Two things I love: Dory and crochet jellyfish with their sproingy boingy tentacles. Dory jellyfish just had to be done.
Have you seen One Dog Woof’s crochet jellyfish pattern bouncing around the Facebooks or Pinterest recently? I lost count of how many people sent that adorableness to me telling me to make one. I love her pattern, especially that cute little face!
And then I started thinking about that time when Dory and Nemo went bouncing through the jellyfish field and what if Dory bounced into a jellyfish and instead of bouncing off it instead bounced into it and came out the other side having turned into a Dory jellyfish!! That would be so COOL!
So something you should know about me: I almost exclusively watch animated movies. I can’t stomach violence so that rules out like 99.9% of what is on tv or in the movies these days (and also makes it realllly hard to watch tv with my husband *sniffsniff*).
This is why my brain works the way it does. Everything is possible. Nothing is too ridiculous. Sometimes it’s incredibly annoying to live with my brain but other times: Dory jellyfish happen.
Because I love you and want to live in a world populated by Dory jellyfish, I wrote down some quick little pattern mods for you so you can make your own. It’s super super simple and you’ll be able to hook up the additions in less than an hour if you’re quick.
Supplies needed:
- Dory blue yarn
- Navy yarn
- Yellow yarn
- White felt
- Black felt
- 9 mm safety eyes or black embroidery floss
I used One Dog Woof’s original pattern and Red Heart Super Saver and an H hook. The body and bottom of the body were hooked up in Dory blue. (I lost the skein wrapper so I can’t tell you the precise color, sorry!) ***I am not a fish anatomist so if I am calling fins and tail the wrong thing don’t kill me! I’m just a hooker and have no idea what I am talking about other than that fish surely do not have eyebrows! 😉
For all of the mods below, I used an F hook and miscellaneous worsted weight yarn I had in my stash (the yellow was I think Loops and Threads Impeccable, and the navy was Cascade 220 I had left over from a hat). It was a little less bulky than the Red Heart and I wanted the stitches nice and tight and the F hook was perfect.
Tip: Do you know how to make jogless color changes? This is a really useful skill here. Basically, when you get to the last stich before a color change, you start the stitch with the color you are using, and then for the last movement in the stitch you pull the new color through. Here is a fantastic photo tutorial that explains this in more detail.
Dory Tail (worked in rows)
- **Leave enough of a tail at the beginning for stitching the tail to the body.
- Ch 1, SC 3 into Ch 1 (3)
- Ch 1, turn, SC 3
- Ch 1, turn, SC, inc, SC (4)
- Ch 1, turn, SC 4
- Ch 1, turn, SC 2, inc, SC (5)
- Ch 1, turn, SC 5
- Ch 1, turn, SC 5
- Ch 1, turn SC 2, inc, SC 2 (6)
- Ch 1, turn, SC 6
- Ch 1, turn, SC, HDC, DC, HDC, SC 2 (6)
- Join navy yarn, SC around long ends of the triangle
- Break yarn, weave in ends.
Dory Fins (worked in rows, make 2)
- **Leave enough of a tail at the beginning for stitching the tail to the body.
- Ch 1, turn, SC 3 into Ch 1 (3)
- Ch 1, turn, SC 3
- Ch 1, turn, SC 3
- Ch 1, turn, SC, inc, SC (4)
- Ch 1, turn, SC 4
- Ch 1, turn, DC, SC 2, DC (4)
- Join navy yarn, SC 2, inc, SC 2 (5)
- Join yellow yarn, SC 5
- Ch 1, turn, SC 5
- Ch 1, SC 2, inc, SC 3 (6)
Dory Eyebrows
- Ch 12, turn, SC 11
- Break yarn, leave long tail for sewing onto Dory
All The Rest to Finish Dory Jellyfish
- Cut out white felt circles for the eyes (about the size of a nickel) and a mouth from the black felt.
- Poke your safety eyes through the white felt (snip with scissors first) and then affix them to the Dory body before stuffing and sewing closed. Or you can embroider the facial details.
- I stitched the eyebrows on after I placed the eyes. You want to make a letter M shape with the brows so that they frame the tops of Dory’s eyes.
- For the tentacles, I switched up the pattern a little bit and used yellow and navy for some of the chains before I made them sproingy. You totally don’t have to do this but I thought it was cute.
So that is pretty much it for the pattern mods! Easy peasy, right!?!?
Little man asked for a Nemo so I’m going to work up a pattern for him next.
In Other Related News
I had to laugh when I opened up our mail after I finished writing up this pattern! I just subscribed to Kiwi Crate for kiddo and do you know what was in there?!?!?! Jellyfish racing! Talk about the universe being in alignment!
We haven’t quite gotten into the box yet (there is a LOT to do in there), but we did make the jellyfish and I have to say I was super impressed! I am usually kind of meh on kid’s craft kits because they always contain stuff I have laying around at home. Even worse, once the project is done, entertainment is over.
Kiwi Crate is a lot different because there are extra projects included in the booklets (and even more on their app), and weird little building bits and bobs I wouldn’t even be able to buy. In this crate there are instructions for a snack (coral reef popcorn!) and a pet jellyfish (you have everything you need at home already and it is a non-stingy, no food required pet). I am in love and want my own grownup Kiwi Crate to play with lol! I’ll show you how it turns out after we play around with it some more.
This isn’t a sponsored endorsement, I purchased our subscription and loved it so much I decided to become an affiliate. So if you decide you want to check it out (and you totally should, this is summer entertainment gold and sneaky STEAM education at the same time!), order though this link and use the code SUMMERTIME, and you’ll save 30% on your first box. Saving money is awesome! (I also get a little ka-ching so thank you thank you thank you for supporting my blog if you do pick a crate up!)
If you make a Dory jellyfish I would LOVE it if you shared it with me on IG! I’m @jensalittleloopy there. =)

Haven’t made this yet but it’s getting bookmarked! I just got back into crocheting after a mere 40 year hiatus and have grandkids who love Dory!!
Wonderful! Welcome back to crocheting, and I’m sure your grandkids enjoy their Dorys! =)
Love the Jelly fish and more!! Please continue to send out your wonderful and Beautiful ideas my way !!! Thank You!!