Tess Young Designs & Makes

Blackpool SMS knitting Group is having a stall at the Super Duper Craft Fair, in the wonderful Floral Hall of Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in November. So we’ve been busy knitting and crocheting things for the stall. Well, to be fair the group have, I’ve been on holiday and was delighted to see the wonderful range of things they’d made in my absence. Indeed, I even wondered if I should go away more often… but then holidays always make me think working for a living is over-rated and I’d rather be following my wanderlust…

These bowls were the result of wondering what to make with the groups stash of donated vintage mohair which was a little itchy, and everyone was skirting around it. The first bowl I made up as I went along but other group members didn’t feel confident without a pattern so I’ve done a few more writing down what I was doing as I went along.

The pattern below is for the cream/yellow and teal diamond striped bowl, but I’ve used the same pattern with some variations for all the bowls I’ve made. For example, the pink yarn was quite difficult to work, and whilst looking like mohair with a fuzzy finish, is mainly wool which stuck together more whilst crocheting than the mohair based yarns. As a result the gauge was quite different and it grew quicker than the cream/yellow yarn so I did fewer base rounds to get roughly the same size. For the purple and mauve version I just did rounds of dcs in alternate colours. Full details of the pre and post felted dimensions and the yarn used can be found below. However, the principle remains the same for bowls of any size – make the bases and sides to the size you want and doing more decrease rows at the top if you want to pull the top rim in some more. I stuck to dcs and htr to create a smoother felted fabric. When I tried with trebles I got a bumpier more uneven effect. Do bear in mind that felting will result in a reduction of size of about one fifth.

As I’m very new to crochet, and self taught, I hope the (UK) notations are OK, and because these are being felted, don’t worry if you seem to have a stitch or two more or less in any round. I haven’t tested every possible size and permutation, but it seems to generally work.

Materials

Mohair yarn with a good wool/mohair content to make sure it felts well – do check by swatching and felting your swatch.

6mm crochet hook

Abbrevations

dc = double crochet

htr = half treble

Ch = chain

Instructions

Using 2 strands of the mohair yarn throughout and a 6mm hook

For the base:

Work a 6 chain and join to form a ring

Round 1 : make 2ch (counts as 1 dc) and 11 dcs into the centre and join with a slip stitch into the 2nd loop of the 2 chain

Round 2: make 3 chain (counts as one htr) (make 2htr into the next stitch and 1 htr into the following stitch) repeat to the end, join with a slip stitch into the 3rd loop of the 3 chain

Round 3: make 2ch (counts as 1 dc), dc into each stitch and join with a slip stitch into the 2nd loop of the 2 chain

Repeat rounds 2 & 3 another 3 times or less if you want a smaller bowl.

Round 9: make 2ch (counts as 1 dc), dc into each stitch and join with a slip stitch into the 2nd loop of the 2 chain

Round 10: make 3 chain (counts as one htr) (make 2htr into the next stitch and 1 htr into the next 3 stitches) repeat to the end, join with a slip stitch into the 3rd loop of the 3 chain

Round 11: make 2ch (counts as 1 dc), dc into each stitch and join with a slip stitch into the 2nd loop of the 2 chain

Round 12: make 3 chain (counts as one htr) (make 2htr into the next stitch and 1 htr into the next 4 stitches) repeat to the end, join with a slip stitch into the 3rd loop

Round 13: make 2ch (counts as 1 dc), dc into each stitch and join with a slip stitch into the 2nd loop of the 2 chain

(If you want to make it bigger, just do more repeats of a round of 2 htr in the first and every following 6th, 7th, 8th stitch etc, increasing the space between pairs of htr by one with each additional repeat, followed by a repeat of round 9. This should increase the size but keep the work flat)

To start the sides:

Round 1: dc into the back loop of each dc – this sets up the sides nicely (add pattern by changing colour in here if you want)

Round 2: make 2ch (counts as 1 dc), dc into each stitch and join with a slip stitch into the 2nd loop of the 2 chain

Round 3: make 3ch (counts as 1 htr), dc into each stitch and join with a slip stitch into the 3rd loop of the 3 chain

Repeat rounds 2 &3 another 3 times– or more of less depending on the size you want

Next round: make 2ch (counts as 1 dc), (dc in the next 5 stitches, dc2 together) repeat to the end and join with a slip stitch into the 2nd loop of the 2 chain

Next round: repeat round above if you want to bring the top rim in some more or if you’re happy with it as it is, simply dc around all stitches and bind off Sew in ends and use the tail from the beginning to tighten the original foundation chain loop if necessary.

Pre felting

Felting – I just put these in the machine on a 40 degree wash with some jeans – they may need to go through a couple of times depending on how tightly you want them felted and the yarn you’ve used.

Post felting

Finishing:

As the picture above shows, these bowls can be a bit fuzzy when finished. I’m not too keen on this so I tend to shave the fuzzy hairs off using a set on men’s hairclippers on their shortest setting. Alternatively you can use a safety razor. With either, do be careful to to shave into the fabric.

Large yellow and teal bowl

Pre-felting – 25cm across base and 11cm high

Post-felting – 17cm across base and 9cm high – 125g of yarn

Both yarns were from cones of mohair yarn that I’ve felted before

Pink and purple

Pre-felting – 26cm across at the base and 11cm high

Post-felting – 19cm across base and 9cm high – 145g yarn

Pink yarn = Paccia La Lana Flash – 75% wool/25% viscose

Purple yarn unknown

Purple & mauve

Pre-felting – 21cm across and 11cm high

Post-felting – 17cm across base and 8cm high  – 99g yarn

Purple yarn – Sunbeam Paris – 81% mohair, 11% wool, 8% nylon

Mauve Yarn – Lister Tahiti 81% mohair, 14% wool, 5% nylon