Mango the Flying Fox, is the 22nd of my patterns that makes use of the African Flower hexagon crochet motif and variations thereof, joined in a specific order to make a recognizable 3D item.

Mango is an excellent stash busting project, as you only need to use very small amounts of leftover sock yarn to make a motif.

If you follow the steps carefully, paying attention to ensure you have joined a motif correctly before moving on to the next step, you’ll manage fine in making your own little Mango :)

The listing is for a PDF pattern available as a download only. No hard copy is available. The pattern is ONLY available in English.
There are 38 pages in this pattern. It has step by step photographs to guide you through every part of making this animal.

I would rate the pattern as intermediate, however, if you are a beginner and you follow the steps carefully, paying attention to ensure you have joined a motif correctly before moving on to the next step, you should be fine in making your own little flying fox :)

Materials:

The flying fox made in this pattern, was made using sock weight/fingering/#1 weight yarn.
Using this yarn weight and a 1.75mm crochet hook, will give you a Mango measuring approximately 17cm (6.75”) measured from the top of his head to his bottom, and approximately 37cm (14.5”) from wingtip to wingtip, with wings fully extended.

Sock weight / Fingering weight yarn/ #1 in colors of your choice… Mango is a great stash busting project as you can use small amounts of sock yarn for each motif, and the more
colourful the prettier. Although I can’t tell you how much yardage of each color I used, I can tell you that the total weight of yarn for Mango was around 70g (unstuffed).
I used a total of 60g of the dark brown yarn. The other colors came to about 10g.

The yardage for the sock yarn I used is around 320m/100g (350yds/100g). It is a superwash merino yarn, but you can use any alternative fingering weight yarn you like… I recommend that
animal fibre yarns would be preferable, as they have more stretch, making the stuffing and shaping of the animal easier.
Try to use a yarn with a similar yardage per 100g. If you use a heavier weight yarn and a larger hook, Mango will be bigger than the one made in sock yarn, and you will obviously need more polyester stuffing.

You will need some black yarn for the nose.

Crochet Hook 1.75mm
If you are planning to make Mango in a heavier weight yarn, adjust your hook size accordingly…however, use the smallest hook size possible for the weight of yarn that you can manage. Note that the hook size recommended by the yarn manufacturer would not be the correct size to use for this project… Since Mango is stuffed, your stitch density will need to be tighter than usual to prevent the stuffing from popping out. Make a test motif in your chosen yarn and hook to see which would be the best size to use.

Polyester toy stuffing
Haemostats (optional for stuffing)
Small strip of black velcro
Scissors
Tapestry Needle used for sewing
Sewing Pins
Sewing needle
Long doll-making needle
Black sewing thread

Eyes (plastic safety eyes or glass wire-looped eyes). PLEASE NOTE THAT ATTACHED EYES ARE NOT RECOMMENDED FOR TOYS CREATED FOR CHILDREN! They can be a suffocation hazard. If you are making this toy for a child, rather embroider the eyes using embroidery thread! I would still suggest sculpting the eye sockets before embroidering the eyes… it adds a lovely realistic element.

I used 8mm wire looped glass eyes. These can easily be sourced from sellers on eBay and Etsy.

Skills Requirements:

Basic Crocheting Skills: Chain stitch (ch) , Single Crochet (sc), Double Crochet (dc), Slip Stitch (sl st),
joining a chain to make a ring, joining in a new color

Join-as-you-go motif joining: This pattern requires that you join the crocheted motifs each stitch to each stitch. This is necessary to prevent the stuffing popping out of Mango.
It is important that you are confident in your join-as-you-go ability. The method I use is explained in the Appendix pages found at the end of the pattern. These tutorials are illustrated by
using motif chart illustrations with explanatory notes. This cuts down on printing.

However, if you are scared witless by the thought of doing a join-as-you-go joining method, all is
not lost… you can simply make all your motifs in full (including all rounds), then sew them together.
The order of motif placement and the number of sides needing to be joined, stays exactly the
same whether you join-as-you-go or sew up.

I have tried very hard to make sure there are no errors in the pattern, but if you find one, please kindly let me know by sending me a message on Ravelry.

Happy crocheting!
x Heidi