Everyone needs a Snugglepod

May I present the newest member to my crocheting world – the snugglepod. A little snuggly nest for all our little ones precious toys. Mr and Mrs Mouse are here demonstrating the loveliness of their new home in a rather nice purple snugglepod. Bless them. These two little mice have been well and truly loved by my daughter over the past four years. As you might have guessed, they represent my husband and I in our household. They have recently taken up lodgings in one of my snugglepods and they seem quite happy in there. (To be honest, I would quite like to be snuggled up in there – especially on a chilly night like tonight!) Snugglepods are the way forward – spread the word!!

I reckon if you made adult ones of these, they would sell like hot cakes!! Now that it’s getting that little bit cooler in the day, I have put on the snugglepod, as I call it, onto the pram for my son. Basically it’s a sleeping bag to keep him all cosy and warm. I stupidly tried to add this to the pram, minutes before I was suppose to leave for the school run, which didn’t end well!! I was feeling all confident and like yeah, I know what I’m doing, this is easy – it’s just 3 straps!!! Yeah right! Needless to say I ended up running to get my daughter and the snugglepod was definitely not fitted properly. Oh well. He was warm and he didn’t fall out, which was the main thing.

The amount of comments you get about it are quite interesting. “Ooo, doesn’t he look toasty in there. I wish I could be in there and be pushed around.” I swear if you made some adult sized ones and marketed them for watching TV in or sitting as a passenger in a car, they’d be very popular. I wonder if you could make ones with arms in so that you could still drink your hot coffee, or wine if you prefer, and another arm for the remote. Wouldn’t that be good. Hang on – you could lie in one and crochet!! Now there’s a thought!

So snugglepods for toys was a definite must in my book. How many of us remember tucking up our little precious toys with mini blankets? For some reason in our house, it was hankerchiefs! I don’t know why, but we had a lot of pretty little hankerchiefs! I wonder if my daughter would even know what a hankerchief was?!? I think they were from my grandparents – will have to ask Mum. So it got me thinking about creating snugglepods.

The one thing I’ve noticed about my daughter is how she loves to put her little teddies & toys to sleep. It’s really quite cute. The toy of the moment gets tucked up in little blankets at night time to ensure they are all warm and cosy. When I was a girl, I was a major lover of Sylvanian families. So at night all the little creatures would find their way into their beds. I would have loved having these little crocheted nests for all my toys. They would have been all snuggled up each night. So there you have it. The snugglepod was born. My daughter has already ordered at least 10! I reckon she would have one for every little toy or teddy in her room. Her lovely Nanabella turned up today with a little collectible pegasus toy which she fell in love with. To her delight it glows in the dark. So quick as a flash she was on the floor under her school coat to see if it would work. Bless! But as a result of her new little toy, a brio girl was outted and her new little pegasus found it’s way into her snugglepod.

To my husband’s delight, our son is already showing signs of loving cars. He seems to like pushing them around the house and then giving them a quick chew. So I gave him one of the bigger snugglepods and one of his cars to see what he did with them! And bless his cotton socks, he put his little car in the snugglepod like it was a garage!! So cute! I can see me making these for him too and maybe attaching them altogether to make a car garage. That’s what’s so great about them, they are so versatile. I think I had better make him some in boy colours though!!

This one is the extra large, so my son managed to fit two in here. The little yellow one is his favourite.

One thing I’ve realised is that these little snugglepods are a lovely addition to a present for somebody. It’s extremely easy and quick to make up and you only have two ends to weave in at the end!! Bonus!! Now you can make these in any size you like. I’ve made a list of how to make them, ranging from large to tiny. It’s all about what size yarn you use or about how many strands of a certain yarn.

Stitches

Magic Ring (mr) – For a magic ring, make a loop with the yarn, leaving a tail. (Make sure the tail is under the working yarn.) Now insert your hook into the loop, from the front to the back. Wrap the working yarn around your hook and pull the yarn through and pull tight to create a ring.

Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually into the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Half treble (htr) – A half treble crochet is basically one less movement than a treble. So yarn over hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through all 3 loops.

