Crochet Pond ~ Free Pattern

I love getting suggestions and ideas for what to crochet next. When my sister suggested crocheting a pond, complete with duck appliqués, I thought it was a great idea, so we got started right away. I’ve found my designs are a lot better when I have a picture to base it off (like all the Barbie dresses from Frozen), so my sister drew a picture to help.

I knew I didn’t want to just crochet an oval, so the picture helped a lot with the shaping. (Unfortunately it made this rather tricky to write out!) The waves around the edge are irregular, so there’s no particular pattern I followed, which made writing it up a challenge.

This is kind of a random item, and maybe it doesn’t have a practical use – but maybe you have someone in your life that would love their own crocheted pond. I also think it would look nice as an appliqué on a baby blanket, or a beach bag. My sister is using it to display alongside our Calico Critter house ~ it’s the perfect size!

Materials

• Worsted weight yarn in the following colors (I used Red Heart Eco Ways and other assorted scraps):
  – Blue/lake color (Eco Ways: Aquarium for me)
  – Green/grassy border (Eco Ways: Lichen for me)
  – Dark brown/small rock
  – Light brown/bigger rocks
  – Yellow/ducks
  – Orange/duck beaks
• I (5.50 MM) hook for the lake/grassy border
• G (4.00 MM) hook for the rocks and ducks

Notes

I use US terms in all of my patterns. Here’s a chart with the US –> UK terms and the abbreviations.

Single Crochet 3 Stitches Together (sc3tog): *Insert hook in next stitch, yo, pull up a loop* 3 times (4 loops on hook), yo, pull through all loops – sc3tog complete. Click to enlarge the pictures below and read the captions.

Okay, here we go with the pattern. Stitches in (parentheses) are to be worked into the same stitch, the rest are divided by commas. So if you saw the following:

(2hdc) 2x, sc 3, sc2tog

You would put two hdc in the same stitch, do that one more time, sc into the next 3 sts, and then sc the next 2 stitches together. I hope that clears things up a bit. 🙂

Pattern

Foundation: Starting with blue, make a magic ring and ch 4. This counts as a ch 5 with the magic ring being your first ch. This prevents holes at the end. We’ll be working an oval in the next round:

Rnd 1: Hdc in 2^nd ch from hk. Hdc in next ch. 5 hdc in magic ring. Working on the other side of the chain, hdc in next st. 5 hdc in the last chain. Sl st to first hdc to join.

Rnd 2: Ch 1. Hdc in the same st. Work along as follows: 1hdc, (2hdc) 5x, 1hdc, 1sc, (2hdc) 4x. Sl st to first hdc to join.

Rnd 3: Ch 1, 2hdc in the same st. Work along as follows: (1slst) 2x, 1sc, 1hdc, 2dc, 2hdc, 1slst, 1sc, 2dc, (1dc, 1hdc) in same st, 1slst, 1hdc, 2dc, 1hdc, 1slst, 1hdc, (2dc) 2x, 1hdc, 1slst, (1hdc, 2dc) in last st. Sl st to 1^st hdc to join.

Rnd 4: Ch 2, 2dc in same st. Work along as follows: 2hdc, (1sc) 2x, 1hdc, 2hdc, (2dc) 2x, 2hdc, 1sc, 1slst, 1hdc, (2dc) 3x, 2hdc, 1slst, 1hdc, 1dc, 2dc, 1hdc, 1slst, (1hdc) 2x, (2hdc) 3x, 2sc, 1slst, (1hdc) 2x, 3dc in last st. Sl st to 1^st dc to join.

Rnd 5: Ch 1, sc in the same st. Sc 4, sc2tog, (sc 9, sc2tog) 2x, sc 4, sc2tog, sc 8, sc2tog, sc 5. Sl st to 1^st sc to join.

Rnd 6: Ch 1, 2hdc in the same st. Work along as follows: (1hdc) 2x, (sc2tog) 2x, (1hdc) 3x, 2hdc, 1hdc, 2hdc, (sc2tog) 2x, (2hdc) 2x, 1hdc, (2hdc) 2x, 1hdc, (sc2tog) 2x, (2hdc) 2x, sc2tog, 1sc, (2hdc) 3x, (1hdc) 2x, sc2tog, 1sc, (1hdc) 2x, (2hdc) 2x. Sl st to 1^st hdc to join.

Rnd 7: Ch 2, 2dc in the same st. Work along as follows: (1hdc) 2x, 1sc, sc2tog, 1sc, 2hdc, (1hdc) 2x, (2dc) 2x, (1hdc) 2x, sc2tog, 1sc, (1hdc) 2x, 2hdc, (2dc) 2x, 1dc, 2hdc, 1hdc, (sc2tog) 2x, (2dc) 3x, sc2tog, 1sc, 2sc, (1hdc) 2x, (2dc) 2x, (1dc) 2x, sc2tog, 1sc, 1hdc, (2dc) 2x, 1dc, 2dc in last st. Sl st to 1^st dc to join.

Rnd 8: Ch 2, 2dc in the same st. Work along as follows: 2hdc, 1hdc, 1sc, sc2tog, (1hdc) 4x, 2hdc, (2dc) 2x, (1dc, 1hdc) in the same st, (1hdc) 2x, sc2tog, (1hdc) 2x, (1dc) 3x, (2dc) 3x, 2hdc, (1hdc) 2x, 1sc, (sc2tog) 2x, 1hdc, (2hdc) 3x, (sc2tog) 2x, 1hdc, 2hdc, (2dc) 3x, 1dc, 2dc, 1hdc, 1sc, sc2tog, 1sc, 1hdc, 1dc, (2dc) 2x, (1dc) 2x, 2dc in the last st. Sl st to 1^st dc to join.

Rnd 9: Ch 1, sc in the same st. Sc 5, sc2tog, sc 8, 2sc, sc 4, sc2tog, sc 8, 2sc, sc 6, sc2tog, sc 3, 2sc, sc 3, sc2tog, sc 8, 2sc, sc 5, sc2tog, sc 7, 2sc, sc 1, 2sc in last st. Sl st to 1^st sc to join. Change to green.

Rnd 10: (Grassy border): Ch 1, sc in same st. Work along as follows: sc 4, sc3tog, sc 5, (2sc in next st, sc in next st) 3x, sc 1, sc3tog, sc 3, (2sc in next st, sc in next st) 5x, sc 2, sc3tog, sc 3, (2sc) 2x, sc 1, sc3tog, sc 2, (2sc in next st, sc in next st) 3x, sc 5, sc3tog, sc 3, (2sc in next st, sc in next st) 3x, sc 1, 2sc in last st. Sl st to 1^st sc to join. Fasten off and weave in all ends.

Large Rock (make 2):
With light brown, make a magic ring or ch 2, 6 sc into the ring.
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each st around.
Rnd 3: *sc 1, inc* around. Fasten off, leave long tail for sewing.

Small Rock (make 1):
With dark brown, make a magic ring of ch 2, 6 sc into the ring.
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each st around. Fasten off, leaving long tail for sewing.

Use the long tail to sew the rocks onto the pond as in the picture. Note: I didn’t fasten off after the last round, instead I slip stitched the rocks to the pond and then fastened off. You could do that too if you’d like.

I added some ducks when I finished crocheting, but I didn’t get any pictures of that. Here’s the pattern I used, though (the one by Jenny and Teddy) – ducks do make it look cuter. 😉

If you’d like to suggest a pattern, you can do so over here – I’d love to hear from you! You may also remember the Crochet Cabbage was a request – I could never think of these things on my own, so I’d love to hear your suggestions.

Have a wonderful day, lovely followers!