Bobbles and Popcorn and Puffs, Oh My

By Carolyn Hanson

You may have noticed that textured sweaters are everywhere this season and one of the biggest features is bobbles.  Bobbles can be added

to both knitting and crochet.  They are made by creating multiple stitches from a single stitch and then finishing them off together to make a raised bulky stitch.  In crochet, there are 3 different stitches.  The Puff stitch is the least “raised” while the Popcorn is the bulkiest and the Bobble falls in between.  All of these stitches do not increase the number of stitches in the row, so they can be added to any project

In crochet, the stitches are worked from the wrong side so that they appear on the right side of your work.  Set up is on a row of sc.

Read, ‘Best Way To Assemble a Modular Blanket,’ here: https://theconnectionsnj.com/best-way-to-assemble-a-modular-blanket/

• Puff stitch is made by repeatedly setting up to do a double crochet (YO, insert hook and pull up a loop) in the same stitch 5 times. Then yo and pull through all stitches. Then do one or more sc.
• Bobble stitch takes the same setup as the Puff stitch but one step further.  Set up as if to do a
  

  Oversized Bobble Sweater

  double crochet (YO, insert hook and pull up a loop), then YO and pull through 2 loops.  Do this 5 times. Then YO and pull through all loops on hook and sc in next stitch

• Popcorn makes 5 dc in the same stitch, which makes a fan shape.  Then remove hook and insert hook into the first dc and then into the loop from the 5^th dc, yo and pull through followed by a sc in the next stitch.  Unlike the popcorn and puff stitches, the bobble stitch does not come together as a single stitch at the top but remains open.

In knitting, the stitches are made on the right side of the work, in a single row, usually on stockinette.  They can be large or small depending on the number of stitches in the bobble and the number of rows.  The bobble can be knit, purl or garter.

• Bobble – Increase front and back of the same stitch until you have increased from 1 stitch to 4.  Then, turn your work and purl thesame 4 stitches.  Turn and knit the same 4 stitches and purl them again.  Then decrease back down to 1 stitch by taking the second stitch on the right needle over the first and continue with the 3^rd and 4^th

My favorite bobble patterns can be found on Ravelry.  I’ve made the baby sweater for my great niece. I’ll be making one of the bobble sleeve sweaters soon.   Welcome sweater weather.

Carolyn Hanson is local knitting and crochet designer, teacher and fiber artist. She can be contacted at cchanson3@gmail.com.