Criss Cross Fair Isle Crochet Decoration Pattern

I love creating quick and easy crochet decor for Christmas and so am delighted to share my new collection of crochet bauble patterns with you!

This traditional bauble is a great way to build on your Fair Isle crochet skills. It might seem a little tricky but once you have the colour changes you’ll have it made and decorating your tree in no time at all.

Made in rounds using split crochet stitches, you can either pop a ready made bauble in it like I have or stuff it to create the shape. Perfect for using up you yarn stash and great fun too!

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More about the criss cross bauble pattern

I love to make decorations for the home, especially Christmas ones and so when I sat down to design the entire crochet bauble collection I played around with some traditional festive patterns as well as some fun and quirky ones.

There are lots of traditional Fair Isle patterns and motifs out there and this is my take on a few of them together – I couldn’t decide on just one to use!

The bauble has an easy repeat that continues all around using just 2 colours.

More about Fair Isle crochet baubles

I designed 7 Fair Isle crochet bauble patterns in all (along with 7 tapestry and 7 mosaic ones) and love all of them!

Fair Isle crochet is such a great technique that uses beginner stitches in a really fun and unique way to create a knit look fabric.

The only stitch you’ll need to know for the Fair Isle section of the baubles is a split single crochet stitch (ssc). It’s worked like a regular single crochet but ‘splits’ through the centre V of the stitch rather into the main body of the stitch as it’s usually done.

Here are the other baubles in the collection to show you how versatile the technique can be!

Bauble-ing Crochet Along 5th – 22nd December 2022

I am thrilled to be hosting a crochet along between the 5th and 22nd December 2022 where we can all get bauble-ing together and share in our joy of crochet in the lead up to the festive period.

It would be so wonderful to have you join!

There are 3 options for accessing the patterns depending on what you prefer –

Join for free

Each day I will be posting a pattern free to view on the blog like this one and you will have 24 hours to download the basic chart to work from alongside the written instructions on the blog. Just scroll down and sign in to the HanJan members area to see everything.

Make sure to sign up for reminders so you don’t miss any charts!

Purchase the Ebook

If you’d rather have everything all in one place then you can get the 66 page Ebook with extra step by step tutorials, technique classes and 3 bonus patterns! Get your copy here:

Purchase the Ebook and Course

The Ebook is great but what if I told you I’ve made ad-free video tutorials and created a course for you to work through at your own pace with lifetime access? Upgrade for all the crochet goodies here:

Yarn

To make my version of the cable crochet headband I used Color Theory yarn, 100% acrylic, 246yds/100g, Category #4 weight.

Each bauble uses approx 20g of yarn (50yds) if you’d like to raid your stash!

For the whole collection of baubles I used the following colours:

3 balls of Ivory

1 ball each of Nutmeg, Canyon, Raisin, Satellite, Dijon, Caper, Stonewash and Thunder

Here are some that I think would work really well for this pattern in various price ranges:

• Lion Brand Heartland:100% acrylic; 252yds, 230m/140g
• Sirdar Country Classic Worsted: 50% wool, 50% acrylic; 218yds, 200m/100g
• Swish Worsted by WeCrochet: 100% superwash merino wool, 110yds, 100m/50g

Tension and Sizing

My baubles cover an 8cm/3.15″ plastic bauble with slight negative ease.

Tension isn’t essential for this project so just make sure to match up the Base to your bauble so that you know it will fit before working the main body.

If you are going to stuff your baubles then you don’t need to worry about tension at all and they can be as big or small as you like 🙂

Materials

Along with your yarn, you will need the following:

• A 2.75mm(C) crochet hook- my favourites are Clover Soft Touch or Furls Odyssey (use HANJAN15 to save 15%)
• 8cm/3.15″ plastic baubles available here in a pack of 24: Fillable plastic baubles
• Alternatively, you could cover existing baubles that you have at home.
• You could also use Fibre Fill to stuff them or scraps of yarn ends! You just need to make sure to stuff them really full to get a good shape.
• Pair of sharp scissors
• Needle
• Ribbon for hanging

Video Tutorial

You can watch a video tutorial for the Fair Isle bauble technique here:

Pattern Options

View this crochet pattern free in this blog post in US terms – just scroll down to find it in the exclusive members area! You can also purchase an ad-free, printable Ebook and join my course with lots of added extras to help you along the way.

Don’t forget to join HanJan Crochet to receive regular discount codes (and more free patterns!) and Pin this free crochet bauble pattern to your crochet Pinterest board!

