Tuesday, 22 November 2016

Crochet Bauble - Free Pattern

I've become hooked on crocheting Christmas baubles!



These are so much fun to make!  As soon as I finish one I want to try another in a new colour combination!

There are a lot of these springing up on the blogs and Instagram - these and these got me the most inspired to give it a go myself!  I thought I'd give you the pattern I came up with for mine.  Nothing particularly ground-breaking and I'm sure there are lots of similar bauble patterns out there, but here goes...

You will need:
- 7cm diameter polystyrene balls (mine were ordered from ebay and they actually seem to be 7.5cm in diameter when I measure them)
- DK yarn in colours of your choice
- Gold or silver yarn - I used Anchor Artiste Metallic yarn from Hobbycraft in gold and silver
- (If you want added sparkle, a couple of my baubles used Anchor Artiste Metallic yarn in red)

Tension and Bauble Size
Everyone has different crochet tensions (I'm quite a tight crocheter) and the polystyrene ball sizes can vary, so it's important to try your crochet on your ball as you go, to check it seems to be creating a snug fit.  Nobody wants a baggy bauble!  If it seems to be too loose, then adjust the pattern accordingly - maybe get rid of the chain spaces between clusters of stitches.  You might also find you need to do one less row if it seems to be too big.  You want to have to pull the two halves to get them to meet for sewing together so that it creates a nice tight fit.

Glossary:
tr: treble crochet (UK)
dc: double crochet (US)
htr: half treble crochet (UK)
hdc: half double crochet (US)
ch: chain
st: stitch

To make the standard bauble with only one silver or gold metallic:



Note - I start each row with a standing crochet stitch and I end each row with an invisible join.  However, you can start each row with chains to count as the first stitch and end with a slip stitch if you prefer.

Rnd 1: 12 tr (dc US) into magic ring (12 st)
Rnd 2: [In silver or gold] htr (hdc US) ch 1 into gaps between stitches of previous row (12 st 12 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 3: 2 tr (dc US) ch 1 into ch 1 spaces of previous row (12 groups of 2 tr, 12 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 4: 3 tr (dc US) ch 1 into ch 1 spaces of previous row (12 groups of 3 tr, 12 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 5: [In silver or gold] 3 tr (dc US) ch 2 into ch 1 spaces of previous row (12 groups of 3 tr, 12 ch 2 spaces)
Rnd 6: 3 tr (dc US) ch 1 into ch 2 spaces of previous row (12 groups of 3 tr, 12 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 7: 3 tr (dc US) ch 1 into ch 1 spaces of previous row (12 groups of 3 tr, 12 ch 1 spaces)
Rnd 8: 3 tr (dc US) ch 1 into ch 1 spaces of previous row (12 groups of 3 tr, 12 ch 1 spaces)

Make this twice, place over your bauble and sew together in silver or gold.



To sew the two halves together, I lined up the last row on each side so that the middle of the cluster of three tr (dc US) on one side lined up with the ch 1 on the other side as you can see above.  I used metallic yarn to sew through the outer loop of the top of each crochet stitch of the final row on both sides, which creates a slanted stitch around the bauble.  I then reversed and sewed back round, giving an oppositely slanted stitch, hence making the metallic crosses you can see.  It sounds a lot more complicated than it is - with crochet stitches being what they are, by sewing through the loops and matching up on both halves, this naturally happens by itself.  Leave enough yarn at the start and end of the stitching to tie into a hanging loop for your bauble.

To make the more sparkly bauble with additional metallic yarn:



These follow the same pattern, and rounds 2 and 5 (the silver/gold rounds in the above pattern) are left as they are, with metallic yarn.

As the metallic yarn is thinner than standard DK, if you change any of the other rounds to metallic then this was my method:

2 tr (dc US) becomes 3 tr (dc US)
3 tr (dc US) becomes 5 tr (dc US)

I haven't tried the initial round in metallic, but I would keep that the same, with 12 stitches into the magic ring.

Everything else remains the same.  I also like to end each half with a non-metallic yarn, as I think it give a more stable final round to grip around the polystyrene ball and to sew together.  It would probably be fine with metallic too, really, but I've not tried it.


You don't need to follow this pattern rigidly, though - this is just what I did to make mine.  There are so many ways to do it, try different ideas and see what happens!

If you do use this pattern, please let me know as I'd love to see what you made!

Check out my crochet items here and my other patterns and tutorials here.




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6 comments:

  1. Red and silver and pink and gold are my favourites! Your tree will look lovely this year! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I can't decide which is my favourite actually. Although, I think I need to use more gold - I keep reaching for the silver it seems! I might try a red, green and gold one - very traditional! xx

      Delete
  2. Hello,
    I really like your tutorial.
    Do you authorize me to translate it into French on my blog, by quoting you and putting a link to your site?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marie,
      Yes, you can translate the pattern into French for your blog, if you credit the pattern to me and link back, as you said.
      I'm glad you like the tutorial!
      Maria

      Delete
  3. love the ornaments I am looking for the metallic yarn. I have gone to hobby craft and listed anchor artiste metallic yarn and get nothing close. Can you help me.

    ReplyDelete
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