Increase with htr – to increase with a half treble crochet you just work 2 htr into the same stitch.

Decrease with htr (2htrtog) – ok so basically you need to crochet 2 stitches together, but still keep the height of a htr. So yarn over your hook and insert into stitch. Then yarn over hook and pull back through. This leaves you with 3 loops on your hook. Now yarn over your hook and pull through 2 loops. This will leave you with 2 loops on your hook. Now yarn over hook and insert into the next stitch. Then yarn over your hook again and pull yarn back through. This leaves you with 4 loops on your hook. Then to finish, yarn over your hook and pull through all 4 loops.

Using multiply strands of yarn – when I use more than one ball of yarn together I literally just grab the two or three ends of each ball and place them together in between my fingers. Then start crocheting as if they are one. The photo below is showing you 2 strands of dk cotton yarn worked into a magic ring.

It’s pretty simple. (I remember seeing my Gran do this, when she was knitting her slipper socks.) Just make sure each ball is free of the other as you are crocheting, as otherwise you might get in a bit of a tangle. I tend to let both of them sit on the floor. This photo below shows you the second round, 12 stitches, of 2 strands of yarn crocheted together.

Level – Easy

Supplies

You can use any kind of yarn to make your snugglepods. A nice soft merino wool would be lovely, but then a simple cotton yarn would do the trick too. You don’t need much yarn for a snugglepod, so these are great to use up any of those little balls of wool left over from a project. (If you are like me, your stash of these seems to be getting bigger!) You also need scissors, blunt ended tapestry needle and a small piece of different coloured yarn for a stitch marker.

So for your hooks it depends on which size of snugglepod you want to create.

Extra Large – Chunky wool or 3 balls of dk strands and a 9mm hook. 

Large –  2 balls of dk strands and a 6mm hook.

Medium – 1 ball of Aran and a 5 mm hook.

Small – 1 ball of dk and a 4mm hook.

Extra Small – 1 ball of dk and a 3mm hook. (Basically using a smaller hook, which creates a tighter stitch, leaving you with a smaller snugglepod.)

Tiny – 1 ball of 4ply and a 3mm hook. (This one is great for Lego and brio people.)

So here goes…

1 – Make a magic ring & chain 2. This will give you the height of a htr. Don’t forget to check the tutorials or the stitch explanation above if you are unsure of how to create a magic ring. Now 6 htr into the ring. If you are unsure of how to crochet a htr, you can also see the stitch explanation above. (6)

2 – Now work 2htr into each stitch. This means you are starting to increase your stitches. (12)

3 – Ok so now you need to crochet *1 htr, then 2 htr into the next stitch*. Repeat ** all the way around. Don’t forget to use a stitch marker as these are crucial when crocheting in the round. The stitch marker in this photo is the yellow yarn. If you are unsure of how to use them, find the tutorial to the side of the blog. (18)

4 – Now you need to crochet *2 htr, then 2 htr into the next stitch*. Repeat ** all the way around. Always remember to move your stitch marker as you go, folding it over each round, so you know where your round begins and ends. (24)

5 – Ok so in this round you need to crochet *3 htr, then 2 htr into the next stitch*. Repeat ** all the way around. (30)

6 – Then crochet *4 htr, then 2 htr into the next stitch*. Repeat ** all the way around. So you have now increased to 36 stitches in your round. (36)

7 – In this round work 1htr in each stitch. (36)

8 – Next crochet 2htr into the next 8 stitches. Then 1htr into the rest of the stitches in this round. This is where you are starting to create your snugglepod base. (44)

9 – In this round work 1htr into each stitch all the way around. (44)

10 – Now that you have created the base of the snugglepod, you need to create the top. So now 2htrtog. So to do this yarn over your hook and insert into the stitch. Then yarn over hook and pull back through. This leaves you with 3 loops on your hook. See photo below. Now yarn over your hook and pull through 2 loops.

