This is a pair of avocado halves that button together into one fruit, with a seed that comes out. Each half is two pieces: a light green inside and a dark green outside, crocheted separately and then joined along the rim so the seam disappears into the skin. The seed is a separate little sphere with its own face.
The construction trick is in rounds 12 and 8 of the two halves. Instead of shaping the point of the avocado with decreases, you chain eight stitches out from the circle, work single crochet back along them, and then crochet around the chains in the following round — that is what gives the pointed tip with a clean edge rather than a lumpy one.
Every round is written out below.
What you need
- Yarn: cotton 8/4 — light green 15 g, dark green 21 g, light brown 5 g, a little pink and black
- Hook: 2 to 2.5 mm
- Eyes: two pairs of 10 mm safety eyes for the halves, one pair of 6 mm for the seed
- Notions: stuffing, needle
Abbreviations
ml magic loop, sc single crochet, hdc half double crochet, ch chain, slst slip stitch, sc-inc two sc in one stitch, sc-dec two sc together, hdc-dec two hdc together, BLO back loop only. “3 sc-inc” means an increase in each of the next three stitches.
Light green inside (make 2)
- R1: 6 sc in ml (6)
- R2: 6 sc-inc (12)
- R3: (sc, sc-inc) x6 (18)
- R4: (2 sc, sc-inc) x6 (24)
- R5: (3 sc, sc-inc) x6 (30)
- R6: (4 sc, sc-inc) x6 (36)
- R7–10: 36 sc — 4 rounds
- R11: (5 sc BLO, sc-inc BLO) x6 (42)
- R12: (6 sc, sc-inc) x2, 7 sc, 8 ch, skip the next stitch, 7 sc into the chains, sc in the same stitch as the last sc on the circle, (6 sc, sc-inc) x3 (62, not counting the skipped chain)
- R13: (7 sc, sc-inc) x2, 6 sc, hdc-dec, 5 sc, 3 sc in one stitch, skip the chain at the tip, 3 sc in the same stitch, 5 sc, hdc-dec, (7 sc, sc-inc) x3 (69)
- R14: (8 sc, sc-inc) x2, 5 sc, hdc, hdc-dec, hdc, 5 sc, 3 sc-inc, 5 sc, hdc, hdc-dec, hdc, 6 sc, sc-inc, (8 sc, sc-inc) x2 (75)
- R15: (9 sc, sc-inc) x2, 4 sc, hdc, hdc-dec, ch 1, skip, hdc, 5 sc, sc-inc, 2 sc, sc-inc, 4 sc, hdc, ch 1, skip, hdc-dec, hdc, 7 sc, sc-inc, (9 sc, sc-inc) x2 (80, chains included)
- R16: 10 sc, sc-inc, 13 sc, 8 hdc, 4 sc, sc-inc, 3 sc, sc-inc, 3 sc, 8 hdc, 16 sc, sc-inc, 10 sc, sc-inc (85)
- R17: 5 sc, sc-inc, 11 sc, sc-inc, 20 sc, sc-inc, 4 sc, sc-inc, 20 sc, sc-inc, 11 sc, sc-inc, 8 sc (91)
Finish with an invisible join. The two chains in R15 are the eye holes: if you are not using safety eyes, work one hdc there instead.
Dark green outside (make 2)
Same shape, one round shorter at the start and longer at the end.
- R1: 6 sc in ml (6)
- R2: 6 sc-inc (12)
- R3: (sc, sc-inc) x6 (18)
- R4: (2 sc, sc-inc) x6 (24)
- R5: (3 sc, sc-inc) x6 (30)
- R6: (4 sc, sc-inc) x6 (36)
- R7: (5 sc, sc-inc) x6 (42)
- R8: (6 sc, sc-inc) x2, 7 sc, 8 ch, skip, 7 sc into the chains, sc in the same stitch, (6 sc, sc-inc) x3 (62)
- R9: (7 sc, sc-inc) x2, 6 sc, hdc-dec, 5 sc, 3 sc in one stitch, skip the tip chain, 3 sc in the same stitch, 5 sc, hdc-dec, (7 sc, sc-inc) x3 (69)
- R10: (8 sc, sc-inc) x2, 5 sc, hdc, hdc-dec, hdc, 5 sc, 3 sc-inc, 5 sc, hdc, hdc-dec, hdc, 6 sc, sc-inc, (8 sc, sc-inc) x2 (75)
- R11: (9 sc, sc-inc) x2, 4 sc, hdc, hdc-dec, 2 hdc, 5 sc, sc-inc, 2 sc, sc-inc, 4 sc, 2 hdc, hdc-dec, hdc, 7 sc, sc-inc, (9 sc, sc-inc) x2 (80)
- R12: 10 sc, sc-inc, 13 sc, 8 hdc, 4 sc, sc-inc, 3 sc, sc-inc, 3 sc, 8 hdc, 16 sc, sc-inc, 10 sc, sc-inc (85)
- R13: 5 sc, sc-inc, 11 sc, sc-inc, 20 sc, sc-inc, 4 sc, sc-inc, 20 sc, sc-inc, 11 sc, sc-inc, 8 sc (91)
- R14–18: 91 sc — 5 rounds
Slip stitch to finish but do not cut the yarn: the outside is what you continue from to join the two pieces.
Joining the halves
- Put the inside and outside together so the last four single crochets of each overlap.
- Insert the hook through the back loop only of the inside and through both loops of the outside, and work one sc.
- Continue around, always through the back loop of the inside and both loops of the outside, stuffing as you go. Keep the seed hole at the bottom.
- Finish with an invisible join and weave the end in.
Insert the 10 mm eyes in the R15 holes, then embroider the faces: a small pink cheek under the outside of each eye, a smiling mouth in black, and eyelashes on one of the two avocados.
Arms and legs (8)
Dark green, four per half.
- R1: 6 sc in ml (6)
- R2–4: 6 sc — 3 rounds
Pin them first: the arms sit with their top edge just under the mouth, the legs with their outer edge slightly inside the avocado’s own edge, each arm above its leg.
Seed
Light brown, worked from the top down.
- R1: 6 sc in ml (6)
- R2: 6 sc-inc (12)
- R3: (sc, sc-inc) x6 (18)
- R4: (2 sc, sc-inc) x6 (24)
- R5: (3 sc, sc-inc) x6 (30)
- R6: (9 sc, sc-inc) x3 (33)
- R7–8: 33 sc — 2 rounds
- R9: 13 sc, ch 1, skip, 4 sc, ch 1, skip, 14 sc (33)
- R10–11: 33 sc — 2 rounds
- R12: (9 sc, sc-dec) x3 (30)
- R13: (3 sc, sc-dec) x6 (24)
- R14: (2 sc, sc-dec) x6 (18)
- R15: (sc, sc-dec) x6 (12)
- R16: 6 sc-dec (6)
Fit the 6 mm eyes in the R9 holes and stuff before the opening closes. Round 1 is the top of the seed. Add the pink cheeks under the eyes and a small mouth worked with yarn split in two, one round below the eyes.
Notes
The two halves must match exactly, and they do: the inside is one round shorter, which is what makes the light green sit just below the dark green rim when you join them. If your tip looks blunt, you worked R12 into the front of the chain instead of the bump at the back.
More small toy sets: 2 in 1 Frog is also built from two joined discs, Baby Sunflower is the flower with legs, and Mini Ribbed Pumpkin is the autumn one. Everything is on the patterns page.
Pattern source: Avocado family, crochet PDF pattern.
For small pieces worked through two thicknesses, Three Potted Flowers joins disc and receptacle before adding petals.
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