Firstly, this listing is for a PDF knitting pattern only and not a finished snail! But who wouldn't want to knit their very own marvellous mollusc?!

Jimmy Snail is approximately 18cm/7in tall and 26cm/10¼in from nose to tail. He uses very small amounts of yarn and, better still, you can customise his shell to make him as colourful as you like!

All pieces are knitted flat on straight needles. You'll need to know how to cast on, cast off, knit, purl, KFB (increase by knitting into the front and back of the same stitch) and K2tog (decrease by knitting two stitches together). Jimmy's striped shell also means that you'll need to change colour at the end of some of the rows. The pieces are seamed and attached using mattress stitch.

If you’re not confident about changing colours, you could use a self-patterning or variegated yarn instead. More adventurous knitters might like to try using different weight yarns to produce a smaller or larger snail... or even a whole family of snails! Just remember to use a smaller needle size than is usually recommended for your chosen yarn so the stuffing doesn’t poke through...

The boring bit... This pattern is intended for personal use so it’s fine to print it out but please don’t sell it, share it on the internet or make multiple copies. What you can sell (more money for yarn – YAY!) is finished items made from this pattern so long as you’ve made them yourself and it’s not on a commercial basis. Please remember to credit me as the designer!

And finally... I’d love to see your finished snail so please share him or her on Instagram and Ravelry!