Glossary and Abbreviations

ch(s) – chain(s)

sp – space

ss – slip stitch

RS – right side

WS – wrong side

sk – skip

rep – repeat

yoh – yarn over hook

blo – back loop only

flo – front loop only

rem – remaining

tog – together

Crochet Stitches

The stitches used in the baubles are as follows:

sc – single crochet (UK dc – double crochet)

ssc – split single crochet (UK sdc – split double crochet)

exsc – extended single crochet (UK exdc – extended double crochet)

Special Stitches

The baubles use basic stitches but worked in perhaps a new way. It’s great fun and not much of a change to create something really different!

Split single crochet

Insert hook into the centre (between the ‘legs’) of stitch. Yarn over and pull through a loop. Yarn over and pull through both loops on the hook

Extended split single crochet

Insert hook into the centre (between the ‘legs’) of stitch. Yarn over and pull through a loop. Yarn over and pull through one loop on the hook. Yarn over and pull through both loops on the hook.

Extended split single crochet 2 together

Insert hook into the centre (between the ‘legs’) of stitch. Yarn over and pull through a loop. Yarn over and pull through one loop on the hook. Insert hook into the centre (between the ‘legs’) of next stitch. Yarn over and pull through a loop. Yarn over and pull through one loop on the hook. Yarn over and pull through all loops on the hook.

Pattern Notes

The Fair Isle baubles are worked in continuous rounds with increases until Round 7, a set amount of 42 sts until Round 22 and then decreases until Round 27 to complete.

Always change yarn on the the last ‘yarn over and pull through’ when you need to change colour.

All stitches are worked as split stitches in the Fair Isle baubles.

Carrying your colours across the back of the work is a great idea! These are known as ‘floats’. Make sure to catch your floats regularly in long sections that don’t use that colour to avoid them pulling too tight.

The pattern is written in standard US crochet terms.

Criss Cross Crochet Bauble Pattern

US Crochet Terminology

Using 2 colours of your choice: A, and B. I used A: Nutmeg, B: Ivory.

BASE

Work all stitches as split Exsc in this section using A.

Make a magic ring.

Round 1: 6 Exsc into the ring [6].

Round 2: 2 split Exsc into each stitch around [12].

Round 3: * split Exsc in next st, 2 split Exsc in next st; rep from * around [18].

Round 4: * split Exsc in next 2 sts, 2 split Exsc in next st; rep from * around [24].

Round 5: * split Exsc in next 3 sts, 2 split Exsc in next st; rep from * around [30].

Round 6: * split Exsc in next 4 sts, 2 split Exsc in next st; rep from * around [36].

FAIR ISLE SECTION

Work all stitches as split sc in this section working colour changes as follows.

If you enjoy working from chart or colour blocks then you can find them (and step by step instructions) in the Ebook:

Round 7: (B) ssc in next 5 sts, 2ssc in next st; rep from * around [42].

Round 8: *(B) x 2, (A) x 1, (B) x 3, (A) x 1; rep from * around

Round 9: (B) x 3, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, (B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, (B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, (B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, (B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, (B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, (B) x 1

Round 10: *(A) x 2, (B) x 2, (A) x 1, (B) x 2; rep from * around

Round 11: (B) x 3, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, *(B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1; rep from * around

Round 12: *(B) x 2, (A) x 1, (B) x 3, (A) x 1; rep from * around

Round 13: (B) x 42

Round 14: (B) x 4, (A) x 1, *(B) x 6, (A) x 1; rep from * to last 2 sts, (B) x 2

Round 15: (B) x 3, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, *(B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1; rep from * around

Round 16: (B) x 4, (A) x 1, *(B) x 6, (A) x 1; rep from * to last 2 sts, (B) x 2

Round 17: (B) x 42

Round 18: *(B) x 2, (A) x 1, (B) x 3, (A) x 1; rep from * around

Round 19: (B) x 3, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, *(B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1; rep from * around

Round 20: *(A) x 2, (B) x 2, (A) x 1, (B) x 2; rep from * around

Round 21: (B) x 3, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1, *(B) x 4, (A) x 1, (B) x 1, (A) x 1; rep from * around

Round 22: *(B) x 2, (A) x 1, (B) x 3, (A) x 1; rep from * around

TOP

Work all stitches as split Exsc in this section using A.

Before making the Top, weave in ends and insert the bauble into the cover. Work the remaining rounds with the bauble in place. If your bauble has a removable cap then taking it off at this point could be helpful.

Round 23: * split Exsc in next 5 sts, Exsc2tog over next 2 sts; rep from * around [36].

Round 24: * split Exsc in next 4 sts, split Exsc2tog over next 2 sts; rep from * around [30].

Round 25: * split Exsc in next 3 sts, split Exsc2tog over next 2 sts; rep from * around [24].

Round 26: * split Exsc in next 2 sts, split Exsc2tog over next 2 sts; rep from * around [18].

Round 27: * split Exsc in next st, split Exsc2tog over next 2 sts; rep from * around [12].

TO FINISH

Weave in ends and add a ribbon to hang if desired.

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