Crochet Candy Ornaments

This year the Purl Bee is celebrating Christmas with the sweetest inspiration we know: candy! From rolling ribbon candy to twisty taffy, this whole week will bring ornaments and projects all inspired by the confections of the season. Yum!

Kicking off the week, our Crochet Candy Ornaments evoke the spirit of classic lollipops and peppermint swirls. To make them, I crocheted simple circles with Purl Soho’s soft and gentle Line Weight and then used Koigu Premium Merino Needlepoint Yarn to embroider colorful rings. I also backed each ornament with a circle of ecru-colored Wool Felt to give it structure and year-after-year permanence.

I love the idea of these ornaments decorating a tree or a branch but can also imagine them strung on a garland or dangling from a wrapped gift. They seem to radiate a small burst of joy and goodness, which makes them perfect for the season!

And here’s a sneak peak at some of what the upcoming week on the Bee will bring: a confectionery of ornaments! Stay tuned for all the who’s-whose, how-to’s and what’s-whats!

If you love the yarn used in this project, you’ll love all of our other yarn, too! Explore our 35+ lovingly created yarn collections, in nearly every natural fiber and spectacular color you can imagine… Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn shop!

Have a very sweet and merry Christmas! -Whitney

Materials

• Main Yarn: 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Line Weight, 100% merino wool yarn. Each skein of this fingering-weight yarn is approximately 494 yards/ 100 grams. We used the color Heirloom White.
• Contrast Yarns: 5 skeins of Koigu Premium Merino Needlepoint Yarn, 100% merino wool, colors (shown from the left) 1145, 2229, 2332, 2334, and 2355.
•  An 18 x 18-inch piece of Wollfilz’s 1 mm Wool Felt, color Ecru.
• A size B (2.5 mm) crochet hook
• An erasable fabric marker, like Clover’s Chaco Pen with Eraser
• An embroidery needle, like Clover’s Gold Eye Embroidery Needles (No. 3-8)
• A tapestry needle
• A hole puncher

This is enough yarn and felt for at least two dozen ornaments!

Shop our wonderful collection of fingering-weight yarn to find a suitable substitute for this project, and remember that it’s always a good idea to check your gauge before you cast on… Our All About Gauge Tutorial shows you how!

Size

Finished Diameter: 2 3/4 inches

Pattern

Crochet Circle

Round 1: With the Main Yarn, chain (ch) 3 into an adjustable loop, make 15 double crochet (dc) into the loop, join to third stitch of beginning chain with a slip stitch. (16 stitches)

Round 2: Ch 3, [2 dc into next stitch] 15 times to beginning chain, 1 dc into base of chain…

…join to third stitch of chain with a slip stitch. (32 stitches)

Round 3: Ch 3, *2 dc into next stitch, 1 dc into next stitch, repeat from * to last stitch, 2 dc into last stitch, slip stitch into third chain. (48 stitches)

Round 4: Ch 3, 1 dc into next stitch, *2 dc into next stitch, 1 dc into next 2 stitches, repeat from * to last stitch, 2 dc into last stitch, slip stitch into third chain. (64 stitches)

Make Hanging Loop

Ch 30, and keeping chain untwisted, slip stitch into base of chain.

Cut a 24-inch tail and pull it through the remaining stitch.

Insert hook into the base of the chain from the back side of the crocheted circle to front…

…and pull the tail through to the back.

Block the circle flat and weave in the center tail.

Embroider

To decorate your ornament, use the Contrast Yarns to backstitch three concentric circles. Here’s how…

Thread a length of Contrast Yarn onto a tapestry needle. (For the inner circle of embroidery cut a 13-inch length; for the middle circle, a 20-inch length; and for the outer circle, a 27-inch length.)

You will stitch into the holes at the top of each double crochet, indicated below by the pink arrows…

Start by inserting the needle from back to front through any hole in the circle. Leave a 1 1/2-inch tail that you will sew over as you work.

*Through the hole to the left of the last exit point, push the needle to the back, bringing it through to the front, one hole to the right of the last exit point.

Repeat from * all the way around the circle. Weave in the end.

Do the same for all three circles: inner, middle and outer.

Make and Attach Felt Back

Find a circular vessel whose diameter measures 1/4 inch smaller than the diameter of your crocheted circle. Use the fabric marker to trace the vessel on the Wool Felt. Cut out the traced circle, and if you’re using a fabric marker with an eraser, erase the remaining marks from the felt.

Place the felt circle on the back of the crocheted circle. Thread the Main Yarn tail (coming from the base of the hanging loop) onto an embroidery needle and use a whipstitch to sew the two circles together. Here’s how…

Bring the needle through the felt circle 1/8 inch from the edge, from front to back, and then through every other second-most-outer stitch bump of the crocheted circle. The photo below illustrates these steps: first the needle goes through 1a and 1b, then through 2a and 2b, and so on.

And here is the needle in action:

Make about 6-10 whipstitches and then flip the two circles over. Make sure their edges are aligned. Use the fabric marker to mark the center of the crocheted circle onto the felt circle.

Use the hole puncher to cut a hole through the felt at the place marked.

And now continue to whipstitch all the way around the two circles, finishing where you started.

Push the needle between the two layers, exiting out the center hole.

Tack the edges of the punched hole to the crocheted circle at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock.

Tie a knot in the yarn 1/2 inch from its exit point and bring the needle under a few stitches around the center hole of the crocheted circle and then between the felt and crocheted circles, exiting out the felt circle. Cut the yarn close to the felt so that the end disappears between the layers.

All done! Now make a bunch more!

Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our crochet patterns and crochet tutorials, buy one of our many kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next crochet or knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!