Tips for Crocheting a Bean Bag Chair

February 21, 2014 by ·

bean bag

Tips and Tricks for Crocheting a Cover for a Bean Bag Chair

Crocheting a cozy to cover a bean bag chair is easier than it looks. It’s similar to making a cup cozy…just a bit larger! Here is some designer feedback with tips and tricks to help you as you crochet your own bean bag creation.

#1 – Make it a tight fit

Stretching CozyThe first and foremost important tip: make the cozy smaller than the bean bag chair. You want it to be a really tight fit, as in…super tight.

“I didn’t think there was any way the bean bag would fit into the cozy.“
– quote from Deborah

Yarn stretches. Which is helpful when stuffing the cozy. But not so good after people have played with and sat on the bean bag chair. After lots of use, the yarn will stretch to the point that the cozy may sag. To prevent future issues of sagging, make sure the cozy is a tight fit around the bean bag.

yarn sags after play

The Owl Bean Bag, pictured above left, is one of our first bean bag projects. Several nieces came over for a visit one afternoon…and after only a few hours of play, the yarn on the owl was loose and sagging…a lot! Needless to say, we corrected the issue and every bean bag project we work on has a much tighter fit (as seen in the Soccer Ball on the right)!

Owl Bean Bag pattern available on Etsy.

Soccer Ball Bean Bag pattern available on Etsy.

#2 Tie it up

tie bean bagBean bags by nature are malleable; they reshape with a little bit of pressure. This makes them more tricky to stuff into a cozy. So, we recommend that you tie up your bean bag with yarn into a tall cylinder type shape. After it’s stuffed into the cozy, remove the ties so the bean bag chair is free to reshape when people sit on it.

Use yarn in a contrasting color and tie a bow with long tails. This will make it easier to locate the tied yarn through the cozy so you can pull it out.

#3 You only need a few rounds to close it up

For some bean bag designs, you’ll stuff the bean bag into a partially finished cozy, then crochet a few rounds to close it up locking the bean bag inside.

“I didn’t think the pattern had enough rounds left to close up the cozy.“
– quote by Dana

bottom of bean bagWhen the bean bag is stuffed into the cozy, there will still be quite a bit of the bean bag left uncovered. Surprisingly, you won’t need very many rounds to finish off the cozy. As tip #1 says…you want a tight fit.

Work a decrease round, then tug on the cozy to stretch the yarn as you stuff the bean bag into the cozy. Crochet the next decrease round, tug and stuff. Repeat a few more times. The last step is to grab each loop in the last round and cinch closed with yarn.

Bean Bag Chair Crochet Patterns

We have several Bean Bag designs. Here are a couple of fun sets:

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How to Hold a Crochet Hook

November 25, 2011 by ·

How to Hold a Crochet Hook

I’m starting to become a little insecure about how to hold a crochet hook. It seems as though everyone around me holds it one way and I the other. Can you relate or am I the lone wolf here.

In fact, I recently watched a youtube video where the gal was demonstrating both techniques and she made some sort of comment about my chosen grip being awkward. Awkward? It doesn’t feel awkward to me. If anything, her grip is awkward. But apparently not to most of my friends and family!

20+ years ago my grandmother taught my twin sister, my mother and I how to crochet. And it’s engraved on my brain that the way I hold my hook is “the right way”. Really, I remember her saying there was a right and wrong way. As a new hooker, I wanted to do it right, so I chose my grip.

Now, I wonder, “Have I been wrong all these years?” Most crocheters these days say that either way is right. But do they really believe that or are they just appeasing people like me?

Case in point, I went to a knitters and crocheters group the other day and one of the gals was staring at me while I crocheted. Then, she and my sister started talking about how I hold the crochet hook…as if I was some sort of alien. “Hello,” I thought, “I’m right here in the room.”

So, based on their conversation, it should come as no surprise that Yarnovator (my twin sister) and I each hold the crochet hook differently. It was shocking to me when I recently found out that one of us holds it from beneath like a pencil and the other holds it overhand like a knife. It seems strange to me that we are similar in so many ways yet different here, on a matter of technique.

how to hold a crochet hook

And what about my mother? After all, she was there when my grandmother taught us “right from wrong”. She’s apparently not picking sides because she holds the crochet hook both ways. Literally…for every stitch she holds it both ways. She starts out her stitch holding the crochet hook like a pencil, then ends the stitch holding it like a knife! I have to admit, I’ve never seen anyone crochet quite like that. She definitely has both bases covered.

How to Hold a Crochet Hook – The Conclusion

So, what will I do about how to hold a crochet hook? Will I change my technique to blend in with the crowd or band together with others who crochet like me and start a crusade? I think I’ll just turn on the tv and work on my next project and crochet the way I know to be the right way.

How do you hold your crochet hook? Take the poll below letting us know.

[poll id=”2″]

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