Crochet Your Own Spooky Pal: Zero the Ghost Dog

Materials You’ll Need

Gathering your supplies is the first step to any great project. Here’s what you need to create your own Zero:

• Yarn: Sport weight (Category 2) 100% cotton yarn in four colors:
  • White (for the head, body, ears, and cloak)
  • Black (for the eyes)
  • Red (for the body collar)
  • Orange (for the pumpkin nose)
• Crochet Hooks: 3.00mm hook (main hook), 2.00mm hook (recommended for the small nose)
• Stuffing: Polyester Fiberfill
• Other Essentials:
  • Black embroidery thread (for the mouth)
  • Tapestry needle
  • Scissors
  • Stitch marker
  • Sewing pins (helpful for assembly)
• For Poseable Ears: One pair of flexible wires or pipe cleaners, each about 3 inches long.

Finished Size

Your finished Zero the Ghost Dog will be approximately 4 inches tall—a perfectly pocket-sized phantom!

Crochet Pattern Abbreviations

This pattern is written in US crochet terminology. Here’s a handy cheat sheet:

• MR: Magic ring
• ch: Chain
• sc: Single crochet
• hdc: Half double crochet
• inc: Increase (make 2 sc in the same stitch)
• inc3: Make 3 sc in the same stitch
• hdc inc: Half double crochet increase (make 2 hdc in the same stitch)
• dec: Decrease (single crochet 2 stitches together)
• b.l.o.: Back loops only
• slst: Slip stitch
• f.o.: Fasten off

A Special Note on the “Back Bump”: You’ll see instructions to work into the “back bump” or “third loop” of a stitch. This is the ridge on the back of a single crochet. Working into it creates a lovely, neat horizontal line that looks great for details like the cloak attachment.

The Crochet Pattern Instructions

Let’s break down Zero into parts. We’ll make the head and body first, then all his cute little features!

Head (Using White Yarn)

1. Rnd 1: MR, 6 sc into MR. (6 st)
2. Rnd 2: 6 sc. (6 st)
3. Rnd 3: [3 sc, inc] x 3. (9 st)
4. Rnd 4: 9 sc. (9 st)
5. Rnd 5: [4 sc, inc] x 3, 2 sc. (12 st)
6. Rnd 6: 12 sc. (12 st)
7. Rnd 7: [4 sc, inc] x 5, 3 sc. (17 st)
8. Rnd 8: 17 sc. (17 st)
9. Rnd 9: 7 sc, [inc] x 6, 4 sc. (23 st)
10. Rnd 10: 23 sc. (23 st)
11. Rnd 11: 10 sc, [inc] x 7, 6 sc. (30 st)
12. Rnd 12: 30 sc. (30 st)
13. Rnd 13: 6 sc, [2 sc, inc] x 7, 3 sc. (37 st)
14. Rnd 14: 7 sc, [2 sc, inc] x 9, 3 sc. (46 st)
15. Rnd 15: 8 sc, [4 sc, inc] x 7, inc, 2 sc. (54 st)
16. Rnd 16-23: 54 sc for 8 rounds. (54 st)
17. Rnd 24: [7 sc, dec] x 6. (48 st)
18. Rnd 25: [6 sc, dec] x 6. (42 st)
19. Rnd 26: [5 sc, dec] x 6. (36 st)
20. Now, start stuffing the head with polyfill. Continue to add stuffing as you close the head.
21. Rnd 27: [4 sc, dec] x 6. (30 st)
22. Rnd 28: [3 sc, dec] x 6. (24 st)
23. Rnd 29: [2 sc, dec] x 6. (18 st)
24. Rnd 30: [1 sc, dec] x 6. (12 st)
25. Rnd 31: [dec] x 6. (6 st)
26. F.O. and weave in the tail.