Spiral Crochet Kippah

I always keep a few mindless projects going (for those times when I don’t have two brain cells to rub together). I’m doing this in double crochet, although it results in a softer kippah than usual, because the spiral shows up better with a wider stripe. I’m using perle 8 cotton (medium blue and variegated orange) and a 1 mm crochet hook. I could have used a smaller hook for a tighter stitch but I don’t enjoy embedding sharp objects in my fingers while riding in moving vehicles.

Spiral Crochet Directions

Spiral crochet is quite easy but my brief instructions presume that you already know know how to make spiral in a single colour, starting from a central ring.

First colour: Chain 5, slip stitch to form ring. Chain 2 and work 5 double crochet in ring. Drop this colour, leaving a large loop so that the stitches don’t unravel.
Second colour: Slip stitch into ring, chain 2 and work 5 double crochet in ring. Work 2 double crochet on the 2 chain of the first colour. Continue working in the tops of the stitches of the first colour until you reach the loop of the first colour. Drop this colour, leaving a large loop so that the stitches don’t unravel.
First colour: Using the loop you left, work 2 double crochet on the 2 chain of the second colour. Continue working in the tops of the stitches of the second colour.
Remember to increase so that the center lies flat. It’s difficult to give precise instructions for increasing.
When you want to finish, try to have the colours on opposite sides of the kippah. Taper off each colour by working successively shorter stitches (e.g., 3 half double crochet, 3 single crochet, 3 slip stitch, fasten off).

Other Kippot

Here are a few that I made for my son, back in the day when he would wear almost anything I made.

Intarsia Kippah

The bar mitzvah kippah was done in a type of crochet intarsia. I didn’t carry the colours all the way around. When I finished a few stitches of a single colour, I carried the colour back over to the right (i.e., to the point where it would be required on the next round). I crocheted over the loose strand on the back. It’s easier to show in a diagram than words, so that will have to be the topic of a future blog posting.

Fair Isle Kippot

I made these two Fair Isle kippot when I had a lot more time on my hands. I made up the patterns as I went along, choosing small repeats so that they would be easy to fit into the number of stitches. I don’t have patterns for these. In any case, crocheted kippot are very difficult to write patterns because the number of stitches in each row is so dependent on one’s tension. So if you really want to try this, pick up a book of Fair Isle patterns, choose some geometric designs with very short repeats (say, 3-5 stitches) and a couple colours and just have fun!

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