Crocheting a stool cover was on my “must do project” list for this year!  Sometime last year I bought a stool with the intent of making one, and then of course it sat in the box hidden away for months and months on end waiting for me to create a cover for it.

I was finally prompted to make one when I reorganised a few rooms in my house and instead of moving the box with the stool in it, I decided instead to unpack and put the stool together.  Once assembled it was much easier to get motivated!

So here is the stool and and it’s cover!

I’ll explain how I made it so that you can make your own stool cover too.

The stool was on that I purchased from IKEA for $12AUD.  I really should have purchased more!

Any yarn can be used, but I recommend using a 100% cotton.  This one was from Hobbii yarns and I used a 3mm hook.

The pattern started out as being a mandala from Mandalas to Crochet which I then added more rows to, and I’ll explain that in a bit more detail later.

So essentially you can apply these instructions to any round stool cover with any mandala design that you like.  You can do the same with a square one, but you will need to find a square motif to use instead.

What I did was followed the pattern for the mandala that I chose.  It didn’t go big enough so I added more rows of increases, just doing what felt right at the time and followed instructions given on previous rows to continue on with the same pattern.  You will need to keep increasing until you are close to covering the top of the stool with the mandala.  You don’t want to keep increasing to the edge or beyond it or you won’t be able to get the cover to sit flat once finished.

Once it is close to being the right size on top, you can stop increasing and add rows.  You want to add enough rows that when placed onto the stool it goes a little past the bottom edge.  If you look closely at my stool cover, the white row near the edge, between the yellow and the pink, is the last row of increases.  I then added rows of double crochet (treble in UK) until went about 1 row past the edge of the stool – which for me was four rows.

My final row was a row of single crochet (double crochet in UK), chain one, skip one.  This created a little edge that could have yarn woven in and out of.  To finish, I cut a length of yarn that was about 1 1/2 times the length of the outer edge.  I used a needle to weave the yarn in and out through the chain spaces of the last row.  I then slipped the cover over the stool and pulled the yarn tight and tied it.  I used a simple bow and then tucked it into the cover.  Doing it this way means that I can tighten it if the cover comes loose, but it also allows for it to be taken off and washed.  It also makes it more forgiving if you don’t get the sizing right!

I should also note that I was feeling like it wasn’t going to fit properly as I made it as it looked too loose.  But persevere if you feel the same because I promise it will end up fitting perfectly!

It really wasn’t too difficult and the design options are endless! it’s a great way to use up your stash too.

They also make for an inexpensive gift for birthday’s and christmas.  I thought mine would end up being more decorative than useful, but I have been using it as a foot rest, a seat during some yoga sessions, and for resting things on when I go live and need to have items close-by to reach!  It also makes for a handy table to sit your yarn bowl on too…

If you give one a go and find yourself stuck, feel free to join my facebook group for help and ideas.  I’m more than happy to help you out if you need it.

And tag me in any that you make as I love to see other peoples creations!

Seona x