How to crochet a Hairy Molly

I had a question posted on Flickr, about how I made the Hairy Molly’s, so here is a little tutorial. Ciderwithrosie, this ones for you!!

Notes:

It takes a long time to untwist the twine, so I’ve written the instructions for the smaller Hairy Molly. But the pictures I have used are for making the larger Hairy Molly. The reason I have done this is because I made the larger Hairy Molly slightly differently, and it worked out easier.

I hope this doesn’t confuse folk, if it does, sorry!! When I get the chance, I’ll make another small Hairy Molly and put up pictures. I have completely run out of plastic from making all the toxic coral for the Irish Crocheted Coral Reef, and need time to gather more!!

The technique of crocheting over several thicknesses of thread or cord is common in Irish Crochet. It is used to make a more robust, padded, almost 3 dimensional, motif. Here I simply used twine for my padding; you just crochet over it as normal.

Materials:

Plarn - Plastic bag yarn (How To make plarn tutorial YouTube)

8 lengths of plastic twine. Approx 12” long

Crochet hook (I think I used a 6.5mm)

Scissors

Method:

This is a very rough technique. Don’t worry about adding extra or accidently losing a stitch, keep it to roughly 18 sc in each row. You don’t notice the stitching when all the twine is fluffed out.

Ch 19,

Row 1: Sc into 2nd ch from hook, sc in each across. 1ch, turn.

Row 2: Place one length of twine along the previous row, hold it in place as you crochet over it. Sc across as normal. Leave approx 1” of the twine sticking out one end, and 6” the other. When you get to the end of the row, sc over the twine only, this will secure it in place. (The twine can also be adjusted at the end).

Row 3-9 Then 1ch, turn, skip 1st sc, sc across, adding in a piece of twine in each row.

Row 10: sc in each st across, without twine. Do not break the plarn.

Row 11: Fold the crochet in half so the bottom and top rows are together. Sc into both rows to join them. Fasten off.

To Finish

The side with the 6” of twine hanging free, will become the top of the Hairy Molly. Start, to unravel the twine. This is the slow part and will take time and patience... When I had run ravelled all the strands of twine, I snipped at the fluffy twine. This was just to make it uneven, and more natural looking, but is completely optional. Be careful you dont get carried away and end up with a crew cut..

Then simply turn up the bottom, roughly 1 ½ - 2 inches.

Pull and tweek it into a cylinder shape, or until it is standing freely. It is quite robust so don’t worry about damaging it.

You have now made a Hairy Molly!