Frankie's Knitted Stuff
This pattern began as a simple crochet heart. I added a smaller heart and made brooches, then joined some together for a bracelet. I thought the hearts would look good round a crochet bowl ... which led to nesting bowls, two ways of decorating the bowls and a set of coasters. Then I ran out of wool. I worked with King Cole's Merino Blend DK (112m / 50g) in five shades: Navy (52), Beige (41), Blue (96), Pink (94) and Green (165). I used a 3.5mm crochet hook. Other weights of yarn would give different sizes but would work just as well. This pattern uses British crochet terms:
Hearts
The basic heart is 4 cm tall using DK yarn and a 3.5mm hook. There are no turning chains at the start of Rounds 2 and 3. Instructions within brackets are to be worked into one stitch. Work 3ch and join with a slip stitch into a ring. Round 1: 1ch, 7dc into ring, join with ss to 1ch. Round 2: (htr, 2tr), (htr, dc), dc, (dc, htr, dc), dc, (dc, htr), (2tr, htr). Now work two slip stitches, into the next stitch (at the centre of the heart) and the one after it before beginning Round 3. Round 3: (htr, 2tr), (2tr), (htr, dc), 3dc, (htr, tr, htr), 3dc, (dc, htr), (2tr), (2tr, htr). Cut the yarn and pull it through the loop on your hook loosely. The finished heart will look decidedly broken but can be mended with an invisible join. Thread the yarn onto a needle and go through the stitch at the centre of the heart from front to back. Then go back down through the original loop and darn in the end.
Two hearts sewn together and stuffed make nice chunky hearts. Oversew them together, working through one strand of each edge stitch, for smooth sides. For a smaller heart (about 3cm tall), finish after Round 2 of the basic heart. You can layer up the two sizes of hearts with buttons to make a brooch.
Alternatively, work the basic heart with 4 ply yarn and a 2.5mm hook for a thinner, small heart. I sewed eight of these together to make a bracelet and decorated the hearts with pearly buttons. You could leave off the buttons and overlap the hearts instead.
① Frankie Brown, 2013.
Bowls
This is the pattern for the largest bowl. It is 12 cm / 5" across and takes about 25g of yarn. As with the hearts, I used a 3.5mm hook. Work 4ch and join with a slip stitch into a ring. Round 1: 3ch, 11 tr into ring, join with ss to top of 3ch (12 sts). Round 2: 3ch, tr in same place, (2tr in next st) 11 times, join with ss to top of 3ch (24 sts). Round 3: 3ch, 2tr in next st, (tr, 2 tr in next st) 11 times, join with ss to top of 3ch (36 sts). Round 4: 3ch, tr, 2tr in next st, (2 tr, 2tr in next st) 11 times, join with ss to top of 3ch (48 sts). Round 5: 3ch, 2tr, 2tr in next st, (3tr, 2tr in next st) 11 times, join with ss to top of 3 ch (60 sts). That's the bottom of the bowl done. To make a sharp edge, the first round of the side is worked through the back post of the trebles in Round 5.
First work a slip stitch through the back post of the treble below the hook and make 3ch. Now work trebles through the back post of each stitch to the end of the round. The last stitch will be worked below the starting chain so count carefully to make sure you still have 60 stitches.
Work five more rounds in trebles, beginning each round with 3ch as before. The last round is worked through the front post of every stitch from the previous round to make a more solid, shaped edge. Work 1ch and then dc through the front post of every stitch to the end, join with a slip stitch to the starting chain and fasten off.
This is the point where I got distracted by thoughts of a set of nesting bowls. So, should you want to make them, just work fewer rounds for the base and then the same number of straight side rounds (after the one where you work through the back post). You could of course make bigger bowls in the same way; I had to resist the temptation to carry on and make another seven in the colours of the rainbow.
Navy: 2 rounds, 5 cm / 2", 5g. Pink: 3 rounds, 7 cm/ 3", 10g. Green: 4 rounds, 10 cm / 4", 15g. Blue: 5 rounds, 12 cm / 5", 25g. So ... back to the original bowl that I was going to decorate with hearts. First I decided to add a bit of colour with some surface chain stitch. This is worked on top of the rounds with the hook on the right side of the work and the yarn underneath, on the wrong side. Put the hook down between two trebles, pick up the yarn and pull it up. Then put the hook down after the next treble, pick up the yarn, pull it up and through the loop on the hook. That's the first chain made. Continue like this to the end of the round, finishing one stitch before your starting point. Cut the yarn and pull it through the loop onyour hook.
Thread the yarn on to a needle and thread it through the first chain and then back down the original loop for an invisible join. I worked surface chains on Rounds 2, 3 and 4 of the bottom of the bowl and on every round of the side. Then I finally added the hearts, six in all, topped with little wooden heart buttons.
① Frankie Brown, 2013. An even easier way to decorate a bowl is simply to weave a contrasting yarn over and under the trebles of any round. I used doubled lengths of DK yarn on my navy bowl but you could use a textured or chunky yarn. This turned out rather like a crochet version of my Dotty Pots pattern.
Coasters
The bottom of the bowl can easily be adapted to make lots of different coasters. I made three before I started to run out of yarn. All of them are based on the first four rounds of the bowl pattern plus an edging. For this one I wove each of the four rounds with a different colour and then added a scalloped edging:
\*miss 1 st, 4htr in next st, miss 1 st, ss in next st, repeat from \* all round. This one has the same scalloped edging but uses a different colour for each round.
The last coaster is, again, worked in stripes but Ihave added surface chains to Round 3. The edging is worked like this: \*2dc, 5ch, miss 2 sts, repeat from \* all round. That's the lot. As you can see, this is a pattern that lends itself to lots of variations so, have a play, and see what you come up with.
Abbreviations
ch chain SS slip stitch st / sts stitch / stitches dc double crochet (US single crochet) htr half treble (US half double crochet) tr treble (US double crochet) Frankie Brown, 2013. My patterns are for personal use only and should not be used to knit items for sale. Please do not use them for teaching purposes without my permission.
