body: 1, worked in continuous rounds with colour changes for stripes
• Wings: 2, small flat circles in white, tied together at the base and sewn on

Two pieces. The wings take about five minutes each.

Approximate Size and Time

Estimates based on standard DK or light worsted at a 3 mm hook, not measurements from the pattern.

• Finished size: approximately 1.5 to 2 inches tall
• Working time: approximately 45 minutes to 1.5 hours
• Difficulty: beginner

Before You Start

• Work in continuous rounds throughout — do not slip stitch to join at the end of each round.
• Move your stitch marker to the first stitch of every new round. At 18 stitches the rounds go quickly and it is easy to lose your place, especially during the colour change rows.
• Change colour on the last yarn over of the stitch before the new colour begins. This keeps the transition sitting cleanly at the start of the new round rather than appearing as a bleed at the end of the old one.
• Keep tension tight enough that the stuffing does not show through the fabric. If you can see light through the stitches, go down half a hook size.

Safety Eye Timing

Insert safety eyes between rounds 2 and 3 while the piece is still a small, open disc. Space them 5 to 6 stitches apart on what will be the front face, slightly offset toward the magic ring end. Secure the washers from inside before continuing. The piece is easy to reach inside at this stage — it gets much harder after round 6. For toys going to children under three, embroider the eyes instead with black yarn at this same stage or after the body is fully assembled.

The Pattern

Body (Continuous Rounds)

• Round 1: MR, 6 SC [6]
• Round 2: INC in each stitch around [12] Checkpoint: a flat disc, 12 stitches. Insert safety eyes now, between rounds 2 and 3, 5 to 6 stitches apart on the front face.
• Round 3: 1 SC, INC, repeat around [18] Checkpoint: a slightly domed disc — the sides should just be starting to curve upward. If it is still lying completely flat, your tension may be too loose.
• Round 4: 18 SC, change to black on the last yarn over of the final stitch [18]
• Round 5: 18 SC in black, change to yellow on the last stitch [18] Checkpoint: the first black stripe is in. The body should now read as a small yellow dome with one black band. The stripe should sit horizontally level all the way around.
• Round 6: 18 SC in yellow [18]
• Round 7: 18 SC in yellow, change to black on the last stitch [18]
• Round 8: 18 SC in black, change to yellow on the last stitch [18]
• Round 9: 18 SC in yellow [18] Checkpoint: the striped oval body is complete. Held sideways it should look like a small rounded barrel — two black stripes visible against yellow, with the body walls straight rather than flaring. If the sides are bowing outward, the tension loosened during the straight rounds.
• Round 10: 1 SC, 1 invisible DEC, repeat around [12]
• Stuff the body firmly at this stage, pushing filling evenly to keep the stripe rows horizontal and the sides smooth
• Round 11: 6 invisible DEC [6]
• SL ST to finish
• Cut yarn leaving a tail
• Thread tail through front loops of remaining 6 stitches with the yarn needle and pull to close
• Weave in end securely

Wings (Make 2)

• Round 1: MR, 6 SC [6]
• Round 2: INC in each stitch around [12]
• Work 1 extra SC to help shape the circle slightly [13]
• SL ST to finish
• Fasten off leaving a long tail
• Do not stuff

Face Details

• Embroider small pink cheek stitches under each eye using pink yarn, one on each side of the face, sitting just below the safety eyes
• Optionally embroider a small curved smile below the cheeks using black yarn

If reading patterns isn't your thing yet, no stress! The video tutorial below covers this whole plushie from the first round to the finishing touches.

Assembly

• Tie the two wing pieces together at their base tails with a secure double knot before attaching anything. Tying them together first is what keeps them symmetrical — it is much harder to get the spacing even if you attach each wing independently.
• Position the joined wings at the back of the body between rounds 6 and 7, centered on the top of the back.
• Pin the wings in place before sewing. Step back and check from the front — the wings should be even on both sides and sitting level.
• Sew through multiple stitches on each wing to hold them firmly, then hide all tails inside the body.
• Embroider the cheeks and optional smile after the wings are attached, so the full face proportions are visible.
• If using as a keychain, attach the loop or ring to the top of the head through several stitches rather than a single one, and loop the yarn through multiple times before tying off.

Stuffing Guide

• Begin stuffing at round 10, before the opening narrows below comfortable hand-width.
• Add filling in small pinches — pushing one large piece in at 18 stitches will leave lumps.
• The body should feel firm when squeezed from the sides, not soft. A soft bee will sag and the stripes will pull out of alignment.
• Focus filling toward the sides first, then the centre. This keeps the walls from collapsing inward during round 11.
• Wings stay unstuffed — they are flat discs and the flat shape is intentional.
• Overstuffing shows first at the closing stitches, which will bulge outward. If that is happening, remove a small amount before finishing round 11.

