Have you ever tried knitting a bag charm? Bag charms are the rage at the moment, from fluffy pompoms to emojis, to cute animals. Just like knit a critter, they are quick and easy to do.

A bag charm is really simple to knit and the raccoon below took me about 3 hours to make altogether. I have included the instructions for the Raccoon bag charm below. The pattern was designed by Louise Smith.

A bag charm makes a wonderful homemade gift and people love putting them on their bags.

Here are some examples of kits to make different bag charms that you can purchase online. Simply click on the picture that catches your eye to find out more about the item.

How To Knit A Raccoon Bag Charm

Knit this gorgeous Racoon Bag Charm up in less than half a day.

You Will Need:

Any DK yarn. This pattern is great for using up scraps.

I used:

Yarn A – Grey

Yarn B – White

Yarn C – Dark Grey

You will only need a few meters of each of these colors, with color A taking up the most yarn.

A pair of 3mm knitting needles

A 3mm crochet hook

A small amount of toy stuffing or batting.

A small amount of black embroidery cotton

Tapestry needle

Keychain

Tension:

The DK yarn used as 4 ply to this tension.

26 sts and 30 rows to measure 10x10cm (4x4in) over st st using 3mm needles.

Abbreviations:

You can see a full explanation of all the abbreviations in this pattern and others here.

For this pattern – K1B means to knit the next stitch using Yarn B and K2A means to knit the next stitch using Yarn A.

Front:

Cast on 4sts using 3mm needles and yarn A.

Row 1: Purl to end.

Row 2: K1, M1R, K2, M1L, K1, (6sts).

Note:  Follow the directions for M1R and M1L very well on this abbreviations list, otherwise you will have holes in your knitting like I did while I was trying to work out how to do it.

Row 3: Purl to end.

Join in Yarn B.

Row 4: (K1B, M1R in Yarn B) twice, K2A, (M1L in Yarn B, K1B) twice (10 sts).

Row 5: P4B, P2A, P4B

Row 6: (K1B, M1R in Yarn B) 4 times, K2A, (M1LB, K1 in Yarn B) 4 times. (18 sts).

Row 7: P8B, P2A, P8B.

Row 8: (K1B, M1R in yarn B) twice, K6B, K2A, K6B, (M1LB, K1 in Yarn B) twice. (22 sts).

Row 9: P9B, P4A, P9B.

Break off Yarn A and B and join in Yarn C.

Row 10: K1, M1R, knit to last st, M1L, K1. (2 sts have been increased)

Row 11: Purl to end.

Row 12 – 15: Repeat rows 10 and 11 twice more.

Row 16: K1, ssk, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1. (26 sts).

Row 17: Purl to end.

Break off Yarn C and rejoin Yarn B.

Row 18: K1B, sskB, K8B, K4A, K8B, k2togB, K1B. (24 sts).

Row 19: P10B, P4A, P10B.

Row 20: K1B, sskB, K6B, K6A, K6B, k2togB, K1B, (22 sts).

Now continue with Yarn A only.

Row 21: Purl to end.

Row 22: K1, ssk, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1, (2 stitches were decreased).

Repeat Rows 21 and 22 until there are 16 sts left on the needle.

Cast off.

Back:

Repeat the instructions above for the front, but use Yarn A only.

Ears:

Make 2 ears in Yarn A and 2 ears in Yarn B.

Cast on 3 sts using 3mm needles.

Row 1: Purl to end.

Row 2: K1, M1R, K1, M1L, K1, (5sts).

Row 3: Purl to end.

Row 4: Ssk, K1, k2tog. (3 sts).

Row 5: Purl to end.

Row 6: Sk2po. (1 st).

Fasten off.

Making Up The Raccoon Bag Charm

With right sides facing each other, sew one Yarn A ear to one Yarn B ear and repeat for the other ear.

Using your black embroidery yarn, embroider a small amount on the middle of each ear base on Yarn B side. See diagram above.

With right sides facing out, sew the front and back pieces together. Position the ears at the top of the raccoon’s head using the picture as a guideline. Sew them into place as you join the front and back. Before sewing the pieces closed, stuff lightly and then sew the seam closed.

Optional: Make a small tassel using the black embroidery cotton and secure around the keychain ring. You can also make a small pom pom out of leftover yarn no bigger than 1.5 inches in diameter. Attach pom pom to the keychain.

Swiss darn the eyes into place using Yarn B. Stitch along three rows of knitting at the bottom of the eye, then two rows of 5 columns of knitting, then again three rows of knitting at the top of the eye as I have done above. The idea is to make it look like the eyes were knitted onto the raccoon.

Embroider small closed eyes in an upside-down V shape into the centers of both the white patches.

Use a length of Yarn C to embroider a few single stitches at the end of the nose.

Secure the raccoon to the keychain just behind its left ear.

Have fun showing your raccoon bag charm off to all your friends.