Dating from Classical Roman times, bocce is a sort of modified bowling game where players aim small weighted balls toward a smaller target ball, the pallino. Teams alternate turns attempting to place these heavy wood balls closest to the pallino from a short distance away. This crocheted set softens the game, making it safe to share with the whole family, or to allow kids to play without adult supervision. These bocce balls are regulation size and very nearly regulation weight as well
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Yarn
For ball shells:
WeCrochet Brava Worsted (100% premium acrylic; 218 yds [199 m]/100 g): Asphalt Heather (MC), 4 balls/skeins; Coral (CC1), 2 balls/skeins; Canary (CC2), 2 balls/skeins; Avocado (CC3), 2 balls/skeins; Cornflower (CC4), 2 balls/skeins.
For ball cores & pallino:
WeCrochet Brava 500 (100% premium acrylic; 1090 yds [997 m]/500 g): Asphalt Heather, 1 balls/skeins; Silver, 1 balls/skeins.
NOTE: The selected yarn needs to have some give in order to accommodate being stretched around a ball form. Acrylic, wool, or other springy fibers are recommended; cotton and linen, while quite durable, don’t have the same elasticity which makes this pattern work.
Needle/Hook
Size 7 (4.5mm) hook
Or size needed to obtain gauge
Gauge
15 sts (8 sc + 7 ch sp) and 20 rows = 4″ [10cm] in granite st
First 10 rounds = 4” diameter
Size
Each half-ball will be 4” [10.2cm] in diameter / 12.75” [32.4cm] circumference.
Finished bocce balls will be 4.25” [10.7cm] in diameter / 13.25″ [33.6cm] circumference when stretched around their cores.
Ball cores will measure 4” [10.2cm] in diameter / 12.75” [32.4cm] circumference. A template is included to ensure even shaping.
Notions
Tapestry needle with bent tip, tennis balls (9), Elmer’s Glue-All, water.
Tutorials
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About the Designer: Beth Henderson
Beth is the self-proclaimed Big Fig and Chief Filament Officer at Fig and Filament! She is an aspiring architect who appreciates the details of a well-designed artifact, whether that’s a building, a work of yarn, or still a figment of imagination. Her two little figlets absolutely love to help with her crochet work – chiefly by inspecting whole skeins of yarn to make sure they’re free of knots (they usually were, but no longer are), and sometimes by storing hooks in locations so safe they’ll never be lost (provided that safe spot can be remembered even moments later).
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