Free amigurumi heart pattern – Patchy heart pillow

This free amigurumi heart pattern was originally published on gradinacufluturi.ro in February 2019. It has been edited and updated to reflect my current style of pattern writing and now includes a printer-friendly PDF version that you can purchase here.

If you’ve been searching for amigurumi heart patterns, but only found symmetrical ones when we all know that hearts are in fact lopsided, you’ve landed on the right page.

Because I’ve got a beginner amigurumi pattern for you that makes a unique heart pillow that you can hold, hug, pet and love. And it’s not symmetrical!

Free amigurumi heart pattern - Patchy heart sample held in a hand
It’s a bit bigger than an actual heart, but just as lopsided

Why does it matter that it’s not symmetrical?

Have you ever drawn hearts on your workbooks/notebooks at school, while dreaming of someone? Were they ever perfectly symmetrical?

Because I think most of them weren’t. But they were pretty nevertheless.

And they meant something more than the stickers you could buy if you were one of the kids who had pocket money that didn’t get spent on sweets (hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t have pocket money, but if I had, I’d have spent it on jellies).

Patchy heart amigurumi free crochet pattern 2
Use the YU-YO technique for fancy crosses in your stitches.

Enough talk, let’s get to the pattern!

Oh, a word of caution.

This pattern is not for you if:

  • You like things to be perfectly symmetrical (you could make two and face them towards each-other, like in the photo below);
  • You think baby yarns are only for babies (they are not);
  • You think Valentine’s day is the only day in the year in which you should tell someone you love them – it isn’t, you should let them know at least once a day – not necessarily in words.

If you don’t want to keep on scrolling, but would rather print out the pattern, here’s the affordable and print-friendly PDF pattern.

Or get the Ravelry version here.

Patchy heart amigurumi free crochet pattern 3
“We are symmetrical when taken as a unit”

Materials

  • Yarn: around 50 g chenille yarn (50-60 meters or yards) – I used Himalaya Dolphin Baby, but there are others out there: Alize Softy Plus or Yarn Art Dolce; or blanket yarn – depending on hook size and yarn weight, it might take up 2-3 50 gram balls;
  • Hook: a hook slightly smaller than the smallest recommended hook for your yarn or recommended hook for chenille or blanket yarn (I used 5 mm for my yarn);
  • Stitch marker (you can also use a safety pin or earring, it’s just for keeping track of the first stitch of each row);
  • Tapestry needle for sewing pieces and a pair of scissors;
  • Filling of your choice – preferably fiberfill – fluff it up before inserting.

Skill level – enthusiastic beginner

Finished size

The finished heart, if made from the recommended yarn and recommended hook, will be about 17 cm (6.5”) in height, 18 cm (7”) in width at the widest point and 8 cm (3”) in thickness at its thickest point.

Gauge

If you want to, you can make a gauge swatch. 7Sc per row and 6 rows should give you a 5cm by 5cm (2″ by 2″) square.

What you should know to make this heart pillow successfully

  • How amigurumi is made (working in a spiral instead of row-by-row);
  • Working into a magic ring;
  • Increases (working 2 Sc in a single stitch);
  • Invisible decreases (pulling up a loop through the front loops of both of next two stitches to make a Sc);
  • Binding off amigurumi and weaving in ends – through stitches, not through filling.

Observations

  • This pattern is worked by creating one cup, then the second cup.
  • These two cups are then attached and the rest of the heart is worked in one piece.
  • This pillow is seamless, so there is no sewing.
  • You can use the YU-YO (yarn-under, yarn-over) technique for tighter stitches and prettier texture.

Abbreviations

  • Sc – single crochet;
  • Sc around – one single crochet stitch in each stitch of the previous round;
  • Inc – increase – 2 Sc in the same stitch;
  • Dec – invisible decrease (see above);
  • (XX) – number of stitches you should have per round.

Video for this free amigurumi heart pattern

Video for left-handed crocheters

Instructions

Small cup

R1. 7Sc in magic ring, do not join, but continue working in a spiral (7)

R2. 2Sc in each St around (14)

R3. Repeat {Sc, Inc} 7 times (21)

R4. Repeat {2Sc, Inc} 7 times (28)

Rows 5-8. Sc in each St around (28)

Large cup

R1. 9Sc in magic ring (9)

R2. 2Sc in each St around (18)

R3. Sc in each St around (18)

R4. Repeat {1Sc, Inc} 9 times (27)

R5. Repeat {2Sc, Inc} 9 times (36)

Rows 6-10. Sc in each St (36)

Working both cups together

R11. First Sc in both the first St of the large cup, and the next St in the small cup. Continue around the small cup for 24St. Make Sc in both cups for 4St (this connects the two cups by 4Sc), then Ch1, turn and Sl St in the 4Sc. Continue with Sc around the large cup, in the next unworked Sc. (55)

Patchy heart amigurumi free crochet pattern 4

R12. Sc in each St around (55) – during this row, ignore the ridge between the two sides and only work in the stitches outside of this ridge, it will be hidden inside

R13. Dec, 21Sc, Dec, 13Sc, Dec, 13Sc, Dec (51)

R14. 10Sc, Dec, 10Sc, Dec, 25Sc, Dec (48)

R15. 21Sc, Dec, 11Sc, Dec, 10Sc, Dec (45)

R16. 5Sc, Dec, 3Sc, Dec, 3Sc, Dec, 3Sc, Dec, 4Sc, Dec, 5Sc, Dec, 4Sc, Dec, 2Sc, Dec (37)

R17. Dec, 14Sc, Dec 2 times, 8Sc, Dec, 7Sc (33) 

R18. Dec, 5Sc, Dec, 6Sc, Dec, 16Sc (30)

Stuff evenly.

