This knitted sphere tutorial was originally posted on October 25, 2012, and updated on December 29, 2017.

So, I finished that ball for my auntie’s dogs today. I used the left over yarn from the scarf in my last post. Being a savvy traveller not wanting to accumulate excess knitting supplies, and being as stingy as I am, I was clever with what I stuffed it with. I went down to Poundland, where everything is £1, and bought some cotton wool, and used that instead instead of regular toy wadding. I also had the option of using bath sponges. The cotton wool made for a heavier ball which should make for a good indoor fetch ball. I don’t expect this toy to last very long, but I think that maybe the stuffing will compact somewhat, which is a negative. When stuffing shapes like this, I usually go for stuffing them as tightly as practical, I think this looks better. Here is the finished product:

To make this ball, I used my trusty sphere formula. I thought this would be a good chance to share it with you. This is an extremely predictable design, and while I didn’t specifically steal it from anyone, I’m sure lots of people have figured out this method for knitting a sphere. This isn’t really a pattern, but I suppose you could call it a recipe. This tutorial is for a sphere knitted flat. You could easily adapt this into an in-the-round pattern thus: once you have cast on, join for working in the round. There will be no seam to join if you knit in the round, so when you have finished the last round, cut a 20cm tail and pass through the remaining stitches. Do not fasten yet. Thread a tapestry needle with another length of yarn and use it to gather and tighten along the cast-on edge. Stuff the sphere tightly first, then pull tail on cast-off edge to close the hole, fasten off and hide tail in the sphere.

I’ve also used this sphere formula to replace pom poms on the end of this baby hat:

Download PDF by clicking here: Knitted Sphere Tutorial

Knitted Sphere

NB: you can knit these spheres in stocking stitch or garter stitch. For stocking stitch, knit odd-numbered rows and purl even-numbered rows. For garter stitch, knit every row. If you’re adapting this tutorial to work in the round, work stocking stitch by knitting every round and garter stitch by knitting odd rows and purling even ones.

Select your yarn and appropriate needles. I suggest going for slightly smaller needles than recommended, because a dense fabric will contain the stuffing well.

Cast on a small number of stitches (less than 10). Let’s call this starting number of stitches x.

Row 1: Increase into every stitch. You will now have twice the number of stitches than what you cast on, and will have increased by x stitches.

Row 2 and all alternate rows: Work even (no increases or decreases).

Row 3: Increase evenly along row by x stitches.

Work rows 2 and 3 until the piece is twice the width of your planned sphere. Work Row 2. If you are using a fine yarn with small needles (and therefore small stitches), work a further 2 rows.

Decrease Rows

Decease Row 1: Decrease evenly along row by x stitches.

Decrease Row 2: Work even.

Repeat these two rows until you have x stitches left.

Do not cast off. Instead, cut a long tail and pass tail through remaining stitches. Pull

tightly. With right sides of piece facing each other, work mattress stitch to join the sides of the piece together. Stop when you are three quarters of the way through the seam. Turn piece right side out. Stuff tightly. Finish sewing the seam closed. Hide tail inside the sphere. If it is a dog toy, give to dog. Time how many minutes it takes for him to destroy it.

More Spheres!

I experimented with knitting spheres in a few other sizes and yarns. Here’s what they look like:

Yellow knitted sphere — This sphere was knitted using an alpaca yarn which I handspun (I believe it is dyed with turmeric FYI). It’s about lace weight. I knitted it with 2.25mm needles and cast on with 9 sts.

Orange knitted sphere — This is a super-bulky yarn (sorry! it has been in my stash so long that I forgot what it’s called!) which I made on 9mm needles, and I cast on 3 sts to make it.

Pink knitted sphere — I knitted this sphere in Patons Inca (a wool, alpaca, and acrylic blend), which is a bulky weight yarn, using 4.5mm needles, casting on with 5 sts.

Kat

This post was posted in Pattern

This is a double-barrelled post.

Barrel 1 — The Inspiration
The other day I splurged and bought the Craftsy course Lace Shawl Design. I should add that it wasn’t expensive at all, and it was actually cheaper than usual as they have a sale on right now ($20 instead of $30), I’m just cheap. I’ve only watched the first lesson, but I’m really inspired by it. The epitome of creativity is designing something original, and since I started knitting, this has been my aim. In fact, it’s a dream of mine to knit my own wedding dress one day. Sorry, Mum, there’s no man in my life right now, but that doesn’t stop me from planning my wedding. I love knitting lace and I’ve done quite a bit of it. I’ve also done a small bit of designing — mostly beanies and simple bags, that kind of thing (and a jumper for my niece which you know about already) — but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to design lace, especially with complicated shaping like in a fitted gown. When I handed up my thesis last year, I bought myself a book about designing and fitting knitted garments which I can see being useful to me later on and is a good general guide, but it didn’t get into the nitty-gritty of complicated things like lace design.

