JELLYFISH

JELLYFISH PATTERN

Stitches you will need to know.    …or Google

SC – slip stitch

DC – double stitch

Chain (it is what it is)

Ring (a chain but closed end to end into a ring)

Popcorn (yes, the stitch, not the food)

            To create a popcorn stitch, place 5dc into the same sc of the previous round. The trick is to not “close” the dc:s. Instead, only pull the yarn through them once and then let them hang on your hook while you do the next one. When all five stitches are halfway done, pull your yarn through all of them at the same time, ending them as if they were all one stitch.

Shell (it is good if you at least know what they look like)

THE JELLYFISH

Do not worry about making a mistake or two, or thirty along the way. Unless you are actively trying, there are very few ways to mess up this pattern to a point where it looks bad. Come on, it is a droopy, prickly jellyfish. Bloopers will only make it look more realistic!

Body:

The rounds that are highlighted are special, I suggest using a different colour of yarn for these rounds to achieve the best effect. In these rounds, you must randomly replace a few sc:s with a popcorn stitch instead. So, you pick a few random, unsuspecting sc:s from the previous round and instead of just placing an sc into them, you will create a popcorn of 5dc, all connected together into one stitch and then continue with sc for the next stitch as if nothing happened. Treat the popcorn stitches as if they were regular sc:s for the next round.

·         ring of 3

·         5 sc into ring

·         sc – double every (2sc for every sc of the previous round)

·         sc – double every

·         sc - 1 to 1 (1sc per every sc of the previous round, total number of sc remains the same as in previous round)

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - double every 2^nd (2sc for every 2^nd stitch of the previous round, 1sc for all other sc of previous round)

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - double every 2^nd

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - double every 5^th

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - 1 to 1

You see how whenever you are going to make an sc, you are sticking your hook through 2 strands of yarn? One of the strands is toward the outside of this bowl-like thing you’ve created by this point and one is towards the inside. Well, we will use these two strands to make the frilly belt of the jellyfish. One round will use only the loops of thread towards the outside and another round will use only the loops toward the inside. So, change the colour of your yarn again and then proceed with the following:

·         sc - 1 to 1 though the outside loops

·         shells of 5dc: use the sc:s in the previous round. First place an sc into your nearest sc of the previous round, then skip one sc of the previous round and place a dc into the sc thereafter. Place another 4 dc:s into the same sc, finishing them all as separate stitches. See how that becomes a shell? Skip another sc from the previous round and then place an sc into the sc thereafter. Make another shell of 5dc and then make another sc. Keep going until you’ve completed a full lap.

·         Make a border for the shells. Here, I suggest you change the colour of your yarn again for artistic effect. See the shells you made in the previous round? We will be going around the border/edges of those. SC- 1 to 1, pretend like all the stitches from the previous round are just sc:s. However, with one exception. Do not touch the middlemost dc of each shell. Instead, after you have placed an sc into the 2^nd dc of each shell, do a chain of 3, skip the 3^rddc of the shell and then place an sc into the 4^th dc of that shell. That will create a pointy edge of the shell. When you place your sc:s into the sc:s of the previous round that were between the shells, make that stitch deep. Do not just pull the yarn through the two strands of yarn on top of the sc stitch (that we discussed earlier), but pull it through all the way past a stitch that came a round or two earlier.

Cut off and tie off the yarn after you’ve completed this round, as we will start with a new bit of yarn in the next round.

·         sc - 1 to 1 though the loops towards the inside

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - reduce every 5^th (For every 5^th sc, pull the yarn through the 5^th sc of the previous round and through the 6^th sc of the previous round, you should then have the original stitch plus two loops of yarn on your hook. Pull the yarn through all of these to close this all as the same stitch. This means that for every 5^th sc that you so, you will also be reducing the total of stitches in the round by 1 sc)

·         sc - reduce every 4^th (For this row, I suggest that you change colour. You will place a regular sc, then you will make an sc that goes all the way through to a previous row to create a longer line, you will make another regular sc and then, for the next sc, you will reduce by one as described in the previous step)

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - reduce every 3^rd

·         sc - reduce every 3^rd

·         sc - 1 to 1 (Switch colour here and make some long lines again for your sc:s. 2 regular sc, followed by one “deeper” sc, keep repeating this cycle for the entire round)

·         sc - 1 to 1

·         sc - reduce every 2^nd

·         sc - reduce every until the hole has closed up (put in stuffing as you go)

Tentacles:

The fat curly ones

·         chain of 90

·         sc – 1 to 1 (turn back and sc along one side of the chain)

·         when you reach the end of the chain with your sc:s, make a chain of 3, and then continue to sc 1 to 1 over the other side of the original chain

·         ch5 into every sc (Change colour, turn around, place an sc into your nearest sc of the previous row. Make a chain of 5 and then place another sc into the same sc of the previous row in order to make a loop. Then move on to the next sc of the previous row and do the same.)

·         When you reach the chain of 3 of the previous row, make a chain of 5 while  departing from the last available sc of the previous row, attach the chain of 5 to the chain of 3 with an sc, make another chain of 5 and place an sc in the nearest available sc of the previous row as you round that corner. Then continue making chains of 5 for every sc as per instruction.

·         Once you are finished, leave a length of thread that you can use to stitch on the tentacle.

I suggest making 3 of these large tentacles and putting them in the middle of the jellyfish’s belly.

The thin lumpy ones

·         Ring of 4

·         8dc into ring

·         Keep going with just a simple chain. However, at random intervals, lock small portions of the chain into a ring, as this will create the little lumps on the tentacle. Make the tentacles of varied lengths.

·         Leave a length of thread to allow you to attach the tentacles.

Pro tip:

I left a small bit of thread at the end of the skinny tentacles. I then pulled that bit of thread through one of the stitches in the belly of the jellyfish. Here is the resourceful bit: If you put the skinny tentacles near the fat ones, you can use the scraps of yarn sticking out from changing colours on the fat tentacles and tie those together in a simple knot with the edge of the thread from the skinny tentacles. This attaches the tentacles better, makes them more stable and makes it easier to pull in the ends of the yarn. Make the knots as close as possible to the surface of the jellyfish so that you can just pull in the edges into the stuffing inside it’s body.

Hanging it:

If you wish to make a jellyfish that you can hang up somewhere, like mine, you can make a loop for hanging it. To do this, slip the yarn through one or two stitches on the very top of the jellyfish (where you initially started this whole story) as if you were doing a giant sc. Then you make a chain of appropriate length, mine was 50, and simply tie the edges of the string together. Then shift the chain and use your hook to pull the edges of the yarn into the body of the jellyfish.

All done!