Crochet your own decorated eggs. Use a basic egg
and change colors as you wish for nicely decorated eggs.
If you use waistcoat stitches for your egg you get different options. Like small, heart-shaped dots ♥
Unfortunately, you can’t directly translate a single crochet egg pattern into waistcoat stitches as a waistcoat stitch is shorter than a single crochet stitch.
I couldn’t find any egg patterns made of waistcoat stitches out there, so I tried and tried. It wasn’t as easy as I thought. The perfect oval egg shape with a slightly heavier bottom is tricky to make. Finally, I think I figured it out.
I hope this waistcoat stitch egg pattern works well for you too.
Update: Waistcoat Stitch Warning*
If you aren’t used to waistcoat stitches, they can be different to work with. How to make it sounds simple: Basically, you make a single crochet stitch, where you insert the hook between the legs of the single crochet stitches from the previous round.
However, it’s easy to tighten the work too much. Then, when you do the following round, you can’t insert the hook at the proper location. The previous stitch got too tight.
General pieces of advice from me are:
- go up in hook size. At least for practice and definitely if you are making garments.
- if possible, find a hook where the head is smaller than the neck. The neck should always determine the size of a stitch.
- consider using the hook lip instead of the tip. With some hooks, this is easier.
- crochet looser than you would normally do.
For an amigurumi project like this, the advice is also to crochet a little loose - which is not how you would normally do amigurumi. Once you got it, you’ll be able to use a smaller hook like a 2.5mm and make stitches that almost look like 3mm stitches.
You can read more about the waistcoat stitch here.
*Thank you to Annemarie for reminding me this stitch require a warning :)
About the Egg
Size and Yarn
The egg will be around 6cm (1.5”) tall if you use a hook size 2.5-3 mm (US B1-C2, UK 13-11) and regular cotton yarn for amigurumi with yardage 170m/50gr (186yds/1.76oz).
This is a small size egg as they are cutest and it doesn't weigh much if you want to use it for an Easter tree.
Decorating the Egg
When you work on an egg and ‘decorate’ it, it’s nice to know which rounds are visually shaping parts of the egg once it is done:
- Rounds 0-4 will form the rounded part of the bottom.
- Rounds 5-10 are the middle of the egg and are perfect for having fun with your own pattern.
- From round 11 (10) the top shape of the egg will begin to show once the egg is done.
The red pattern on the pink egg is made like this:
- Round 5, red
- Round 6, pink,
- Round 7, red heart dots, *1ws, 1 dot, 1ws* all around.
- Round 8, pink
- Round 9, red
Make graph charts of your own. You have 24 stitches times 6 rounds to work with at the middle of the egg.
Heart-Shaped Dots ♥
With the base color pink on the hook, insert the hook into the next st and yarn-over using the red contrast color. Switch back to the pink color and finalize the stitch using the pink.
Egg Pattern
Abbreviations (US terms) and Guidance
sc = single crochet
ws = waistcoat stitch. Read about it here.
ws = waistcoat stitch. Read about it here.
ws-inc = increase. Make 2 ws in the same stitch.
ws-dec = decrease. Similar to the traditional sc-decrease. See more below.
2 ws = work 1 ws in each of the next 2 stitches.
st = stitch
** = Repeat instructions throughout the round
Pattern Tips
- Use a string to mark the beginning of each round.
- Insert stitch markers between the legs of the foundation stitches while making them. It makes it a lot easier to find the right location to insert the hook into in round 1.
- REMEMBER the crochet gauge while doing decreases, but also while working the following round!
- If you need help with color changes, look further down on this page.
Waistcoat Decrease
Insert the hook between the legs of the next stitch. Yarn-over and pull up a loop. Insert the hook into the next stitch and pull up another loop. Yarn-over and pull through all loops on the hook.
During the next round, insert the hook between the legs of the topmost part of the decrease.
Rounds
Work in a spiral. Don’t join at the end of each round, just continue immediately on the next round. If you make stripes they will jump a little at the back of the egg. I just hang up the egg so the back side doesn’t show too much.
Fill the egg from round 14 or so.
| Rnd 0 | Foundation: 6 loose sc in a MR. | [6] |
| Rnd 1 | ws-inc in every sc | [12] |
| Rnd 2 | *1 ws, ws-inc* | [18] |
| Rnd 3 | *ws-inc, 2 ws* | [24] |
| Rnd 4-11 | 1 ws in each st | [24] |
| Rnd 12 | *1 ws, ws-tog, 9 ws* | [22] |
| Rnd 13 | *4 ws, ws-tog, 5 ws* | [20] |
| Rnd 14 | *7 ws, ws-tog, 1 ws* | [18] |
| Rnd 15 | *2 ws, ws-tog, 2 ws* | [15] |
| Rnd 16 | *3 ws, ws-tog* | [12] |
| Rnd 17 | *ws-tog, 2 ws* | [9] |
| Rnd 18 | *1 ws, ws-tog* | [6] |
Fasten Off
Cut a long yarn end and pull the strand through the last loop. Pull tight.
Attach a needle and insert the needle under the loops of every second stitch, all the way around. Now, insert the needle, so the yarn comes out in the middle of the top.
Use the long yarn end for hanging up the egg.
Color Changes Tip
For the neatest color transitions, I like to work the last part of the stitch right before the color change with the new color. I pick up the new color at the last yarn-over. Then the new color is ready on the hook when it is time for the color change.
When making the little heart-shaped dots, ignore this and do as described for the dots.
Enjoy your new Easter Egg :)
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