It doesn’t always have to be exotic animals that populate your private zoo. You can also crochet the native animals you find in the garden as cute playmates.

Moles aren’t exactly welcome in the garden, but surely no one can resist the charm of the crocheted
Mole Poldi . I crocheted the mole on the left in the picture with thin chenille yarn. This makes him wonderfully velvety soft and cuddly. If you don’t like crocheting with chenille, you can also use cotton yarn, as shown in the picture on the right. With the suggested yarn, Poldi will be about 12–13 cm tall. (If you use thick chenille yarn, he will be correspondingly larger.)
Little Bee Hanny is already busy collecting nectar for honey production. I crocheted Hanny from plush yarn, and so that the stitches are easy to find while crocheting, I worked a thin cotton yarn along with it as a carry-along thread: yellow yarn with the black plush and black yarn with the yellow plush. You won’t see it at all later, but the stitches are easy to tell apart.
Hanny will be about 13 cm tall.

And last but not least: the cute
Robin, which is very easy to crochet from small bits of leftover yarn. It will be about 11 cm tall, almost life-size.
Looking for more animal ideas? Then click here!