Make your own key ring or bag charm by crocheting over wooden beads. A simple twine will add earthy charm to your accessory, or attach a keychain clasp if you wish. Each ball takes a short time and very little yarn to crochet, so you can use up spare bits of yarn to make up a bunch of these in under an hour.
I’ve experimented with different yarns and this pattern “recipe” is based on 20mm wooden bead, using fingering weight cotton yarn. If you’re using different sized beads or yarn etc, you may have to tweak the recipe accordingly.
PATTERN : Crochet Wooden Bead Charm
HOOK : 2.5mm
YARN : Fingering weight, small amounts for each ball
I’ve used cotton yarn such as Rosarios4 Biolove, and DMC Natura (available here)*, but you can use any other fingering or 4-ply yarn.
OTHER MATERIALS :
2 x 20mm wooden beads
1 x 10mm wooden bead
1 x metal key clasp / lobster claw / key ring (optional)
Waxed twine or cord (I’ve used waxed hemp twine by BEADSMITH)
*DISCLOSURE : This is an affiliate link. I earn a small commission if a successful purchase is made following the link. There will not be any additional cost to you but it helps to keep my website ad-free.
INSTRUCTIONS (in U.S. crochet terms)
R1 : Magic ring, 8sc in magic ring, do not join. [8st]
R2 : 2sc in each sc from previous round. Do not join [16st] You can use a stitch marker to mark the first stitch or just keep count of the stitches.
R3 - R7 : continue to sc in each sc without joining the rounds [16st]
At this point, thread the starting yarn tail through a 20mm wooden bead and pull it through to the top of the bead. Then insert the wooden bead into the crochet piece, making sure the holes are aligned to openings of the crochet pieces.
R8 : Working around the wooden bead, sc dec x 8 times. (If you can do an invisible decrease that would make a neater finish). sl st in first st to finish. End off, and cut yarn, leaving at least a 10cm tail.
Thread the ending yarn and do a whip stitch (i.e. sew from outside of the ball to the inside) on the outer loops of the last round, pulling tight to gather the opening so it closes neatly. You may have to use your own judgement at this point. Once the opening is neatly closed, tie a knot with the beginning and ending yarn ends. Pull yarn ends through to the other opening of the bead and trim off excess yarn - the ends will be hidden inside the bead.
When you have completed 2 crochet balls, assemble the key charm as follows :
Using a 50cm length of twine, thread it through a 10mm bead, then the bottom 20mm bead, and the top 20mm bead. Form a hanging loop (roughly 10cm or desired length at the top, and go back into the top 20mm bead, bottom 20mm bead, and the 10mm bead.
Tie an overhand knot at the base of the 10mm bead, as close to it as possible. Tie another overhand knot at the top-most 20mm bead, as close to it as possible. Trim excess twine off the bottom tassels. If necessary, use a dab of glue to secure the knots.
If you wish to attach it to a metal keyring, after you have passed the twine once through all 3 beads, attach it to the metal keyring using a lark’s head knot. Pass the remaining length of twine back through the beads, and follow same instructions as above to finish off.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial - do tag me at IG @byiroiro if you make this! Thank you!