Crochet otter and Icelandic wool yarn

I’ll admit it – custom orders don’t always excite me right away.
Maybe it comes from a bit of insecurity. What if someone asks for something I’ve never made before, and I can’t guarantee it will turn out beautifully?

But sometimes, surprises happen.

When someone contacted me asking for a crochet otter, my first reaction was to quickly google it – “wait… what exactly does an otter even look like?”

And the moment I saw photos of otters, I was completely enchanted.
It instantly inspired me. I knew right away that I wanted to try making one, and honestly, I was surprised I hadn’t discovered them earlier.

This project was incredibly exciting and completely pulled me in.

Otters are such adorable animals. They have the sweetest slightly bear-like faces, yet such an interesting body shape.

I enjoyed creating this crochet otter from the very first stitch.

For the yarn, I chose a new wool yarn – Istex Lettlopi – which I had recently added to my webshop and had been wanting to test anyway.

It is a 100% Icelandic wool yarn, originally designed for knitting traditional Icelandic sweaters. But I discovered that it also works beautifully for creating realistic crochet animals.

I can’t deny, the yarn is definitely rustic and hairy. But at the same time, it is wonderfully rich in tones and shades.

Just like real animal fur is never perfectly one-colored, Lettlopi contains subtle variations of color that create an incredibly natural and organic result.

My crochet otter was made as a gift for an adult. On one hand, it still needed to feel like a cuddly toy, but softness was not as important as it would be for a small child. For this concept, the slightly rougher Icelandic wool worked perfectly.

Now my hands are already itching to crochet another otter and experiment with a different yarn.