The importance of yarn weight is no light matter in knitting and crochet! The weight of the yarn, referring to the yarn thickness really, is critical to many elements of your knit or crochet project.

Thinner (lighter) weight yarn is ideal for delicate, lacy or intricate detail and will require smaller hook and needle sizes. However the cost to work thin and light for detail is time to complete. All things being equal, say the project is a baby blanket, lighter weight (thinner) yarn will require more time to finish than a heavier weight (thicker) yarn, which will work up quicker using larger hook and needle sizes.

All good patterns will have a specific yarn weight called out and a “gauge” specified for that weight (stitches per inch) you should be producing to achieve the size, look and feel of the project design. If you choose not to follow the yarn weight advice, or to ignore gauge requirements, your project will be a different size than designed. Not only that but it may look completely different from photos the design promises. For example, imagine a light and intricate baby afghan with a lacy border designed for a DK (#3) weight yarn, and you use a Super Chunky (#6) yarn instead. The blanket will turn out much larger and all the delicate detail will be lost, essentially a different blanket.

Let’s talk about the yarn weight names and classifications. The United States and the United Kingdom have different names for the same weights and you will see both as we import / export yarn between our two regions (not to mention the accessibility due to the Internet). Cali Chic Baby has a handy “yarn weight conversion guide” to help you compare the weight names against the classification #s to know what you are buying. The different names are not difficult, but remembering them (or having a handy guide) will make yarn shopping and substitution more delightful and low stress!

Stitch markers are a handy and even essential tool for marking where you are, where you want to get to, or where you want to remember in both crochet and knitting. They are small rings, plastic, metal or otherwise, that you insert in stitches you want to mark by location.

When and why to use stitch markers:

• At the beginning of a round or row to mark pickup points, for counting rows, to note color change locations and many other reasons.
  
• To mark pattern repeats, particularly in lacy edging (mark those corners!). Cali Chic Baby crochet patterns will usually have a chain in each corner of the starting round with each successive round corner building off this first corner chain. If you can’t see it your edging can get off track.
  
• To mark where you will increase or decrease to aid in counting.
  
• To note where to begin special stitches
• To mark a reference point where you will count to or measure from, for example.
  

Stitch markers are invaluable and worth remembering to use liberally throughout your projects to make all counting or reference point locating easier and stress free. Let’s face it, those stitches get harder to see each year, so let stitch markers rescue your eyes, your brain (with math) and your overall project success!

There certainly is a lot confusion online and in print regarding a Puff stitch vs Bobble stitch, and for good reason.  They are “mechanically” performed the same way and often erroneously defined exactly the same. Plus each designer has the freedom to describe how they choose to use the term within their patterns.  However, there are in fact some guidelines to type of stitch employed for each to look like a puff or bobble, as well some common convention in identifying a puff vs bobble stitch.

Let’s compare their similarities and differences

* A Puff Stitch (puff) is distinguished as stitches joined at a single base (location / stitch) and also joined at the top of the stitches.  The stitch employed is almost exclusively the Half Double Crochet (hdc) stitch to give it the slightly “puffy” look.

* A Bobble Stitch (bo) is distinguished as stitches joined at a single base (location / stitch) and also joined at the top of the stitches [the same as the Puff stitch] but employing only the long stitches, such as Double Crochet (dc) and Triple Crochet (tr).

Therefore, with Cali Chic Baby patterns, I denote a puff stitch as 2 hdc stitches or more and a bobble stitch as 2 or more dc or tr stitches. For both, 3 to 6 stitches are most common.  I include a 2 stitch bobble in my Honey Bunny Pattern #82, even though 2 dc don’t create a significant “bobble,” because it still adds interest to the design.

Tutorials

I show both the 2 and 3 stitch tutorials, as they appear in the pattern, below for comparison:

How to make a 2-dc Bobble stitch
Follow the steps below by making 2 “half finished” dc, resulting in 2 + 1 loops on hook.
Yarn over and pull through all 3 loops.

How to make a 3-dc Bobble stitch
Make 3 “half finished” dc, resulting in 3 + 1 loops on hook. YO, pull through all 4 loops.

Now let’s look a more developed 5-dc bobble tutorial taken from my Sugar Baby Pattern #12.  The bobble stitch is a great way to add eye popping “dots” or bumps to your crochet work.

How to make a 5-dc Bobble stitch
Follow the steps below by making 5 “half finished” dc, resulting in 5 +1 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through all 6 loops.

Bonus Information:  Popcorn & Cluster Stitch

The following two stitches often get lumped in to the puff stitch vs bobble stitch confusion so I include them here:

* A Popcorn Stitch (pc) is distinguished as stitches joined at a single base (location / stitch) and also joined at the top of the stitches (again like the puff and bobble) — however this stitch is completed by joining together the top of the first stitch with the top of the last stitch.  The stitches employed are the long stitches, such as dc and tr.

* A Cluster Stitch (CL) is defined as all stitches having a different base (spanning multiple stitches) but are all joined at the top of the stitches. This is also known as a “decreasing stitch” and can employ any stitch (sc, hdc, dc, tr, etc.).

For more on this topic, and a definitive source for all things crochet, visit the American Crochet Association.