How sweet and bobbly can a baby lovey be? I guess not more than this Tunisian Crochet Beehive Lovey!
For this Tunisian crochet lovey, I chose to use the Tunisian bobble stitch.
The Tunisian bobble stitch is comparable to a regular crochet bobble, but it is in my opinion way softer than regular crochet bobbles. As a result, the texture is so soft and squishy like a cloud!
The Amigurumi Bee has already discovered how comfy this beehive is and she’s totally enjoying flying around it!
Find more bee-inspired projects for your baby!
Add this pattern to your Ravelry queue HERE and favorite it (– thank you!). Or save it for later by pinning it to your favorite crochet board on Pinterest using this pin!
Materials
- 7-mm (2 UK) Tunisian Crochet Hook with a wire of 105 cm (41“)
- 6.0-mm (4 UK, J/10 USA) Crochet Hook (for the border)
- DK (3, Light) Yarn. I used Gründl Lisa Premium Uni, color 10 (yellow)
- Tapestry Needle
Yardage
The project requires only approximately one skein (50 g), but depending on your crochet tension, it can require a bit more.
Crochet Abbreviations (US Terms)
Ch – Chain
Return – Standard Tunisian Return
Sc – Single Crochet
Sk – Skip
Sl St – Slip Stitch
St – Stitch
Tbo – Tunisian Bobble Stitch
Tss – Tunisian Simple Stitch
Yo – Yarn Over
Special Stitches
Tunisian Bobble Stitch (Tbo)
You can find a step-by-step tutorial on how to crochet the Tbo in this blog post.
Tunisian Simple Stitch (Tss)
See how to crochet the Tunisian simple stitch in this free tutorial.
Standard Tunisian Return (Return)
Yo, pull through the first loop on your hook, *yo, pull through two loops*. Repeat in from * for all the loops on your hook. At the end of the return row, you will only have one loop on your hook.
Pattern Notes
- Always skip the very first st.
- The total stitch count is indicated within brackets at the end of each row.
- The total stitch count includes the first loop on your hook.
Size
Approximately 11.5″ (29 cm).
Gauge
15 sts for 12 rows in 4″ (10 cm).
BEEHIVE Baby LOVEY – Free Tunisian Crochet Pattern
With the 7.00-mm Tunisian crochet hook, start a Tunisian foundation row with 38 sts.
Row 1. Tss in each st. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 2. Tss 1, (tbo 1, tss 1) twice, tss 2, (tbo 1, tss 1) three times, tss 2, (tbo 1, tss 1) four times, tss 2, (tbo 1, tss 1) three times, tbo 1, tss 1, tbo 1, tss 1 in the last st. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 3. Tss in each st. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 4. (Tbo 1, tss 1) twice, tss 2, (tbo 1, tss 1) four times, tss 2, (tbo 1, tss 1) three times, (tbo 1, tss 1) four times, tss 2, tbo 1, tss 1, tss 1. (38 sts).
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 5. Tss in each st. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 6. Tss 6, (tbo 1, tss 1) four times (these bobbles are worked in the vertical bars of the bobbles from row 4), tss 10, (tbo 1, tss 1) four times, tss 4, tss 1. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 7. (Tbo 1, tss 1) twice, tss 12, (tbo 1, tss 1) three times, tss 12, tbo 1, tss 1, tss 1 in the last st. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 8. Tss 7, (tbo 1, tss 1) three times, tss 12, (tbo 1, tss 1) three times, tss 5, tss 1. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 9. Tss 1, (tbo 1, tss 1) twice, tss 10, (tbo 1, tss 1) four times, tss 10, tbo 1, tss 1, tbo 1, tss 1 in the last st. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 10. Tss in each st. (38 sts)
Return. Standard Tunisian return.
Row 11-28. Repeat rows 2-10 two more times.
Row 29-31. Repeat rows 2-4 once more.
Close your work by sl st in the front bars of each st.
Border
With the 6-mm crochet hook, make a simple sc border all around. At the corners, ch 2 at each corner.
Fasten off and weave in all your ends.
Your Tunisian Crochet Beehive Lovey is ready and squishy!
Crochet a cute Amigurumi Bee to add to your baby lovey!
Get more cute baby patterns here on the blog…
Hey! Could you mention the stitch count for the lovely…as I need to make a bigger one. Thx
Hi, if you want to make a bigger project you can simply add multiples of 9.
I am also working on making a chart of the pattern, which would be easier to customize. However, for now, I still don’t have it ready. Please, let me know if you manage to enlarge the lovey with the multiples of 9 rule!
Looking forward to seeing your big lovey 🙂
you have a start of 38 sts that is not a multiples of 9 just a little confused
Hi Debbie,
you’re right. So, I explained it wrong…
What I meant is that you need to add or subtract a multiple of 9 because one hexagon takes 9 sts: it is (1 tss, 1 tbo) 4 times and one more tss.
In the lovey I made, I had (9*3) = 27 sts for the central hexagons, 6 sts at the beginning, and 5 sts at the end, for a total of 38.
I hope it makes a little more sense like this. I’ll try to update the post soon and maybe venture into drawing a chart (?!)…let’s see. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail if this is not clear.
Best,
Raffaella
On row 7 after the tss (tbo, tss) four times ( these bobbles are worked in the vertical bars of the bobbles from row 5 ) could you explain where that stitch is?
Hi Margina, so, when you are at row 5, if you look at your bobbles after the return pass, you’ll see that there is a vertical bar that is just on top of the bobble. That vertical bar is where you work your Tss in the next row and it is also where you want to work your bobbles of row 7.
Please, let me know if this helped. In case it is not clear, give me a couple of days and I’ll make a picture of what I mean. 🙂
Hi, this is a lovely pattern. I have never tried Tunisian crochet before. Is there a video to show how to make it?
Thanks
Pauline
Hi Pauline,
Unfortunately, I don’t have any videos for the bee+lovey. I am just not starting to make more videos for my patterns but I am not sure when I’ll be able to make one for this one.
However, if you want to get started, I recommend CrochetKim. She’s got lots of clear videos for tunisian crochet beginners, both right and left-handed. Here’s the link to her YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTFlxyBi1PWmlK5fjsdTYgg
For the bobble st, you can check out this photo tutorial https://raffamusadesigns.com/how-to-crochet-the-tunisian-bobble-stitch/
I am sure that once you know the basic of Tunisian crochet, you’ll also be able to learn from photos.
I hope this helps a little bit 🙂
Best,
Raffaella