So, I bought this class. Miriam Felton, the teacher, is very inspirational in her enthusiasm for knitting and just getting out there and having a go. As I said, I’ve only watched the first lesson so far, so my wedding dress is a long way off, but I have been encouraged to finally post my first pattern online.

Barrel 2.1 — The Story Behind the Pattern
Last year I made, as a Christmas present, a beanie for a relative. Apart from rectangular projects, this was the first thing I designed myself. My family contains many aquarium enthusiasts and this one (who is not my Dad, but my Dad owns one too) owns an aquarium shop. I’ve grown up with community fish and I like them very much. One of my favourites is the angelfish. Here is a photo of one that I found on a public domain site:

I decided to make this relative a beanie with an angelfish on it. My aim was to make a beanie that reflected his aquarium-shop profession so he could wear it at work but not be so wacky that he wouldn’t want to wear it in public. This is what I ended up with:

I’m pretty proud of it. I especially like the moss/seed stitch (I believe the name of this stitch is controversial but I say go cry a river) edging as it serves the purpose of providing a more rigid bottom of the beanie while also looking like aquarium gravel. I had originally planned to do a blue background (like water) and black stripes on the fish, but I wanted this to be something a grown man would be happy to be seen in (the blue is gorgeous but quite garish, or should I say garfish? No, no I should not.), so I switched the colours.

Barrel 2.2 — Angelfish Beanie Pattern
Here is the pattern for my angelfish beanie. Please feel free to sell finished objects made using this pattern but please do not sell the pattern itself. I’ve only made this once and wrote the pattern down as I went along. If you find any errors or any confusing bits, please let me know so I can improve it!

Techniques
This pattern requires the use of Intarsia colourwork. As a basic principle in Intarsia, each time you change a colour, you start a new ball or strand of yarn. You do not, therefore, carry long lengths of yarn behind the work (these are called floats). This said, if you have just a couple of stitches of one colour, you may want to cheat a bit and carry the yarn at the back for that (I like to weave these floats round the working yarn like with stranded knitting, to make the back look neater) But, at the intersection between colours, it is a good idea to cross the two yarns over each other at the back so there are no holes. For the intricate bits, some people (not me) like to leave them off and fill them in using duplicate stitches once the piece is done. I’m sure this advice is far too vague to be useful, so here is a good tutorial on Intarsia techniques: http://theknitter.themakingspot.com/blog/intarsia-knitting.

This pattern is knit flat (as are most (/all?) Intarsia patterns).

Download the pattern here: Angelfish Beanie Pattern

ERRATUM: 31.12.2017 – A previous version of this pattern had the wrong number of stitches on the first row worked in black. It previously directed to K41, work chart, then K44. The correct directions should say to K41, work chart, then K40.The current pattern has been corrected.

Angelfish Beanie

Materials
Yarn:

100g Black 8ply acrylic yarn (I used Thorobred)
50g Brown 8ply acrylic yarn
Small amount Blue 8ply acrylic yarn
Small amount White 8ply acrylic yarn
Small amount Green 8ply acryic yarn

Needles and notions:

3.75mm straight needles
Row counter
Stitch markers
Tapestry needle
Scissors

Tension: 22sts x 28 rows = 10cm

Size: To fit an adult head 50-55cm/20-22in circumference (I can tell you it fit my head which is about 22in and about how big you’d expect a man’s head to be)

Stitches:

Moss stitch:
- Row 1 (RS): [k1, p1] to end
- Row 2 (WS): [p1, k1] to end

Stocking (stockinette) stitch :
- Row 1 (RS): K all stitches
- Row 2 (WS): P all stitches

Intarsia Chart:

Pattern
Using brown and a one-needle cast-on (long-tail), cast on 112 stitches. Work in moss stitch for 7 rows.

Next row: Switch to black. K41, pm, work row 1 of Angelfish Beanie Intarsia Chart, pm, K40.

Continue the Angelfish Beanie Intarsia Chart between markers and black on either side of markers in stocking stitch throughout.

After Angelfish Beanie Intarsia Chart is completed, work 11 rows in black (stocking stitch).

Decrease for crown:
Row 1 (RS): [k6, k2tog] to end. 105 sts.
Row 2 and all alternate (WS) rows: P all sts
Row 3: [k5, k2tog] to end. 90 sts.
Row 5: [k4, k2tog] to end. 72 sts.
Row 7: [k3, k2tog] to end. 54 sts.
Row 9: [k2, k2tog] to end. 36 sts.
Row 11: [k1, k2tog] to end. 18 sts.
Row 13: [k2tog] to end. 9 sts.

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread tail through a tapestry needle. Pass thread through remaining live stitches and tighten. Use mattress stitch to sew together back seam of hat. Weave in ends. Block. Enjoy.

Peace,

Knitkatpaddywhack

Kat

This post was posted in Pattern