At the Kalevala blanket meeting in Pori, we had discussion with Minna Virtanen, test crocheter of Tapio blanket square I designed, that she’d used the center of the square for Christmas decoration balls. I thought it was fantastic idea, and the idea of Tapio light ball came to my mind.
So, here’s the pattern for you!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Tapio – light ball
Designer: Milla Elo
What you need
- Cotton yarn, thicker the yarn, bigger the ball
- Hook, that is half size smaller than you would normally choose for the yarn. The gauge should be tight to get the best result.
- Glue (water soluable or other starching product)
- Balloon, regular size, to get round lightball
- Some scrap yarn, to hang the lightball to dry.
Stitches and abbreviations
- ch – chain
- sl st – slip stitch
- dc – double crochet
- dc5tog – 5 dcs together, see instructions below
Special stitches and techniques
- Puff-stitch: This puff-stitch is made with 5 yarn overs (yo). Yo, insert the hook into the stitch, pull the yarn through and repeat 4 times. Then pull yarn through all the loops on the hook. Close the puff-stitch with a ch which doesn’t count as a st.
- dc5tog: Yo, insert the hook into the stitch, pull the yarn through, yo, pull the yarn through 2 loops on the hook (=unfinished dc), make unfinished dcs into 4 more stitches. Finally, pull the yarn through all the loops on the hook. [All the dcs stand on their own stitches at the bottom, but are joined together at the top]
- SS: Standing stitch technique. Tutorial video can be found here!
- Invisible join: Tutorial video can be found here!
Other tips
(…) Repeat instructions between brackets as many times as directed
*…* Repeat instructions between asterisks the amount of times specified. This is normally a repeat for a complete side and will consist of multiple instructions.
*…** Contains part of *…* repeats, starting from * and ending to **. The rest of the pattern marked with *…* are skipped.
[…] Between square brackets, written in purple in italic, there are tips and guides to help you through the pattern.
{…} After each row, there is a stitch count of each row or each side of square.
The pieces
Starting row: (Color 1) Ch 5 and close it to form a loop.
Round 1: Ch 3 [starting chain, count as dc], 9 dc, close the round with sl st into the 3rd ch of the starting chain.
{10 dc}
Round 2: ch 5 [starting chain, counts as dc + ch 2], *dc, ch 2*, repeat *…* 9 times in total around the circle and join with sl st to the 3rd ch of the starting chain.
{10 dc, 10 ch2-sp}
Round 3: (Color 2) sl st to the ch-space, ch 3 [starting chain, counts as dc] 2 dc, * skip dc, 3 dc in the ch2-space, ch 1*, repeat *…* 9 times in total around the circle, join with invisible join to the 3rd ch of the starting chain. Weave in the ends.
{30 dc, 10 ch}
Round 4: (Color 3) Work SS puff-stitch between the two 3-dc groups, *ch 4, puff-stitch between the 3-dc groups*, repeat *…* 9 times in total, ch 4. Join with invisible join to the first puff-stitch. Cut off the yarn and weave in the ends.
{10 puff-stitches, 10 ch4-sp}
Round 5: (Color 4) Work dc5tog starting from any of the ch4-spaces, starting with a SSdc on 3rd ch, work the unfinished dcs of dc5tog as follows: 1 [2 on following rounds] unfinished dc in the chain before puff st, 1 on top of puff st [This can be done as FPdc to ensure the stitch won’t stretch too much when stretched over the balloon], 2 in the chains after puff st *ch 7, dc5tog *, repeat *…* 10 times in total around the circle, ch 7, join with sl st to the first dc5tog.
{10 dc5tog, 10 ch7-sp}
Round 6: (Color 2) ch 3 [starting chain, counts as dc. If you start with SS, do it on top of the dc5tog done on the last row], *7 dc into the ch-space, dc on top of dc5tog [This can be done as FPdc to ensure the stitch won’t stretch too much when stretched over the balloon]*, repeat *…* 10 times in total around the circle omitting the last dc on the last repeat, join with sl st to the 3rd ch of starting chain.
{80 dc}
Joining
Hold pieces wrong sides facing each other, when joining them together. Join the yarn to either one of the pieces with slip stitch to any of the dc’s on the previous round. Ch 2, sl st to the second piece to equivalent point, ch 2, skip 3 dc on first piece counting from the last sl st, sl st to 4th, ch 2, skip 3 dc on second piece counting from the last sl st. Continue round the pieces, changing the piece where you make the sl st. See the chart.
Close the round with sl st to the first sl st of the round, cut off the yarn and weave in the ends.
Starching the light ball
Make glue – water solution mixing 50% of glue and 50% of water. Let the crochet piece soak the solution thoroughly in the mix. After this, squeeze of the excess solution but don’t try to dry the pieces too much. Put the balloon between the pieces from the biggest holes and blow the balloon to form a round ball. Close the balloon really tightly to avoid air running out of it. Join the scrap yarn to the balloon and let it hang until dry.
When the crochet pieces are totally dried, pop/empty to balloon and let the lightball dry a while more before taking it in to a use.
And now you light ball is finished!
Mimma K. 