Bobble (knitting)

Raised round bobbles are knit into the placket and along the outer shoulders and sleeves of this jacket.

A close-up view of hand-knit bobbles

In knitting, a bobble is a localized set of stitches forming a raised bump. The bumps are usually arranged in a regular geometrical pattern (e.g., a hexagonal grid) or may be figurative, e.g., represent apples on a knitted tree.

The basic idea of a bobble is to increase into a single stitch, knit a few short rows, then decrease back to a single stitch. However, this leaves many choices: how to increase and how many stitches, how many short rows to work, and how to decrease.

A bobble can also be a yarn pom-pom used to decorate knitted items such as bobble hats.

References

• (2002) Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book, updated ed., Sixth and Spring Books. ISBN 1-931543-16-X
• (1979) Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, Reader's Digest Association. ISBN 0-89577-059-8
• June Hemmons Hiatt (2012) The Principles of Knitting, Simon and Schuster, pp. 228–231. ISBN 978-1-4165-3517-1