...I was hoping to get this pattern out for you last week but I kept being pulled away from my blog for all sorts of reasons and, well, here I am posting it on December 9th! Hopefully, it's not too late for those of you who requested the pattern to make some for Christmas... As you can see if you scroll down though, I ended up making them in different colours than the more traditional Christmas colours of red and white that I originally made them in, so you can definitely make them for year-round use to brighten up a corner! It was so much fun rummaging through my basket of odds and ends yarn to come up with all sorts of yummy colour combinations for the covers that I had a hard time to stop making them; being relatively quick to make, making them became rather addictive!... My first one in pink and red was soon accompanied by 2 more..
..and then another 2 to make 5...
...which I think would make a sweet little cluster on a festive table...
But surely that wasn't enough with so many irresistible yarn colours in my basket, so I made another 3 for a total of 8...
And then, I had some real fun because I pulled out my "shinies" (yarn with glittery metallic thread) and made 3 more to end up with 11 in all...
Most of my "shinies" were found in thrift shops and, while I've been dying to use them for quite a while now, I hadn't found a good use for them until now and I think this is the perfect project for them. So, if you have any in your stash, I'd recommend trying them out for these covers; as you can probably tell, I only used them for the body of the cover and used non-shiny yarn for the bobbles... So much fun!
I used store-bought candles in glass holders which are 3 3/8 inches (8.6 cm) tall with a diameter of 3 inches (7.6 cm) but you can just as easily use glasses with votive candles placed inside; whichever of these you use, the sides of the candle or votive holder should be straight (not tapered) as in a cylinder so as to keep the stitches looking uniform and not stretched in places . Now, while my pattern is based on the dimensions above, it can be very easily adapted for a different-sized holder; if the diameter is different, the number of chain stitches in the foundation ring will probably have to be reduced or increased appropriately while keeping the number even and, if the height is different, the number of rounds may also have to be either reduced or increased (could be an even or odd number of rounds). As I mentioned earlier, I did use my odds and ends balls of yarn or my scrap yarn so I did work with a slight range in yarn weights; for the body of the covers, I probably used fingering to sport weight (4-5 ply) while, for the bobbles, I used a slightly heavier weight such as heavy sport to DK (6-8 ply). I also found that a slightly fluffier softer-looking yarn with less stitch definition worked nicely for the bobbles to give them a softer more rounded pom-pom look; on the other hand, I used more tightly plied yarn with more stitch definition (no fluffiness) for the body to make it look more lace-like. Except for the "shinies", all the yarn I used was cotton or a cotton/bamboo blend and I used a 3.75mm or F hook throughout. Even though I used the same candle holder for all the covers, in some cases, depending on the elasticity of the yarn used, I did add an extra round to cover the holder better. So, yes, there is a tiny bit of trial and error involved with my little pattern which goes as follows:
Bobbled Candle Holder Cover Pattern
1. The body of the cover
Foundation ring: Using the yarn chosen for the body, ch 30 and join with sl st into first ch. (When joining to make the ring, make sure that the chain is not twisted.)
Rnd 1: Ch1, sc into all 30 ch stitches of ring and join with sl st into first sc; you should have 30 sc stitches in your ring.
Rnd 2: Ch 2, 1 hdc into the first sc which is where Rnd 1 was joined, * skip 1 sc and 2hdc into the next sc *; repeat from * to * 13 more times and then join with sl st into 2nd chain of initial ch 2. You should now have 15 clusters of 2 hdc stitches and 15 holes or spaces between the clusters which we will refer to from now on as hdc sp.
Rnd 3: Ch 2, 2 hdc into first hdc sp of Rnd 2 and * 2 hdc into next hdc sp *; repeat from * to * 13 more times. Into last hdc sp (just below the initial ch 2), 1 hdc and then join with sl st into 2nd chain of initial ch 2. (Make sure you still have 15 clusters of 2 hdc and 15 hdc sp.)
Rnd 4: Ch 2, 1 hdc into first hdc sp of Rnd 3 (which is right next to the ch 2 just made) and * 2hdc into next hdc sp *; repeat from * to * 13 more times and then join with sl st into 2nd chain of intial ch 2. ( Make sure you still have 15 clusters of 2hdc and 15 hdc sp.)
Rnd 5 and on: Redo Rnd 3 and then Rnd 4 and repeat both rounds in the same order until your cover, when tried onto the candle holder, is just shy of the edge, about 1/4 inch ( 0.6 cm) or so from the edge; when trying on the cover, make sure it is nicely stretched over the holder so that the spaces in the motif are well defined (which will make it lovely when lit!), although not overly stretched to the point that it will eventually revert back to a size which does not fully cover the holder. For the candle holder size I used, I either made 11 or 12 rounds depending on the yarn used as some yarn was less elastic and/or finer and a 12th round was needed. It does not matter whether you end on a Rnd 3 or a Rnd 4. Once you are satisfied with the height of your cover, fasten off and weave in the ends
2. The bobbled edging of the cover
Rnd 1: If you look at the top of your cover up till now, the top part of the hdc stitches look like they are either over a 2 hdc cluster or a hdc sp; when one is over a cluster, the next one is over a space and so on. When working this round, it is these tops of the hdc stitches which will you will be crocheting into. So to start, join your yarn chosen for the bobbles with a sl st into the top of the hdc stitch which is over the first hdc sp just to the left of the joint (when looking at the "good" or "right" side of your work); while you could join your new yarn to the top of any of the hdc stitches which are over a hdc sp, I like to keep the joints of all my rounds close to each other. Next, *ch 1, 5 dc into the top of the next hdc (which is right over a 2 hdc cluster), sl st into the top of the first dc of your 5 dc, ch 1 and sl st into the top of the next hdc (which will be over a hdc sp) * and your first bobble is made! Repeat from * to * 13 more times. For your last bobble, ch 1, 5 dc into the top of the next hdc, sl st into the top of the first dc of your 5 dc, ch 1 and sl st into the initial sl st made to join your new yarn; fasten off and weave in the ends. You should have 15 sweet little bobbles and, oh, weren't they so much fun to make!
Now, depending on the yarn you use, if you find that a 5 dc bobble is too big, drop a dc and make it only 4 dc big; likewise, if a 5 dc bobble seems to small, try adding another dc to make it bigger. If you're not quite pleased with the look of your bobbles, you can always try slightly varying the size of your crochet hook which, of course, you can also do when making the body of the cover if you're not quite happy with the way it's turning out.
ch = chain stitch; sc = single crochet stitch; hdc = half double crochet stitch; dc = double crochet stitch; sl st = slip stitch; hdc sp = space between two 2 hdc clusters.
Hmmm, I think that's all there is to my little pattern... I do hope some of you try it out; if you do and should find something wrong with it or something which is unclear, please don't hesitate to write me a note about it. (Oh, and I probably don't have to tell you this, but make sure the bobbles are out of the way or pulled down a bit when lighting the candle, especially if children are involved -- I'd really hate for you to have a mishap!) Hopefully, this post has brought a little cheer and brightness to your day... Thank you so very much for popping by!
