I’ve so enjoyed working with Hannah, a natural dyer of pure wool felt. I dropped her a message without much of a grand plan in place and after a few dozen email exchanges later we had created a Hooky Hen crochet kit combining my naturally dyed wool and Hannah’s naturally dyed felt. As a fun extra I designed a crochet nest pattern for the Hooky Hens which could also be called a basket or bowl and would serve all sorts of uses. So far I’ve mainly used the sample above for chocolate mini eggs, they just seem to fall into my shopping basket accidentally.
You will need:
• 4mm and 4.5mm crochet hooks
• Aran weight wool (preferably sturdy rather than with drape) approximately 50g
• Scissors, tapestry needle
U.K. Terms
[puff stitch – yo, insert hook into st, pull up loop, repeat 3 more times, yo and pull through 9 loops on hook]
Using 4.5mm hook work 6dc into a magic ring (do not slip stitch to join, continue working in a spiral)
R1. 2dc in each stitch around (12) place stitch maker to mark end of rounds and move up with each round
R2. (1dc, inc in next) repeat to end of round (18)
R3. (2dc, inc in next) repeat to end of round (24)
R4. (3dc, inc in next) repeat to end of round (30)
R5. 2dc, inc in next (4dc, inc in next) repeat x 5 to end of round, 2dc (36)
R6. (5dc, inc in next) repeat to end of round (42)
R7. 3dc, inc in next (6dc, in in next) repeat x 5 to end of round, 3dc (48)
R8. (7dc, inc in next) repeat to end of round (54)
R9. 4dc, inc in next (8dc, inc in next) repeat x 5 to end of round, 3dc, sl st in last st, ch1, turn (60)
R10. Dc in blo (back loop only) around, sl st to join
R11. Insert hook in same stitch as sl st and pull up to the height of a puff stitch, this will count as the first part of your puff st, complete puff stitch (see above) and ch1 to secure, sk1, puff repeat from * to * to end of round, sl st in top of first puff.st.
R12. sl st along to next space between puff stitches, pull up first loop of puff st and complete as before. Securing each puff st with a ch1, work puff stitches in each space between puff stitches from the previous row.
R13. Repeat round 12
R14. Change to 4mm hook, repeat row 12
R15. Sl st into next available space between puffs, ch1. Crab stitch in each stitch around and sl st to finish or if you prefer dc in each st and sl st to join. Fasten off. Weave in ends.
On Instagram you’ll find a post of a before and after felting in the washing machine version. It was only a 7cm diameter version which ended up just under 5cm in diameter and felted beautifully. I have some more random leftovers of this roving style wool to use up in this way, cue lots of useful little bowls!
simplenaturalhandmade 