R19. Repeat {Dec, 4Sc} 5 times (25)

R20. Repeat {Dec, 3Sc} 5 times (20)

R21. Sc in each St around (20)

R22. Repeat {Dec, 2Sc} 5 times (15)

R23. Repeat {Dec, 1Sc} 5 times (10).

Stuff the remaining part, make sure there are no lumps or empty spaces.

R24. Repeat {Dec} 5 times (5).

Bind off. With tapestry needle, pass yarn through front loops of each of the 5 remaining St, from front to back, in each St. 

Pull on the tail to close the gap, then weave in the tail going back and forth three times, through the stitches, not through the filling.

Patchy heart amigurumi free crochet pattern 6

Now your heart should be finished and ready for hugs.

If you want to promote my patterns and share this with your Pinterest followers, please pin this photo that I prepared for the platform:

About the original creation process of this free amigurumi heart pattern

The original pattern included some musings that I believe reflected my worldview in 2019 (deep in depression), but they do have a point and I don’t want to delete them, so I’m posting them here in this section below that you can open and read at your own leisure.

Click on the tabs to reveal the text stored within.

This time of the year is always the same, at least in the Northern hemisphere. Everyone’s happy that the days are getting longer and the snowdrops are starting to bloom, there’s just the slightest scent of spring in the air and there are hearts everywhere you look. Hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts. It makes me tired just to think about them.

I’ve never been a fan of Valentine’s Day, mostly because I didn’t see what purpose it serves (you only show someone you love them once a year?? would ask a child version of me) and because of all the pink. I’ve had a hate/hate (no love, sorry) relationship with pink my whole life.

Why must little girls wear bright pink clothes and accessories? Why must you paint that pink? Why, oh why, would you not listen to your better judgement and leave that fluorescent pink in the darkness, where it belongs?

I used to be very vocal about it and I’m lucky that my mom never forced me to wear pink (I would have probably had a meltdown… or ten). As an adult, I don’t care anymore. I still don’t like it and would never buy anything pink on purpose, except if it’s the only thing that fits and was made for that specific purpose (cue in my collection of pink sports blouses that I cannot find in any other color – do all women have to look like pansies and poppies when they exercise?).

But getting back to the hearts literally on every street corner, I never loved those either. I’m quite literal and rational and have known since I was a little kid that the heart is just a pump for blood and that most emotions originate in the brain, so I was never impressed by the “romantic” (not truly romantic, but let’s leave it at that for the time being) symbolism of the heart.

It’s an organ, it’s not even pretty, it can be really ugly, especially if you’ve smoked all your life. Don’t ask me how I know that (ahem, forensic TV shows).

But it’s still a symbol of love (maybe because it beats faster when you’re happy?) and a symbol of pain (being heartbroken literally hurts in some cases) and I have this fluffy pink yarn that for some reason I bought at the same time as the others, for variety, I told myself.

This holiday is coming up and my Instagram feed is filling up with heart-related projects. I wish they were heart health-related projects, but that’s just me, thinking of the pump again.

I was foolish enough to answer @therookiehooker’s question about any Valentine’s related projects with an excited “I’ll make a heart-shaped pillow in velvet yarn!” (I wasn’t actually that excited in the comment, that’s the current interpretation, let’s leave it at that).

So here you have it. I wouldn’t have made it without writing down the pattern for you, although the final product isn’t so much of a pillow. It could be a pillow for a small child…

I underestimated the size of the finished piece as I was making it, so it came out more like a toy. But that’s OK, because otherwise I would have made a toy out of that yarn anyway. So win-win, right?

There’s also a strong message attached to it and maybe some food for thought for all of us, if you want to join me. As I was designing this in my head on my way home from work, I realized I need to make this design unique.

There are so many amigurumi heart patterns out there, that it’s easy to get lost while searching, although I’m not aware of any patterns created for such heavy yarn. But they are all simple, just for decoration, a gift you give someone once and then forget about it.

This one can be different. Besides the asymmetry that makes this heart more similar to the actual organ (one side is bigger, the heart rests on that side), you can add small symbols of your relationship with the human (or pet) that you gift this heart to.

A patch can represent a relationship struggle that you got through together, a little trinket can be a memento of a beautiful moment spent together or a lovely place you’ve visited together. It can be a symbol filled with symbols, a meta-symbol. And you can keep it close, together, to remind you of your time spent together and the challenges that you have overcome together.

It can be a gift that keeps growing as you both grow. I’m making a few of these to give to my closest friends (including my husband, who has already received his and was so sweet to accept and appreciate it).

Thank you for joining me on this journey. I hope you’ll make many pretty hearts and gift them to loved ones or even people that you don’t really love, but who could use a message of peace.

If you enjoyed this pattern and want to support me to create more free patterns, please consider buying an inexpensive copy of this pattern for your library, or sharing this pattern with your friends.

Get the pattern in the shop
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After all, love is not the only emotion out there.

If you want more free patterns, here are some of the ones on the blog here:

Lots of love,

Andrea

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