Knit Frog: Free Pattern and Tutorial
Learn to knit a frog! This little frog makes the perfect rainy day knitting project! Hop along while I walk you through this free pattern and tutorial!
This happy little knit frog is quick to work up, and uses only simple straight needles!
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Supplies Needed:
- Green Worsted Weight Yarn (weight 4)
- White Worsted Weight Yarn (weight 4)
- 3.75 mm knitting needles (US 5)
- Tapestry Needle
- Scissors
- Stitch Markers
- Wool to stuff your frog with fluff
Stitches Used:
- K — a simple knit stitch
- P — a simple purl stitch
- KFB — knit front back, an increase stitch
- K2TOG — knit two together, a decrease stitch
- P2TOG — purl two together, a decrease stitch
- SSK — slip slip knit, a decrease stitch
- Puff — KFB three times into the same stitch to create a “puff”
Grab your knitting needles, find a cozy lily pad to sit on, and let’s begin!
Print a printable version of this pattern below, or keep scrolling to read it on the blog!
Step 1: Knit Frog’s Back Body
First, we will knit the back body for the frog — working from the bottom up.
A note on the Puff stitch: be sure your puffs are loosely made. If they are too tight, you will not be able to complete the puff on the following row. On the following knit row after the puffs, knit together all 6 puff stitches to “group” them together as one stitch. The puffs will become your frog’s eyes.
With Worsted (weight 4) yarn and 3.75mm (US 5) straight needles, cast on 8 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: K 1, KFB, K 4, KFB, K 1 (10 stitches total)
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K 1, KFB, K 6, KFB, K 1 (12 stitches total)
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: K 1, KFB, K 1, KFB, P 1, K 2, P 1, KFB, K 1, KFB, K 1 (16 stitches total)
Row 8: P 6, K 1, P 2, K 1, P 6
Row 9: K 1, KFB, K 1, KFB, K 2, P 1, K 2, P 1, KFB, K 2, KFB, K 2 (20 stitches total)
Row 10: P 8, K 1, P 2, K 1, P 8
Row 11: K 8, P 1, K 2, P 1, K 8
Row 12: P 8, K 1, P 2, K 1, P 8
Row 13: K 8, P 1, K 2, P 1, K 8
Row 14: P 8, K 1, P 2, K 1, P 8
Row 15: K 1, K2TOG, K 1, K2TOG, K 2, P 1, K 2, P 1, K 2, K2TOG, K 1, K2TOG, K 1 (16 stitches total)
Row 16: P 6, K 1, P 2, K 1, P 6
Row 17: K 1, K2TOG, K 1, K2TOG, P 1, K 2, P 1, K2TOG, K 1, K2TOG, K 1 (12 stitches total)
Row 18: P 4, K 1, P 2, K 1, P 4
Row 19: K2TOG, K2TOG, P 1, K 2, P 1, K2TOG, K2TOG (8 stitches total)
Row 20: P2TOG, Purl to last 2 stitches, P2TOG (6 stitches total)
Row 21: K 2, KFB, KFB, K 2 (8 stitches total)
Row 22: Purl
Row 23: K 2, (KFB) four times, K 2 (12 stitches total)
Row 24: Purl
Row 25: K 2, (KFB) eight times, K 2 (20 stitches total)
Row 26: Purl
Row 27: Knit
Row 28: Purl
Row 29: Knit
Row 30: P 8, Puff (KFB 3 times into the same stitch), P 2, Puff (KFB 3 times into the same stitch), P 8
Row 31: K2TOG, K 6, Knit together all 6 “puff loops”, K 2, Knit together all 6 “puff loops”, K 6, K2TOG (18 stitches total)
Row 32: (P2TOG) four times, P 2, (P2TOG) four times (10 stitches total)
Row 33: K 1, SSK, K to last 3 stitches, K2TOG, K 1 (8 stitches total)
Row 34: Purl
Row 35: K 1, SSK, K to last 3 stitches, K2TOG, K 1(6 stitches total)
Row 36: Purl
Row 37: (K2TOG) three times (3 stitches total)
Row 38: K3TOG, break yarn and weave in ends.
Step 2: Knit Frog’s Belly
Next we will knit the frog’s belly. I chose a white worsted yarn (weight 4) for the frog’s belly.
With 3.75 mm (US 5) straight needles, cast on 6 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: K 1, KFB, K 2, KFB, K 1 (8 stitches total)
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K 1, KFB, K 4, KFB, K 1 (10 stitches total)
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: K 1, KFB, K 6, KFB, K 1 (12 stitches total)
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: Knit
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: Knit
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: K 1, SSK, K 6, K2TOG, K 1 (10 stitches total)
Row 14: Purl
Row 15: K 1, SSK, K 4, K2TOG, K 1 (8 stitches total)
Row 16: Purl
Row 17: K 1, SSK, K 2, K2TOG, K 1 (6 stitches total)
Row 18: Purl
Row 19: K 1, SSK, K2TOG, K 1 (4 stitches total)
Row 20: Purl
Row 21: SSK, K2TOG (2 stitches total)
Row 22: Purl
Row 23: K2TOG, break yarn, weave in ends.
