This is an intermediate/advanced level crochet pattern. If you have not made one of my patterns before, I recommend starting with my FREE Kirin (v1) pattern before purchasing.

This pattern is inspired by all of the mythical, legendary, and magical tree-creatures: Ents, treants, dryads, Leshy and many other guardians of the forests. I wanted to create a form that gave a sense of hulking, slow-moving energy. Intimidating but not necessarily threatening, alive but also beautifully decaying. My first version (on the right in the header photo) features shelf fungus crocheted in embroidery thread, while the second version features 3D printed antlers that I sculpted with moss, fungus, and creepy-crawlies and then carefully painted. I also decorated both creatures with a variety of green novelty yarns to make them look covered in moss.

This is a relatively straightforward design. The two pictured creatures do not contain any wire, and they can be made with a single standard skein of worsted yarn.

The lighted-colored creature has some additional bobble stitches down the spine to create textural interest – these are not written into the pattern, but you can feel free to add these bobble-knurls anywhere you’d like your creature to be extra bumpy.