This will leave you with 2 loops on your hook. Now yarn over hook and insert your hook into the next stitch. Then yarn over your hook again and pull yarn back through. This leaves you with 4 loops on your hook. Then to finish, yarn over your hook and pull through all 4 loops.

Now finish the round off. So work 11htr, 2htrtog, Ss into the next 2 stitches, then turn. This gives you 15 stitches in total. The reason you need to turn your work is because you are now only crocheting the top part of the snugglepod. So you will be working back and forth in rows.

11 – With the next few rounds always start in the second slip stitch from the hook. So htr in second stitch from hook, then 2htrtog twice, 5htr, 2htrtog twice. Now Ss into each of the next 2 stitches and turn. (12)

12 – Once again work  1htr into the second slip stitch from the hook, then 10htr. Now as before slip stitch into the next two stitches and turn. (13)

13 – Starting again in the second slip stitch, 2htrtog twice, 4htr, 2htrtog twice, Ss in the next 2 stitches and turn. (10)

14 – Now work a htr into the second chain from hook. Then 2htrtog, 3htr, 2htrtog, 1htr, ss in the next 2 stitches. (9)

15 – For the last row work 1htr in second stitch from hook then 7htr, ss in the next 2stitches. Now fasten off.

And there you have it. All that is left is to sew in those 2 ends.

For an extra bit of specialness, especially if your snugglepod is for a little girl, you might want to add a flower or two. So to make a large flower you need to first chain 6 and slip stitch into the first chain to make a ring. Then work 15 dc into the middle of the ring then fasten off the first colour. Rejoin your second colour into one of the dc and *chain 3. Now work 1tr into next 2 stitches then chain 3 and slip stitch into the next stitch.*  Now repeat ** 4 more times. This will give you 5 flower petals. At the end slip stitch into the original chain 3 stitch and fasten off and weave in ends.

For a smaller flower chain 4 and slip stitch into the first chain to make a ring. Then work 12 dc into the middle of the ring then fasten off the first colour. Rejoin your second colour into one of the dc and *chain 3. Now work 1tr into next 2 stitches then chain 3 and slip stitch into the nextstitch.* Now repeat ** 3 more times. This will give you 4 flower petals. At the end slip stitch into the original chain 3 stitch and fasten off and weave in ends, but leave a tail to attach the flower to your snugglepod.

To attach your flowers, use the tail you have left with a blunt ended needle and sew on to the snugglepod.

Here is the pattern for the Snugglepod in its simpliest form for all you crazy crochet lovers, who know what they are doing.

1 – Magic ring & chain 2. This will give you the height of a htr. Now 5 htr into the ring. (6)

2 – 2htr into each stitch. (12)

3 – 1 htr, 2 htr into the next stitch all the way around. (18)

4 – 2 htr, 2 htr into the next stitch all the way around. (24)

5 – 3 htr, 2 htr into the next stitch all the way around. (30)

6 – 4 htr, 2 htr into the next stitch all the way around. (36)

7 – 1htr into each stitch. (36)

8 – 2htr into the next 8 stitches. Then 1dc into the rest of the stitches. (44)

9 – 1htr into each stitch. (44)

10 – Now that you have created the base of the snugglepod, you need to create the top. So now 2htrtog, 5htr, 2htrtog, 5htr, 2htrtog, Ss twice then turn. (15)

11 – With the next few rounds always start in the second slip stitch from the hook. So htr in second stitch from hook, then 2htrtog twice, 5htr, 2htrtog twice, Ss into next stitch twice. (12)

12 – 1htr into second slip stitch from hook, then 10htr. Ss into the next stitch twice. (13)

13 – Starting again in the second slip stitch, 2htrtog twice, 4htr, 2htrtog twice, Ss twice and turn. (10)

14 – 1htr in second chain from hook. Then 2htrtog, 3htr, 2htrtog, 1htr, ss twice. (9)

15 – 1htr in second stitch from hook then 7htr, ss twice. Now fasten off and sew both ends in.

Really hope you have enjoyed this post and get cracking with your own snugglepods!! Trust me your children and grandchildren will love them.