Happy new year everyone! As I’ve said in my previous post, with my baby being due in a few weeks, I do not yet know how active I’ll be with crocheting – BUT today I am definitely sharing one! To celebrate the start of 2024, which is going to be the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac, I am bringing you Haku from Spirited away! I am not 100% sure if I am happy with this guy so I might revisit him at some point in the future, but I hope you will like this little guy and make your own guardian Haku!

Note that this is a slightly advanced pattern that makes use of short rows to curve the body – this isn’t terribly difficult, just a headsup.

Materials
To make Haku you will need:
– A 2.5mm crochet hook
– White, pink and light brown/beige yarn
– A tapestry needle and scissors
– Stuffing
– Felting supplies and wool in light pink/purple for the belly strip and inside of ears and nose (optional; can be crocheted instead) and blues and greens for the mane (not optional, sorry :x)
– Safety eyes
– A stitch marker to help you keep track of the start of the round
Please note that you can make Haku using any size crochet hook and yarn weight for a smaller or bigger result. Using DK yarn and a 2.5mm crochet hook, Haku should be about 20cm tall.

Stitches & Abbreviations
The pattern is written using US crochet terms in continuous spirals. You will need to know the following kinds of stitches to make him:
– Magic Ring (MR)
– Chaining
– Single crochet (sc)
– Decrease (dec); preferably using the invisible decrease method
– Increase (inc)
– Bobble stitch