Making it up as I go along….!

Christmas Pickle

I will be adding a puff st (or maybe it’s a cluster st?) in random places to give the pickle a lumpy look. I varied between 2 or 3dc together to make different sized bumps. You can add them anywhere as they do not alter the overall stitch count.

If you want to make a bigger pickle, keep increasing the starting circle and work more rounds of sc.

I started with 6sc in a magic ring then increased until i got to (5sc, inc). (42)
I then worked rounds of sc with random ‘bumps’ until my pickle was long enough, then decreased to finish off the pickle. To get the slight bend, I added the eyes (safety eyes) - this then marked the front of the pickle.
Kinda where the middle of the front of the pickle is, I worked sc’s then 8ch, missed 8ch and sc’d to the end of the round. In the following round, you work sc’s until you get to the 8sc’s that you missed in the last round (push the chains to the back) and work the 8sc’s from the last round, then sc to the end of the round. I did that about 4 times with about 3 rounds between each - this forms a subtle bend in the pickle.

For the Santa hat, I used a thicker, fluffy white yarn and made a chain long enough to go around the pickle above the eyes. I worked about 3 or 4 rounds of sc, then changed to red and worked a further 3 or 4 rounds of sc, then decreased 1st per round until I had about 3sts remaining, finish off. Add a white pompom.

Ornament
With my leftover olive green, I made a smaller pickle - same principle as the big one but I stopped increasing at the (2sc, inc) round. Instead of adding a tiny pompom, I crocheted a small rectangle, sewed it into a tube, sewed it to the pointy end of the hat and shaped it with a few stitches.