Crochet Raccoon Keychain Free Pattern Amigurumi - Mini Brown Raccoon with Dark Mask

Raccoon fans can hang a crochet raccoon keychain amigurumi from house keys on its silver ring, the golden head and dark mask dangling clear of the lock. Stocking stuffers for teens often turn into a mini raccoon keychain that fits in a closed hand and rides on every school bag.

Makers keep circling back to this crochet raccoon keychain amigurumi because the face does all the work. Brown mask, blue eyes, done. Flat shape means it lies against a bag without bulking out the pocket. Ask any craft stall seller and the raccoon keychain sells out before the bigger toys do.

Crochet Raccoon Keychain Amigurumi

Only the head gets made here, flattened into a teardrop that narrows to a small brown snout at the bottom. Across the middle of the golden face runs a wide band of dark brown, shaped like a mask and curving up toward the ears. The ears sit at the top corners, brown on the outside with a lighter centre. Each eye is blue, ringed in white, with a gold lid arching over the top. You work the head as two flat rounds joined together, then add the ears, the snout and the eyes, and clip on the ring. Changing colour mid round is the only part that needs attention.

Materials and Tools

• Brown yarn for the head, body, ears, arms, legs, and base of tail
• Cream or off-white yarn for the muzzle
• Dark brown yarn for the mask, stripes in the tail
• Green yarn for the sweater section
• Crochet hook suitable for your yarn
• Fiberfill stuffing
• Safety eyes
• Keychain ring
• Yarn needle
• Scissors

Abbreviations

• MR: magic ring
• SC: single crochet
• Inc: increase, work 2 SC into the same stitch
• Dec: decrease, SC two stitches together

Pieces List

• Head and body: 1 continuous piece
• Mask: 1, worked as a flat chain row
• Muzzle: 1, small round piece in cream
• Ears: 2
• Arms: 2
• Legs: 2
• Tail: 1, with alternating colour stripes
• Sweater: worked directly around the body

Nine elements. Make the mask and have it ready before you reach round 8 of the head and body — you will need it before stuffing and closing.

The Pattern

Head and Body

• Round 1: MR, 6 SC in brown [6]
• Round 2: Inc in every stitch around [12]
• Round 3: 1 SC, inc, repeat 6 times [18] Checkpoint: a flat disc — the top of the head. Should lie flat without ruffling. This is the widest point the head will reach.
• Round 4: SC in each stitch around [18]
• Round 5: SC in each stitch around [18]
• Round 6: SC in each stitch around [18]
• Round 7: SC in each stitch around [18] Checkpoint: after four straight rounds the piece should look like a clear dome. The front face is where the mask will sit — mark the centre-front stitch so the mask alignment is easier.
• Round 8: 1 SC, dec, repeat around [12]
• Place the mask over the face now, centred, and insert safety eyes through both the mask and the head between rounds 5 and 6. Secure the washers from inside before continuing. For toys going to children under three, embroider the eyes with black yarn instead — place them at the same position after final assembly.
• Begin stuffing the head firmly before the opening closes further

Mask

• Using dark brown yarn, ch 10
• Starting from the second chain from the hook, SC across the row [9]
• Fasten off leaving tails for positioning
• Place over the face of the head, centred, before inserting the safety eyes Checkpoint: the mask should sit horizontally across the face, covering the area between rounds 5 and 6 evenly on both sides. Check from the front — if one side extends further than the other, recentre before pushing any safety eyes through.

Beginner crocheter? The video tutorial below guides you through every round of this plushie, and the written pattern is below for later!

Muzzle

• MR, 6 SC in cream [6]
• Round 2: SC in each stitch around [6]
• Fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing
• Sew the muzzle centred between the eyes on the lower half of the face

Ears (Make 2)

• Round 1: MR, 4 SC in brown [4]
• Round 2: 1 SC, inc, repeat 2 times [6]
• Round 3: SC in each stitch around [6] Checkpoint: a small flat oval. Both ears should match before fastening off.
• Flatten and sew to the top of the head, slightly toward the front

Arms (Make 2)

• MR, 4 SC [4]
• Round 2: SC in each stitch around [4]
• Round 3: SC in each stitch around [4]
• Fasten off leaving a tail for sewing

Legs (Make 2)

• MR, 5 SC [5]
• Round 2: SC in each stitch around [5]
• Round 3: SC in each stitch around [5]
• Fasten off leaving a tail for sewing

Sweater

• Using green yarn, work several rounds of SC around the body section to create the sweater Checkpoint: the sweater rounds should sit below the head/body join and cover the lower portion of the body evenly. A natural stopping point is wherever the arms will attach — check the sweater coverage before fastening off.
• Fasten off and weave in ends

Tail

• Using brown yarn, work a small base with a MR and a few SC rounds
• Alternate rounds between brown and dark brown to create the striped pattern
• Continue until the tail reaches your desired length
• Fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing
• Sew the tail to the centre back of the body, angled slightly downward

Assembly

Mask first, then eyes, then close and stuff. Everything else attaches after the head is finished.

• Ears: pin both simultaneously at the top of the head, slightly forward from the crown. Check symmetry from the front before sewing.
• Muzzle: sew centred below the eyes, on the lower face. Pin and step back before committing.
• Arms: attach just below the head on both sides, angled slightly forward so they read as reaching rather than hanging.
• Legs: sew evenly at the base, spaced so the figure sits level if placed down.
• Tail: sew at the back centre, slightly below the midpoint of the body, angled downward.
• Keychain ring: attach to the very top of the head, between the ears, with multiple passes of yarn through several stitches before knotting.

Stuffing Guide

• Stuff the head firmly, starting at round 8 before the opening narrows too much to reach inside.
• The body can be slightly softer than the head — a very firm body makes the figure feel rigid and pushes the head upward.
• Arms and legs stay mostly empty or with just a tiny amount of filling to hold their tube shape.
• The tail can be lightly stuffed or left unstuffed depending on the yarn weight — a denser yarn holds the tube shape well without filling.
• Overstuffing shows first at round 8, where the closing stitches will stretch open. If you can see stuffing through those stitches, remove a small amount.

Toy Safety

• Safety eyes must go in between rounds 5 and 6, through the mask, before the head is fully stuffed and closed. After round 8 closes the opening, fitting washers from inside is very difficult.
• For children under three, embroider the eyes with black yarn instead. No safety hardware.
• The keychain ring is a small metal part — not for children under three.
• Weave all tails in thoroughly. Small keychains get handled constantly and loose tails find their way free faster than on shelf toys.

Frequently Asked Questions

• The mask is shifting even after I thought I had it centred. The mask needs to be pinned to the head with safety pins or held in place by a finger while you push the safety eye through. The act of pushing the eye post through both the mask and the head fabric tends to move the mask if it is not anchored. Pin both sides before inserting either eye.
• The sweater rounds look different from the body rounds underneath. Working rounds around an already-finished and stuffed body produces slightly different tension than rounds worked in the regular sequence. Try going up a half hook size for the sweater section only, or work the sweater rounds more loosely than the body. A slight texture difference between sweater and body is actually not entirely unwanted — it reads as a fabric layering effect.
• My tail stripes are not alternating cleanly. The cleanest stripe changes happen when you change colour at the last yarn over of the final stitch in the old colour. If you are changing at the beginning of the new colour's first stitch, the colour bleeds into the previous round and the stripe line blurs. Adjust the change point by one half-stitch.