I havce never done a bobble stitch. I started a summer sweater that calls for bobbles. My pattern says to:
knit into the front and back two times to make a 4 stitch increase
turn the work and purl those four stitches
turn the work and knit those four stitches
turn the work and pearl two together twice
turn the work and knit two together
I have tried this several times and i don’t get anything resembling a bobble
I looked at the video on this site. I can’t follow it because the knitter has the strand she’s working with on the left as opposed to the right. I’ve never seen anyone knit that way. Perhaps she’s left-handed…
So, I looked at videos on other sites. None of them knot bobbles the way my pattern instructs. They all involve slipping a stitch over another stitch…like binding off.
Can someone please help me? Is my pattern written incorrectly? Could I knit the bobbles using one of the other methods I’ve seen in videos instead of following my pattern?
Bobbles
There are two basic styles of knitting depending on which hand holds the yarn - continental in the left and english in the right - so maybe you clicked on the wrong video, most of them have both. Look for the Blue video links.
So to make the bobble knit into the front and back of the stitch but knit into the front and back again so you have 4 sts. (here’s the english style kfb)
Then turn the work as if you’re at the end of the row and purl the 4 stitches
Turn it again and knit the 4 stitches
Turn again and p2tog twice (here’s the english p2tog video)
Turn again and knit 2 together (k2tog video)
Take some leftover yarn to practice it, and just take it one step at a time. You’ll be working only on those 4 sts first on one side, then on the other side.
I definitely watched the blue (English) video. Check it out…she’s got the yarn on the left!
I did exactly as you and the pattern told me, but it doesn’t look right. I’ll keep trying.
Thank you for confirming the pattern is written correctly. Since none of the videos do bobbles that way, I had my doubts.
If I can’t master this method (the one in the pattern), do you think I could use one of the methods from the videos?
Sure I think you could use another method to make the bobbles. Which video did you click to see that was ‘wrong’ - the kfb…?
The video here for how to make a bobble is pink/blue. IOW only one video no matter which way you knit. Amy shows how to knit English but she really knits Continental (holding with left hand) so that is the way she knits when she works the bobble. But it shouldn’t matter, you do the same steps just knit a different way. 
Any way you can figure out to do a bobble will work. The idea of a bobble is to take one stitch and make it into several and then reduce it back to one and the rows over which you have the extra stitches cause the big bump. You can even leave bobbles out if you want, but if you want the bump you have to bobble some way or other.
Okay, I didn’t see a bobble on the Glossary page, it must be on the Tips or somewhere.
Yep, it really doesn’t matter which hand the yarn is held in, the R needle is doing the work either way, so that’s what you want to focus on.
Hi!
I make my bobbles about the same way your pattern does: Increase to 4 stitches our of a single one.
you get to the stitch that has the bobble,
you knit into it from the front - DON’T slip it of the left needle!
you knit into it again, using the back loop - DON’T slip it of the left needle!
you knit into it from the front - DON’T slip it of the left needle!
you knit into it again, using the back loop - NOW slip it of the left needle!
ok, you used to have one stitch in the last row. Now there are 4 on your needle.
you turn your work around and ignore the rest of your work. Your world spinns around just these 4 stitches for now.
you purl over all of them
then turn your work again and knit over all of them
then turn your work again
you are making a little strip here that has a tight base and is getting a little more loose towards where you are now. If you would continue this would become a long strip. But you want a bubble. And after you are done with the bubble you do not want to have more stitches than before you started it. So we need to come to a close here. Get back to one stitch.
You can decrease in 2 rows as your pattern goes, or in just one row at the end. I will stick with your pattern here:
in this row now you are purling the 4 stitches, but you purl the first and the second together and then the third and the forth.
Result: when done with this row you have 2 stitches left.
Turn you work one more time:
knit those two stitches together.
Goal achived: you are back to one stitch. Continue knitting your row as your pattern wants.
What you did now: you blew up one stitch to 4. you extended those four stitches upward by a few rows (in stochinett stitch). You drew them back to one stitch and even stayed within the same row with the rest of your knitting. so you produced a nice piece of extra fabric that gets balled up.
If your bubble looks a little lose (this will get better with practice) just go and finish your work, then take some yarn or sewing string and pull it together from the backside. Once you have them down they come out great on their own.
Enjoy your bobbles. they are real fun.
smaller or larger bobbles you do by more or less stitches out of one single one and by maybe going 2 rows higher or less. This you need to try out if you want to change anything. For now I would recommend you stay with your pattern.
PS: If you need help on increasing by knitting forward and backward into the same stitch you can use the video here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/increases
under “kfb” a little more than half way down on the right. There is an English and a Continental Video.
The LANGUAGE of both is the same. If you hold your yarn on the left: Continental (pink link) and if you hold your yarn on the right: English (blue link). Just repeat this procedure twice instead of just once. And then jump into bobble mode and turn your work.