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I have always loved crochet. You know how people say that they were into something before it was cool? You know like, how I was listening to The Beta Band The 3 EPs years before High Fidelity :) And if you have no idea what I’m talking about but dig movies or music you can read this article from MTV back in 2000. Which, holy smokes, was freaking 22 years ago!!!

But anyway, as a young adult I looked more like a teenager because babyface things. And when I’d go out to buy hooks or yarn and would get weird looks from the other 20-somethings checking me out at the craft store I would feel this awful flush of embarrassment come over my face. I have no clue how many times I totally lied and said I was buying this stuff for my grandmother :) Because in no way, shape, or form was crochet cool in the late 90’s or early aughts!

This adorable crochet curly bow pattern is easy, super quick, and an amazing stash buster. Use them for the cutest pompoms for hats or to embellish wrapped gifts!

Now that I tell stories about things that apparently happened over two decades ago…

I no longer give a fig about looking cool. But wouldn’t you know it? Crochet is indeed cool these days!

Right now I’m making a pile of beanies to donate. And since I’m a particularly patient person, I often find myself waiting a weensy bit longer in doctor’s offices or at the vet or wherever. Like, they’ve all said as much :) But since I take my work with my anyway (like a ball of yarn and a hook) so it’s not a biggie. Having just finished up my hat I had brought and without enough to make another one. I started playing around. Boom! I made my very first crochet curly bow and I knew it would be the darn cutest beanie pompom EVER. And so I’m sharing it today!

What You Need to Make Crochet Gift Bows

Yarn
Crochet Hook
Mounting Foam (use as a gift bow)
Yarn Needle (use as a pompom)
Crochet Beanie
Beanie Tag (color here: Bamboo)

Yarn and Hook

Grab your favorite yarn and an appropriately sized crochet hook. For more information check out the colors used for these hats and bows read on.

There is no downloadable pattern for this crochet project BUT at the bottom of this post you can easily print the directions to make your crochet bows away from the computer.

Don’t You Just Love This Hat?

It’s actually my simple bottom up fitted beanie with a stretchy brim pattern I shared just the other day… I literally worked up that pattern JUST so that I could have a nice fitted crown to showcase these awesome poms. And since the pom looks like a gift bow, I striped the hats in a way and in colors that totally remind me of Christmas wrapping paper!

For both of the hats I added my curly crochet bow pompoms to I used 6 colors of yarn (A, B, C, D, E, F) This color sequence… Stretchy brim A, round 1:A, 2:B, 3:C, 4:D, 5:D, 6:E, 7:B, 8:B, 9:F, 10:A, 11:A, 12:C, 13:C, 14:C, 15:C.

For the hat with the red brim I used color F and for the hat with the yellow brim color color E. I found that using dark colors (like the maroon or hunter green) makes for a pompom where the definition is less visible and it just looks like any other pompom from a distance.

The Yarn Colors

Here are the colors I used for both of the hats in this post:

I Love This Yarn in Sungold (Hobby Lobby)
Impeccable by Loops and Threads in Cherry Red (Michael’s)
Impeccable in Guacamole
Impeccable in Rich Orchid
Impeccable in Deep Forest
Impeccable in Burgundy

How to Crochet Curly Gift Bows!

Create a magic ring giving yourself a tail of at least 8 inches. Chain 10. In the second chain from the hook single crochet twice.
p.s. – love that crochet hook? I’m currently OBSESSED with these Furls Crochet Hooks.

After that last pair of single crochet stitches, slip stitch around the magic ring to end that curl. Be sure you hook around both of the loop and the tail of the magic ring.

Single crochet twice in the the next 8 chains. As you work two stitches into every chain you’ll start to see the piece twist and curl up. Isn’t that darn nifty?

After that last pair of single crochet stitches, slip stitch around the magic ring to end that curl. Be sure you hook around both of the loop and the tail of the magic ring.

Chain 10. Single crochet twice in the second stitch from the hook. Single crochet twice in the next 8 stitches. Slip stitch to the magic ring to end the curl.

Repeat the process of making curls until you have 20 worked around your magic ring. * Note – As you work you will need to wiggle your magic ring to be a little larger to accommodate all of the curls. This is why we start with such a long tail. Take care to keep an eye on your tail… if you accidentally undo the magic ring you’re in a pickle :)

Once you’ve made 20 curls, or when you’re happy with the fullness of the crochet curly bow, pull the tail on your magic ring to cinch closed. Create 3-4 overhand knots to close this puppy up. Leave the tails if using for hats…

Ta-dah! You just made a totally adorable crochet curly bow. Now how to use it? Well, I’ve got a few ideas :)

Using Your Crochet Curly Bow as a Pompom

Leave the length from original tail from the magic ring and leave a tail of several inches after you’ve finished the bow. What you have will look like above.

Thread a yarn needle (these are my favorites!) with one of the tails and run through the hat to the inside very near the center. Right across from the entry for the first tail, sew the second tail into the inside of the hat.

Grab both tails and create 2 simple overhand knots.

Weave in the tails and snip the excess.

Ta-dah, again!

Using Your Crochet Curly Bow as an Actual Gift Bow!

I’m going to be honest I have a whole mess of these fun little bows because they are great little stash buster. Plus I can knock a full one out while watching a TV show (about 45 minutes). And that’s not just a 45 minute straight thing… I look up and down. Work a little bit. Take a break to gasp that I didn’t figure out the killer earlier in the show :)

I had initially planned on just using these as pompoms for my beanies but with so many floating around I decided to actually use them as gift bows.

Isn’t that just too darn cute not to use?

Because I still like the idea of using these for a purpose other than gift wrapping I left tails of a few inches and just sort of wadded them up beneath some mounting foam. Mounting foam is this puffy double-sided tape you can get for a few dollars. It’s super sticky and works well but wont’ adhere so much that it will ruin the bow (like hot glue, for instance).

But honestly, if you want you can totally trim up the tails and just hot glue that sucker onto the package, too :)

See? Super cute, right? I also think these could make the cutest little hair bows or flair added onto a dog’s collar. Do you have any other ideas for how to use these adorable crochet curly bows?

Total Time: 45

Equipment

Crochet Hook

Ingredients

Yarn

Instructions

Create a magic ring giving yourself a tail of at least 8 inches. Chain 10. In the second chain from the hook single crochet twice.
Single crochet twice in each of the the next 8 chains.
After that last pair of single crochet stitches, slip stitch around the magic ring to end that curl. Be sure you hook around both of the loop and the tail of the magic ring.
Chain 10. Single crochet twice in the second stitch from the hook. Single crochet twice in the next 8 stitches. Slip stitch to the magic ring to end the curl.
Repeat the process of making curls until you have 20 worked around your magic ring.
Once you've made 20 curls, or when you're happy with the fullness of the crochet curly bow, pull the tail on your magic ring to cinch closed. Create 3-4 overhand knots to close. Leave the tails if using for hats.