Pom Pom Chicks and Crochet ‘Nest’ Basket

How to make the pom pom chicks from my previous post, and the basket to put them in...

 

I made the pom poms using this method, making the ‘head’ pom pom slightly smaller by wrapping the yarn round less fingers. Exact size will depend on the yarn used (I used Stylecraft Life DK). When tying one of the pom poms (head or body, doesn’t matter which) leave the 2 tails of yarn intact (you can see them on the third chick in the picture below) – make sure not to snip them when trimming the pom pom. These can then be used to tie the head to the body (or vice versa). The eyes and beaks were a bit make-shift (and a little wonky as a result), if anyone had a better method of attaching detail to pom poms please let me know!

 

 For the beaks, I cut two small triangles of brown felt and glued them together, incasing a few strands from the pom pom. It seems to hold fine, but as I said, can be a bit wonky! The eyes are sewn in with black yarn (I used black DK weight yarn and darning needle). I started from the opposite side of the head from where I wanted the eye to be, pulling the yarrn through until the end just disappeared into the yellow fluff, then stiched a couple of knots in place where I wanted the eye to be, snipping the yarn off close to the last knot. Ta Dah, finished, if slightly wonky, chicks.

 

More details could be added (feet maybe?) if desired, but I’d had enough of fiddling about with felt at this point! (Maybe if the tails of yarn were left in place these could then be used to sew felt feet onto the chicks?)

I found it much easier to make the basket, I’m much happier with hook and yarn and hence have a couple of (hopefully) useful photos too (see below).

For the nest I used a brown flecked yarn that I found in my stash, it seems to vary in weight between Aran and 4ply (even finer at points), but worked comfortably on a 4.5mm hook. The nest could be worked in any yarn and corresponding hook size, just continue the pattern, increasing as set from Round 8 until the bottom of the nest is the desired width. I have added a handle to the nest (to help small children carry it around), but it could easily be left out and the pattern could be finished at Round 14. The pattern is worked in a spiral, so each round continues straight into the next. It sometimes helps to have a stitch marker (I tend to use a scrap of yarn in a contrasting colour tied at the start point) to mark each round, but if there are only a few rounds it can be just as easy, and saves time, to count the stiches. The pattern in written in UK crochet terminology, for US substitute dc with sc.

‘Nest’ Basket Pattern.

Round 1: Ch 2, 6 dc in second ch from hook.

R2: Dc 2 in each dc around (12 sts)

R3: *DC 1 in first dc, 2 dc in next dc*, rep 6 times (18 sts)

R4: *DC 1 in first 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc*, rep 6 times (24 sts)

R5: *DC 1 in first 3 dc, 2 dc in next dc*, rep 6 times (30 sts)

R6: *DC 1 in first 4 dc, 2 dc in next dc*, rep 6 times (36 sts)

R7: *DC 1 in first 5 dc, 2 dc in next dc*, rep 6 times (42 sts)

R8: *DC 1 in first 6 dc, 2 dc in next dc*, rep 6 times (48 sts)

R9 – 14 (or until desired height): Continue straight, DC in each dc around (48 sts)

Ch approx. 30 and fasten end of chain opposite side of basket with ss. Turn.

Dc approx. 30 over chain until reaching the other side, to form handle, ss and fasten off.

 This is my crocheted base for the nest up to (and including Round 8).

This is the finished nest with added chain to make a handle. I attached it to the opposite side of the nest with a ss then dc back over the chain until reaching the other side (this gives the handle a bit of body and makes it less stretchy when held).

  If you've had a go at following my pattern I'd love to see the results - all feedback welcome (I'm still new to writing patterns and would be glad to know of any glitches/glaring errors/pointers).

Mrs B x