Step 3: Knit Frog’s back legs
Next we will create little hopping hind legs for your frog.
Make TWO back legs.
Just as before, use 3.75 mm straight needles and worsted weight yarn. Cast on 12 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K 1, SSK, K 6, K2TOG, K 1 (10 stitches total)
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: K 1, SSK, K 4, K2TOG, K 1 (8 stitches total)
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: K 1, SSK, K 2, K2TOG, K 1 (6 stitches total)
Row 10: Purl. Place marker for this row.
Row 11: Knit
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: Knit
Row 14: Purl
Row 15: Knit
Row 16: Purl
Row 17: K 2, TURN. Work on these two stitches only for the next 3 rows.
Row 18: P 2, TURN
Row 19: K 2, TURN
Row 20: P2TOG, Break yarn, leaving a tail at least 6″ long. Reattach to middle two stitches. Now you will work on these two middle stitches only.
Row 21: K 2, TURN
Row 22: P 2, TURN
Row 23: K 2, TURN
Row 24: P2TOG, Break yarn, leaving a tail at least 6″ long. Reattach to remaining two stitches. Now you will work on these last two stitches only.
Row 25: K 2, TURN
Row 26: P 2, TURN
Row 27: K 2, TURN
Row 28: P2TOG. Break yarn, leaving a tail at least 6″ long.
ASSEMBLE AND STUFF THE LEGS: To assemble the legs, first weave in your long ends of yarn into the toes. Try to make the ends as unnoticeable as possible. I found the best way to go about this was to use the yarn to “shape” the toes, then weave the yarn along the edge of the leg, then weaving up the back of the leg.
With the “knit side” facing out, knit a seam from the top of the back leg down to where your stitch marker is placed. Make some inconspicuous stitches straight across the “knee” to prevent the stuffing from falling out the bottom of the leg. Flatten the foot to create the froggy’s webbed toes.
Stuff the top half, the “thigh,” of the frog with wool (or fiberfill of your choice). Sew closed.
Step 4: Knit frog’s front legs
Next, knit 2 front legs for your frog.
The toes and webbed feet will be made in the same way as the back feet and toes were made.
With 3.75 mm straight needles and worsted weight yarn, cast on 6 stitches.
Rows 1 – 18: Starting with a Knit row, straight stitch (knit one row, purl the next) for 18 rows.
Row 19: Knit 2 stitches, TURN. Work on these two stitches only for the next 3 rows.
Row 20: Purl 2, TURN
Row 21: Knit 2, TURN
Row 22: P2TOG. Break yarn, leaving at least a 6″ tail. Reattach to middle two stitches. Work on middle 2 stitches only for next 4 rows.
Row 23: Knit 2, TURN
Row 24: Purl 2, TURN
Row 25: Knit 2, TURN
Row 26: P2TOG. Break yarn, leaving at least a 6″ tail. Reattach to last two stitches. Work on last two stitches only for next 4 rows.
Row 27: Knit 2, TURN
Row 28: Purl 2, TURN
Row 29: Knit 2, TURN
Row 30: P2TOG, Break yarn, leaving at least 6″ of a yarn tail.
ASSEMBLY: Weave in the long ends of yarn coming off the ends of the toes in the same manner you did for the back legs. Sew down the back seam of the legs, leaving the “knit side” exposed. Leave enough of the back seam unsewed to create a “webbing” for the toes. Flatten the feet. Weave in all loose ends on your knit frog.
Assembling the Knit Frog
Now it’s time to put together the rest of your knitted frog.
The upper body of the frog (the piece with the head) will be shown PURL SIDE OUT to display the nice raised back.
Starting with the head, sew together the “Y” shaped gusset. This creates a nice round froggy head. (see photo below)
(head gusset pictured above)
Once the head has been sewed, it is easiest to go ahead and stuff it with some wool.
Afterwards, starting at the neck, attach the belly of the frog, knit side out.
Sew up the sides, leaving the bottom open.
Stuff the body with wool (or whatever “fluff” you prefer), then sew up the bottom of the body.
Next, attach the legs.
If you missed the detailed leg assembly instructions, go back to the part of the pattern for the front legs and back legs. You’ll find individual instructions for each set of legs there.
Lastly, pull the “puffs” out of the head ever so slightly to make them more prominent, and embroider a little pupal for the eyes. Weave in all your ends.
You may also choose to use some matching yarn to accentuate the “U” part of the “Y” gusset to create an ever so slight hint of a mouth.
Enjoy your frog! Please leave a comment down below if you appreciated this pattern.
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I loved making this frog , looks great , just had difficulty getting back legs on thankyou .
Thanks for the frog pattern. I made two. I modified the pattern to give them thicker necks and four toes on each foot–so that they were similar to frogs in some associated fabric and a tree frog in a photo. I used them in a display by my apartment door. I put pipe cleaners through shoulders and hips of the frog, folded the pipe cleaner sticking out each side to right length, slid on the legs, and sewed the legs in place. This made the frogs more pose-able.
Your frogs sound wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed the pattern, thank you for your kind words!