You can find the Dutch version of this pattern here.
A pdf of this pattern can be found here.
Things you’ll need:
crochet case:
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Cotton yarn – I used 6 bright colors, and white;
Crochet hooks 3,5 mm (US: 4/E), and 3 mm (US: go down one size);
Darning needle, scissors, pins.
zippered lining:
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Fabric with fun print, matching the colors with which you’re going to crochet the case;
attention: in this tutorial this fabric will show on the inside of your case!
plain fabric for the outside of the case; I used a soft pink;
1 zipper, 20cm (7- 7/8 inch);
Sewing machine with zipper foot, pins, scissors and/or rotary mat&cutter.
cushion cover:
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3 balls Merino Extra Fine 120 (50 gr/120m) by Sachenmayr, color 00138);
crochet hook 5,5 mm (US: 9/I);
Matching fabric (e.g. left over fabric from the zippered lining).
“Bobble Granny Square” – the pattern (US terms used)
With crochet hook 3,5 mm:
round 1: using color 1 – crochet 6 chains, close to form a ring, by slip stitching in the 1 chain;
round 2: with same color you’ll crochet into the ring: 3 chains (=1e dc), 3 dc’s, 2 chains, * 4 dc’s, 2 chains **; repeat 2 more times from * to **; slip stitch into the 3rd/top chain of your 1st dc (= 3-chain stitch), fasten off. You should now have 4 clusters of 4 dc’s (and 2-chains in each corner);
round 3: new color: attach yarn in any corner (= 2 chain space), and crochet (in each corner): * 4 dc’s, 2 chains, 4 dc’s ** (your very first dc of the first group of 4 dc’s is – again – a 3-chain stitch); repeat from * to ** 3 times. Close this round by slip stitching into your 1st dc (the 3-chain stitch). Fasten off;
round 4: new color – attach yarn (in any stitch), and crochet 1 sc in each dc you crocheted in the previous round. In each corner, you’ll crochet: 1 sc, 2 chains, 1 sc. Go all around, and fasten off.
Each side has now 10 stitches (sc’s), and each corner has 2 chains.
round 5: new color – in any corner, you’ll crochet: 1 “start” bobble (see note 1), 4 chains, 1 (regular) bobble (see note 2). Next you’ll crochet 2 chains, skip 2 sc’s and crochet: * 1 bobble – 2 chains – skip one sc **; repeat from * to ** 3 times. The last 2 sc’s of each side are skipped as well; in the corner you’ll crochet again: 1 bobble, 4 chains, 1 bobble, 2 chains. All other three sides are crocheted like this – please pay attention to the fact that before and after each corner 2 stitches are being skipped!
Close this round with a slip stitch into the top of your first bobble, and fasten off.
Each side now has 6 bobbles; in each corner we see 4 chains.
note 1 = “start”/first bobble stitch: pull up a loop (make it a little bigger), yarn over, pull up a loop, hook into same space/stitch, pull op a loop. Repeat this until you’ll count 9 loops on your hook. Pull yarn through all 9 loops.
note 2 = “regular” bobble: since you’ll already have a loop (stitch) on your hook, you’ll now want to: yarn over, put your hook into the stitch where you’ll want to crochet your bobble stitch. Repeat until there’s 9 loops on your hook again (first stitch included), pull yarn through all 9 loops.
Join-as-you-go
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As soon as you’ve reached the 2nd corner of your 2nd square, you crochet: 1 bobble, 2 chains, slip stitch into the corner of the square you’ll want to attach to (put your hook into the 4-chain space, right in between the two corner bobbles, and make that slip stitch), chain 2, and the next corner-bobble. You’ll continue this round by following the instructions as given in round 5, but: instead of two chains in between each bobble, you’ll crochet: 1 bobble – 1 chain – slip stitch into 2-chain space of square you’re joining to. In the corners where you’ll want to attach to another square, you’ll crochet: 1 bobble – 2 chains – slip stitch into corner of square that you’re attaching to – 2 chains – 1 bobble.
As soon as you’ve crocheted 6 squares, you’ll join square number 6 in the last round to square number 1. Your work will be a circle now, but once you lay it flat (3 squares on each side), you can already see how the outer part of your hook case is going to look.
Finishing touch
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Pick up your 3 mm crochet hook/go down one hook size.
Using one of your colors, you’ll crochet a top and bottom part onto your granny square “circle” in dc’s. 1 dc in each bobble, in each 2-chain space: 2 dc’s, and in each connecting stitch that sits between two squares: 1 dc.
