How to Crochet a Puff, Bobble and Popcorn.

Use smooth, light-coloured yarn and a comfortable matching hook. Keep a removable marker and a blunt yarn needle nearby. Use the same yarn and hook for the three samples so that changing materials does not obscure the different constructions.

For each sample, chain twelve. For row one, single crochet into the second chain from the hook and into each remaining chain. You have eleven single crochets. The skipped first chain and the active loop on the hook are not extra stitches.

For row two, chain one and turn. This turning chain does not count. Single crochet into each of the first five stitches. The next unworked stitch, position six, will receive the texture group. Five old stitches remain after it.

Make only one kind of group on each sample. Label the pieces puff, bobble and popcorn before setting them aside. You do not need to make all three at once; finish the following row on one sample before beginning another.

Start with the one active loop on your hook after the fifth single crochet. All three pickups go into the same sixth base stitch.

1. Yarn over, insert the hook under both top loops of that stitch, yarn over and bring a loop through the fabric. Lengthen this drawn-up loop enough to sit comfortably at the height of the group. Three loops are now on the hook.
2. Yarn over, enter the same base again, yarn over and draw up another loop to the same height. Five loops are on the hook.
3. Repeat that pickup once more in the same base. Seven loops are on the hook: the original active loop plus two retained loops from each of three pickups.
4. Yarn over and draw through all seven loops. One active loop remains. Chain one to secure this version of the puff.

Do not finish an ordinary half double crochet after each pickup. Doing so would remove the loops you are meant to retain. This version also does not use the alternative closure that first leaves two loops on the hook.

The puff and its securing chain count together as one position in this sample. After making the chain, put the marker under its two top strands. This chain is the one target above the puff that the following row will enter. Leave the gathered top below it unworked on that following row; do not treat both parts as separate positions.

On the second base, stop after the first five single crochets of row two. Begin the bobble in the sixth stitch, with one active loop on the hook.

1. Yarn over, insert into the sixth stitch, yarn over and draw up a loop. You have three loops. Yarn over and pull through two, leaving two loops. Leave this double crochet unfinished.
2. Make four more unfinished double crochets in that same base, stopping each after its first pull-through of two. You have six loops on the hook after the fifth partial stitch.
3. Yarn over and draw through all six loops together. One active loop remains. Do not add a securing chain for this version. Mark the gathered top before moving on.

The partial stitches share one base. Spreading them across five neighbouring bases would use up different positions and change the count. The shared closure here is one bobble, not five ordinary double crochets waiting to be worked separately on the next row.

On the third base, reach the sixth stitch of row two in the same way. Make five complete double crochets into that one stitch. Finish both pull-throughs of each double crochet, so that one active loop remains after every stitch.

The group is open at the top for now. Find the top V of its first double crochet, nearest the fifth single crochet you made before the group. Keep that target separate from the top of the fifth double crochet.

Enlarge the active loop slightly and take the hook out. Insert the empty hook from the face currently towards you to the back of the fabric, under both top loops of the first double crochet in the group.

Put the released active loop back on the hook. Draw that loop through the first double crochet's top to gather the group. Do not make a new yarn-over to replace the released loop, and do not pull a loose yarn end through the stitch.

One active loop remains. Chain one to secure this popcorn. The popcorn and this chain count together as one position here. Mark both top strands of the chain for the following row. The gathered opening below it and the five individual double-crochet tops around the group will not be worked separately.

After the group on each sample, single crochet into each of the five remaining old stitches. Do not work into the sixth base a second time. Row two has five single crochets, one texture group and five more single crochets: eleven counted positions.

A bobble surrounded by short stitches commonly protrudes away from the face you were looking at while making it. Push it gently to that side if it has folded towards you. The front-to-back popcorn join chosen here gathers towards the working face. These two samples are therefore not instructions for putting every texture on the same side of a finished blanket.

Inspect both faces of the puff too. Its long loops should remain gathered, without one loose pickup standing apart. Mark the face you prefer for each sample. Turned rows alternate the working face; unturned rounds do not. If a project needs raised texture on one particular side, follow its stated row and popcorn-join direction.

For row three of each sample, chain one and turn. The chain still does not count. Single crochet into the first five single crochets from row two.

At position six on the bobble sample, make one single crochet under both strands of its marked gathered top. On the puff and popcorn samples, insert under both top strands of the marked securing chain instead. Remove the marker when you can clearly see the target. On those two samples, leave the gathered opening below the securing chain unworked; do not work both that opening and the chain.

Single crochet into the last five single crochets. Count eleven new tops. The texture has one stitch above it. The popcorn's five internal double crochets have not become five separate positions on this return row.

If finding the marked top is difficult, loosen the active loop and turn the piece to inspect the marker rather than forcing the hook through a bundle of long strands. The stitch glossary can help distinguish stitch tops from spaces, but this special-stitch definition determines the target here. Another pattern may choose a different top or count its chain as a separate spacing stitch.

For an optional fourth sample, make another eleven-single-crochet base. Chain one and turn; the chain does not count. Make one single crochet in the first stitch. Then work a double crochet in the next stitch and a single crochet in the following stitch. Repeat that two-stitch pair five times altogether to reach the end: six single crochets and five double crochets, eleven stitches in total.

Chain one, turn and work eleven single crochets for the following row. The shorter neighbours can make the taller stitches bend into texture. Inspect both faces without expecting the same shape as a gathered bobble. Each old base received one complete stitch, so this sample has no shared closure, released loop or extra securing chain to locate.

If the puff holds five loops before closing, you have made only two pickups. If it holds nine, you have made four. Undo to the last ordinary single crochet and remake the defined three-pickup version.

If the bobble repeatedly drops back to one loop before the shared closure, you are completing its double crochets. Stop each partial stitch after its first pull-through of two. Conversely, a popcorn needs five fully completed double crochets before you remove the hook.

If row three has twelve stitches, check whether both a securing chain and the gathered opening below it were worked as separate positions. If it has fifteen, check whether the popcorn's five individual tops were worked instead of its one marked chain. Count the five plain stitches on each side separately before remaking the centre.

Finish and weave in the tails using the finishing lesson. Keep the labels with the samples, including their closure and chain rules. Measure the actual fabric before substituting one texture for another in a project; equal top counts do not guarantee equal width, height or yarn use.