The lactic acid bacteria from Cells at Work season 2 were too cute for me not to make them! Here’s the quick pattern I made if you’d like to make your own. I’m also currently selling the finished plushie on Etsy here!
Materials: medium worsted weight in preferred color/colors, felt for face, paint for eyes, stuffing
Hook: Size H/8 (5.00 mm)
Body
You can either make the body as two halves and sew them together, like I did on the black/tan one, or make the whole thing in one piece. The single-color bacteria lend themselves easily to being done as one piece, but the two-color ones can be done either way depending on how you want the color change seam to look.
Using top color:
R1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
R2: 2 sc in each sc (12)
R3: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc] around (18)
R4: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc] around (24)
R5: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc] around (30)
R6: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 4 sc] around (36)
R7: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 5 sc] around (42)
R8: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 6 sc] around (48)
R9-12 (4 rows): sc in each sc around (48)
R13: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 7 sc] around (54)
R14-21 (8 rows): sc in each sc around (54)
R22: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 8 sc] around (60)
R23-26 (4 rows): sc in each sc around (60)
**If making the body as two separate pieces, sl stitch in the next sc and F/O. Then skip down to “Bottom Half”. If making the body as a single piece, continue with the pattern below.**
Change yarn color if applicable
R27-36 (10 rows): sc in each sc around (60)
R37: [dec, sc in next 8 sc] around (54)
R38: [dec, sc in next 7 sc] around (48)
R39: [dec, sc in next 6 sc] around (42)
R40: [dec, sc in next 5 sc] around (36)
R41: [dec, sc in next 4 sc] around (30)
Begin stuffing at this point if you haven’t already and continue to stuff as you go along.
R42: [dec, sc in next 3 sc] around (24)
R43: [dec, sc in next 2 sc] around (18)
R44: [dec, sc in next 1 sc] around (12)
R45: dec around (6)
F/O. Weave tail through stitches and pull tight to close hole. Skip the “Bottom Half” instructions and go straight to the arms.
Bottom Half
Using bottom color:
R1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
R2: 2 sc in each sc (12)
R3: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc] around (18)
R4: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc] around (24)
R5: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc] around (30)
R6: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 4 sc] around (36)
R7: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 5 sc] around (42)
R8: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 6 sc] around (48)
R9: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 7 sc] around (54)
R10: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 8 sc] around (60)
R11-20 (10 rows): sc in each sc around (60)
Sl st in next sc, F/O
Using the long tail from the top half, sew the top and bottom halves together, stuffing once you’ve attached ~3/4 of the circumference.
Arms (make 2)
R1: 6 sc in magic ring
R2: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc] around (9)
R3-8 (6 rows): sc in each sc around (9)
Stuff
R9: [dec, sc in next sc] around (6)
R10: sc in each sc around (6)
F/O. Leave tail to sew to body. If doing a 2-color body, I recommend sewing one arm to the location where the color change is most visible (even if you do the body as two separate pieces, the jump will still be fairly visible). You can see below how the line doesn’t line up on either side of the arm but the arm hides the jump:
Horns (optional, make 2)
Using cream color:
R1: 4 sc in magic ring
R2: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc] around (6)
R3-4 (2 rows): sc in each sc around (6)
R5: 2 sc in next 2 scs, sc in next sc, dec, sc in next sc (7)
R6: sc in next sc, 2 sc in next 2 scs, sc in next 4 scs (9)
R7: sc in each sc around (9)
R8: sl st in next 5 scs, sc in next 4 scs (9)
F/O, leaving tail. Fill with small amount of stuffing. Use tail to sew horns to top of head.
Lastly, it’s time to attach the face! I cut out the face pieces from felt and hot-glued them to the plushie. I also used acrylic paint to make anime-looking eyes on the white felt eyes.
And that’s it! A happy lactic acid bacterium to scale with the show!