How To Make Bobbles More Bobble-y

The KAL for the Deep Sea Wanderer is moving along quite well, so I thought it would be a good time to explain how to make the bobbles that show up in the pattern look more bobble-y. First off, here is what the bobbles look like as knitted. (And unblocked) The bobbles can be seen, but they are nearly flush to the rest of the fabric.

The first way of fixing a bobble is the Yank Method. Slide your needle behind the whole bobble and give a good yank forward. It certainly helps, and it pretty quick to perform, but the bobbles can still slide back.

The problem is that when making the bobble, the stitch that was knitted just before making the bobble becomes loose. (The stitch is to the immediate right of the bobble.) You can see how loose this stitch is in the picture. As a result, the bobble can move to the back of the project rather than lay nicely on the top of the project. There is a solution, although it is a little tedious.

Note: For this project, bobbles are made in three rows. This will be referred to in the following method.

The second method is the Redistribution Method. Rather than just yank the bobble forward, the yarn in the loose stitch is redistributed into the bobble. First I give the bottom right stitch of the bobble a good yank. The goal is to have that loose stitch to the right of the bobble be the same size as the stitches surrounding it.

Next I pull the excess yarn all the way across the first row of the bobble. Once this is done, you'll have a large loop of yarn on the bottom left of the bobble. And where does all that excess yarn go? I like to distribute it all along the second row in the bobble. I slowly pull the yarn into each of the stitches of the second row of the bobble, which makes the stitches in the second row a bit bigger. If I'm having trouble getting the stitches in the second row to look nice, I might pull some of the excess yarn into the first stitch of the third row.

This takes some time since there are quite a few bobbles in this infinity scarf. But I really like the result. The bobble remains on the front side of the scarf and looks "bobble-y"

Here is a comparison of each technique:

1. The Redistribution Method

2. The Yank Method

3. Left As Knitted

I hope that helps you guys on your bobble adventures. If anyone has another method that you find helpful, feel free to share it in the comments.