Troubleshooting

1. The stripe is spiralling instead of sitting level. This is a continuous-round issue. The start-of-round point drifts gradually because amigurumi spirals are not perfectly level. Keeping the stitch marker exactly in the same relative position helps, but does not eliminate the drift entirely. Change colour consistently at the same point each round and the spiral will be minimal.
2. The colour change leaves a visible jog where the rounds meet. A colour jog at a round join is normal in continuous-round amigurumi. The cleanest fix is to make sure you are changing on the last yarn over of the stitch before the new colour begins, not at the start of the new colour. Changing one stitch too late produces a more visible jog.
3. The safety eyes are sitting at an angle after stuffing. Stuffing shifts things. The check is before securing the washers, not after. Once the backing is locked on, the eye position is permanent. Take a few extra seconds to look at the piece from arm's length before pressing the washer home.
4. The bee looks more oval than round after closing. This usually means the stuffing was added unevenly — more toward the top or bottom than the middle. Before closing round 11, gently roll the stuffed body between your palms to redistribute. If one end is noticeably fatter than the other, push a little filling from the dense end toward the light end using the back of your hook.
5. One wing is sitting higher than the other. Unpick and try again. Tying both wings together before sewing helps but does not guarantee level placement if one side of the joined pair was pulled tighter than the other. Pin symmetrically from the back seam before sewing either side down.
6. The magic ring at round 1 has a hole that will not close. Thread the starting tail through the front loop of each of the 6 round 1 stitches and pull tight, then knot the tail and bury it inside through a later round. The second pass through those loops usually closes any gap that the initial pull left.
7. The keychain loop is pulling the bee off-balance when it hangs. Move the loop attachment point one or two stitches forward or back until the bee hangs level. The loop needs to exit from the exact crown of the head, which is slightly toward the magic ring end rather than the centre of the finished piece.

Yarn Substitution and Size Scaling

• Any smooth yarn in a similar weight will work. Avoid fuzzy or eyelash yarn — the stripe definition disappears and round counts become very hard to see.
• DK or light worsted at 3 mm gives a keychain-appropriate size. Sport weight at the same hook produces a smaller bee about a third of the size.
• Worsted with a 4.5 mm hook roughly doubles the finished size without any changes to round counts, producing a shelf plush rather than a keychain.
• The black stripe colour can be any contrast that reads well against your main colour. Navy against yellow, dark green against orange, burgundy against cream all work.

Toy Safety

• Safety eyes must go in between rounds 2 and 3, while the piece is still open enough to reach inside and lock the washers. After round 6 this becomes very difficult.
• For children under three, use embroidered eyes only — small horizontal stitches in black yarn, added at the same stage or after assembly.
• The keychain ring is a small metal part. This toy is not appropriate for children under three when used as a keychain regardless of the eye method.
• Weave in all ends with at least two direction changes. Small keychains get handled more than shelf toys and loose tails find their way out faster.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I add more stripes? Yes — the body has enough straight rounds that you can insert additional colour changes between rounds 5 and 9 without changing any stitch counts. Just change colour at the end of whichever round you choose. More than three stripes at this size starts to look crowded, but two extra is fine.
• Do I have to use invisible decreases? Standard decreases work at this yarn weight, but they leave a small ridge on the surface. On a bee with defined stripes, that ridge can be more visible than on a plain-coloured piece. Invisible decreases take an extra second but keep the closing rounds much cleaner.
• The wings look too small. Can I add an extra round? Adding one more increase round after round 2 brings the wings to 18 stitches, which is noticeably larger. That scale works better on a larger bee made in bulky yarn. On the standard version, slightly oversized wings tend to flop forward rather than sitting back, which changes the silhouette. Try the pattern as written first and scale up if needed.
• Can I add antenna? Chain 6 or 8 in black yarn, slip stitch back down the chain, and sew the base to the top of the head. Work two, not one — single antenna looks like a horn at this scale. Space them close together at the crown for the classic bee look.
• My cheek embroidery is not staying pink — it looks washed out. Pink yarn at this scale shows the background colour through it, especially on a yellow body. Use a slightly deeper pink than you think you need, and work more stitches per cheek rather than fewer. Three or four satin stitches grouped closely read more clearly than two spread apart.