With a contrasting color, you’ll crochet a round of dc’s in the top part of your case. In each of the two corners, you’ll crochet 3 dc’s together (crochet 3 dc’s, but do not finish your stitches; as soon as you have 4 loops on your hook, you will pull your yarn through all 4 loops: 3 dc’s together made).
With the same yarn, close the bottom of your case. Sc only into the front loop and the back loop of the two rows of stitches. A nice little ridge will be formed that way.
Fasten off, sew your zippered lining, hand stitch your crochet part to the lining: time to admire and use your (crochet hook)pouch/bag/case!
Zippered lining:
From both the printed, as well as the plain fabric, you cut 2 pieces that measure 22 x 11 cm (US: size depending on the length of your zipper and/or crocheted case: make sure you’ll add a seam allowance; I added 1 cm on each side). You should end up with 4 pieces of fabric, that all have the same size (two plain ones, 2 printed ones).
Now put the fabric that you’ll want on the outside of your lining down (in this case the plain soft pink), right side up.
Put the zipper on top of that piece of fabric, face down, plus – important! – the zipper head on the left side of your project. Line up nicely with the fabric.
The fabric you’ll want to be on the inside of your pouch, goes on top of the zipper, face down.
You’ve created a “sandwich”: outside fabric – zipper – inside fabric; the fabrics’right sides are facing each other, zipper is in between, zipper head to the left.
Pin everything together, attach the zipper foot to your sewing machine.
Sew these three layers together. It’s a bit tricky to get past the zipper head, but you can start sewing beneath the zipper head. Once you’ve finished your seam, you can zip the head down, and sew the top part of the seam.
Push fabric aside, seam on the inside; next we’ll sew the other two pieces of fabric to the zipper.
Put the 2nd piece of plain fabric – right side up – down.
On top of that goes that side of the zipper that has no fabric attached yet, and again: zipper head down (not facing), the head to the RIGHT side this time around. The fabric with print goes on top of that, right side down.
All 4 sides – left and right – should be nicely lined.
Pin everything together, and sew this seam (again, using the zipper foot on your machine).
Fold fabrics to the sides, wrong sides facing, right side of zipper facing you.
Iron your fabric pieces (away from the zipper).
Using your regular sewing foot, you now top stitch two straight seems on either side of your zipper. This will prevent your fabric from getting caught up in your zipper when using it.
Tip: in order to sew a nice straight seem, you can do the following: with your needle into your fabric, move your foot up, and wiggle your zipper head backwards. Put your sewing foot down again, and finish your seem.
Important: at this point you need to make sure, your zipper is OPEN! Otherwise you will not be able to turn your pouch inside out!
You now put your 2 lining fabrics, and your 2 outside fabrics on top of each other, right sides facing (so, printed fabric on printed fabric/plain fabric on plain fabric). Pin everything together, leaving a 10 cm/3 inch opening on the long side of your lining/inside fabric – this too, is necessary in order to turn your fabric case inside out.
Fold your zipper double – it’s important that the zipper teeth are directed towards the lining/inside fabrics!!
Sew all around (except for the 10cm/3 inch opening).
For prettier corners, carefully cut away the 4 points.
Turn everything inside out, through the opening in your lining, as well as the through the partly open zipper, and be amazed: you’ve just made a beautiful zippered pouch!
Machine sew, or hand stitch the 10 cm/3 inch opening closed: ta-dah, finished!
Hand stitch your crocheted hook case to the zippered lining – all done!!
Crocheted Bobble Square Cushion:
If you’re as “Bobble Granny Square”-unstoppable as I was, you might want to crochet a cushion cover too using these fun squares ;)
It goes without saying, that you’ll follow the “Bobble Square”-pattern as given. However, when you’re crocheting the squares in one color, you’ll want to pay attention to the following:
round 3: you’ve just finished round 2 by slip stitching into the first dc of this round (= the 3rd/top chain of the 3-chains that count as the 1st dc of this round). Since you’re not fasting off, and thus not attaching a new color, you’ll need to slip stitch your way to the corner of your square, in order to start round 3.
When crocheting with one color, technically you only fasten off once. Nonetheless I found it more beautiful (but not necessary) to fasten off after round 4, and start round 5 as described in the pattern (in a corner of your square).
My cushion cover measures 40 x 40 cm (approx 16 x 16 inches), and I needed 16 squares. I joined-them-as-I-went: 4 x 4 squares.
One last little tip: your crochet will definitely benefit from blocking.
Using the same fabric as the lining in my crochet hook case, I machine sewed an envelope-style cushion cover (handy tutorial on the “Momtastic”-site, link here), and hand stitched my crochet part to that.
Enjoy: happy creating!
maRRose CCC 
