Knitty Bitz

Bobbles add dimension to a knitted garment and are particularly popular on Aran style jumpers.

A bobble is a collection of stitches formed by increasing several times into one stitch, turning the knitting, purling back, turning the knitting again and decreasing these stitches back down to one before continuing with the row.

Bobbles more commonly comprise five stitches, but can range in size from three stitches to nine stitches.

There are three ways in which to make a bobble:

• Knit 1, yarn over, knit 1, yarn over, knit 1 in the same stitch.

• Knit into the front, back, front, back, front of the same stitch.

• Knit, purl, knit, purl, knit into the same stitch.

To form the bobble:

• Knit to where you want to place your bobble and increase in one of the three ways listed above (each of the above methods gives a slightly different looking bobble, so ensure that you use the same method throughout your project).

• Turn the knitting and purl back across the bobble stitches (bobbles are usually worked in stocking stitch).

• Turn the knitting again and decrease the stitches back down to one in one of the following ways:

(e.g. when making a bobble with five stitches)

• • Knit two together twice, knit the last stitch, slip the first two stitches over the last stitch (1 stitch).

• • Knit two together twice as above, knit the last stitch.  Turn the knitting and slip one stitch, knit two stitches together and pass the slipped stitch over.

Useful Tip

Knitting bobbles tends to cause holes to form in your fabric.  Purling the stitches before and after the bobble stitch more tightly than normal on the next row will help to close the holes up.