Crochet Saturday: Fried Egg Pin Cushion Bracelet with Bacon Strap

A couple of months back, I bought a cute pin cushion bracelet with a metal base.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t too long before I knocked it against a doorjamb, snapping off the top like a crisp orange carrot.  All attempts to glue Humpty Dumpty back together again ended in heartbreak, so I decided to make – and share – a pattern for a “wakey, wakey, eggs & bakey” pin cushion bracelet that absolutely, positively WILL NOT BREAK.  Or break your heart!

 

Yarn colors:

• Sunny yolk yellow
• White
• Red
• Optional but highly recommended: Pale red / pink (for bacon fat)

Additional materials:

• F hook
• Polyfil
• Tapestry needle
• Scissors
• A baby food jar lid, the lid from a jar of salsa, even a circle cut from chipboard – anything hard and circular that will fit inside the egg and form a barrier to protect your wrist from getting poked by a needle or pin (ouch!)
• Sewing needle
• White thread
• Red thread (or heck, black thread, which is what I used because I don’t have any red in the house)
• A snap to serve as the bracelet closure*

*You can also do a button closure, but I’ll leave it to you to work out the method

 

Fried egg

The egg portion of the bracelet is worked in the round without joining rows, amigurumi style.

In YELLOW: MR5 or sc 2, 5sc in 2nd st from hook

1.  2sc each (10)

2. (Sc next, 2sc next) x5 (15)

3. (Sc next 2, 2sc next) x5 (20)

4.  (Sc next 3, 2sc next) x5 (25)

5-6.  Sc around for 2 rows, changing color to WHITE on last st of Row 6 (25 for 2 rows)

7.  FLO: Sc around (25)

8.  (Sc next 4, 2sc next) x5 (30)

9. (Sc next 5, 2sc next) x5 (35)

10. (Sc next 6, 2sc next) x5 (40)

11. Sc next 6, HDC next 8, sc next 4, DC next 17, HDC next, sc next 3, sl st last (40)

12. BLO: Sc around (40)

** STOP: Stuff yolk.  Insert barrier, then continue with Row 13.**

13.  (Sc next 6, sc2tog) x5 (35)

14. (Sc next 5, sc2tog) x5 (30)

15.  (Sc next 4, sc2tog) x5 (25)

16. (Sc next 3, sc2tog) x5 (20)

17. (Sc next 2, sc2tog) x5 (15)

18. (Sc next, sc2tog) x5 (10)

19.  F/O, leaving tail

Weave tail through remaining 10 stitches, then pull tight.

 

Bacon strap

Join RED yarn to (any) open loop on Row 11 of Fried Egg (i.e. the edge of the egg).

 

Sc next 5 in red.

1.  Ch 1, sc next 5.

Repeat Row 1 at least 19 more times – or simply repeat Row 1, without counting rows, checking the strap against the width of your own wrist.  When you have achieved the proper size for your wrist, F/O and weave in ends.

Using your needle and thread, sew half of your snap to the underside of the egg, and the other half to the bacon strap.  Be sure you are sewing the snaps on in the correct positions so they will indeed fit together when you’re finished.

 

 

So far, so cute – but what really makes the bracelet is a bit of surface crocehting.

To do this:

• Start at the very end of the bacon strip.
• Hold your pale red / pink yarn underneath the strip.
• Insert your hook from above and pull the yarn up.
• Insert your hook in the next stitch, pull the yarn up through the strap, then pull it through the loop that’s on the hook, just like a slip stitch.
• Keep going – and feel free to make your line weave back and forth, just like real bacon fat.
• I recommend doing this three times, but it’s your bacon; you can do what you like!