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Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Crochet Easter Egg Tutorial


The sun is shining, and the birds are beginning to sing.  For years I've always felt that spring has arrived after celebrating Easter.  Attending Easter Egg hunts, the bright pinks, greens, and blues of the holiday, and of course eating chocolate (ok so chocolate is not spring specific, but there are some Easter candies that make me really happy).

After making a few spring related amigurumis I decided that crochet Easter eggs would be a great decor addition (if I actually did things like decor).

There are dozens of tutorials out there for crochet Easter eggs, but every one I tried just didn't create the shape I was looking for.  So I've put a pattern and some instructions together for you to enjoy.  I made at least a dozen different eggs trying to get this pattern just right.

The great part about crochet Easter eggs is that they are a perfect scrap buster.  You can dig out all the little tiny balls of yarn you have at the bottom of your stash for this project.

Read on for tutorial and pattern...


What you will need:
Small amounts of worsted weight yarn
Size G crochet hook, or size appropriate to the weight of yarn
Fiber Fill (not pictured)
Tapestry Needle

Optional:
Stitch marker
Small amount of uncooked rice


Abbreviations: 
sc- single crochet
dec- decrease, when this is written in the pattern you will decrease your stitches by single crocheting two together.

There is no gauge to this pattern as every egg depends on the yarn that you are using.  For uniformly shaped eggs use the same brand and weight of yarn.  By using bulky yarn and a larger hook you can make a larger egg.


Mark the beginning of your round.
TIP: I do not always use stitch markers, mostly because I make things up as I go along, however I really think this pattern benefits from marking the beginning of each round.  I use hoop earrings to mark my rounds, simply because I don't have any actual stitch markers and I find that they work just fine.  When using the marker you will place it in the top of the first stitch of each round.  This helps identify the beginning of the round. 


Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle (Find a great magic circle tutorial here.)
Round 2: 2 sc in first stitch of magic circle, place stitch marker in top of first stitch, 2 sc in each stitch around to stitch marker(12 stitches)
Round 3: 2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next stitch, repeat 5 times to stitch marker (18)
Round 4 and 5: 1 sc in each stitch (18)
Round 6: 2sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 2 stitches, repeat 5 times to stitch marker (24)
Round 7 and 8: 1 sc in each stitch
Round 9: 2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next 7 stitches, repeat 2 times to stitch marker (27)
Rounds 10-12: 1 sc in each stitch
Round 13: 1 sc in first stitch, *decrease (sc2tog), 1 sc in next 2 stitches, repeat from * 5 times, decrease, 1 sc in next stitch (20)
Round 14: 1 sc in each stitch
Round 15: 1 sc in first stitch, *decrease, 1 sc in next stitch, repeat from * 5 times you will have one stitch left in the round (14)
Now is the time to fill your egg.  Use small pieces of fiber fill so that it does not clump, and stuff tightly for the best shape.

Finishing:
Decrease 7 times, slip stitch into next stitch and fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing.  Stuff more stuffing into the bottom of the egg through the small hole that is still visible. 

To weigh the bottom down you can pour a small amount of uncooked rice into the bottom before sewing, this is easiest done by using a small funnel or making a funnel out of a piece of paper.
With a tapestry needle sew the bottom shut by threading through the decreased stitches and pulling tight. Fasten off and tuck yarn end inside of egg.

EXTRAS: HERE'S the FUN PART!!!
If you are extra clever you can do so many things with these eggs.  You can make stripes or come up with some pretty cool designs with stranded color work. Something I WISH I could do but have not conquered yet is embroidery.   If you are good at it I'm sure you could come up with some great embellishments for your crochet Easter eggs.

I hope that this tutorial is successful for you.  It's really my first, and would love to hear what you think about it!  Happy Hooking!

2 comments:

mom said...

Cool...good job :)

Madame Anonymous said...

Those are ADORBS. I wish I had known about the tutorial earlier so I could have posted it with my Easter egg post at Insatiable Booksluts. Next time, Gadget!