My boyfriend is a LARPer (LARP = Live Action Role Playing), and for Christmas I made him some spell balls. While he’ll use these as fireballs and lightning bolts, you could make these bean bag jellyfish in many different colors. These jellyfish bean bag balls are a great toy for kids. Made with cotton yarn and filled with poly-pellets and poly-fil, they’re perfect for any bean bag games you can come up with. 

If you want a pattern that you can save on your computer and easily print, this pattern is available in my Ravelry shop. I love printing patterns and saving them in a binder to keep track of the ones I’ve done and the ones I still plan to do.

Abbreviations:

ch: chain

sc: single crochet

inc: increase (2 single crochets in one loop)

dec: decrease (pull yarn through loop, pull yarn through second loop, yarn over and pull through all loops)

Materials needed:

Any cotton worsted weight yarn. These can also be made with acrylic worsted weight yarn, but the acrylic will fray over time and the cotton won’t.

G (4mm) crochet hook

Poly-fil

Poly-pellets

Nylons

Yarn needle

Black embroidery thread

 

This pattern is worked “in-the-round”, and stitches are worked through both loops unless otherwise noted. 

 

 

Making the weighted pouches

You don’t have to use the poly-pellets if you don’t want to, but it gives them a bit of extra weight so they fly better when you throw them.

I got the nylon stockings so they were already 2 individual pieces. By cutting them in half, I was able to make 4 pouches using 1 set of nylons.

With the toe part, you just fill it and tie the end. With the other half, tie a knot at one end first. Fill each of them with ¼  cup of poly-pellets. Tie a knot in the top to close it.

This extra bit of weight really does help them to go further when you throw them, but you can just fill them with regular poly-fil if you’d like.

Ball:

Ch 3. Sl st to first ch to create circle. (Instead, you can perform the “magic circle” if you’d like.)

Row 1: ch 1, 10 sc inside of circle. (10 stitches)

Row 2: *Inc in first stitch, sc in next stitch, repeat from * around. (15 stitches)

Row 3: *Inc in first stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, repeat from * around. (20 stitches)

Row 4: *Inc in first stitch, sc in next 3 stitches, repeat from * around. (25 stitches)

Row 5: *Inc in first stitch, sc in next 4 stitches, repeat from * around. (30 stitches)

Row 6: *Inc in first stitch, sc in next 5 stitches, repeat from * around. (35 stitches)

Row 7: *Inc in first stitch, sc in next 6 stitches, repeat from * around. (40 stitches)

Row 8: *Inc in first stitch, sc in next 7 stitches, repeat from * around. (45 stitches)

Rows 9-14: Sc in each stitch around. (45 stitches)

Row 15: *Dec in first 2 stitches, sc in next 7 stitches, repeat from * around. (40 stitches)

Row 16: *Dec in first 2 stitches, sc in next 6 stitches, repeat from * around. (35 stitches)

Row 17: *Dec in first 2 stitches, sc in next 5 stitches, repeat from * around. (30 stitches)

Row 18: *Dec in first 2 stitches, sc in next 4 stitches, repeat from * around. (25 stitches)

Insert the weighted pouches. Stuff poly-fil tight around the pouch. Continue to stuff as you work.

Row 19: *Dec in first 2 stitches, sc in next 3 stitches, repeat from * around. (20 stitches)

Row 20: *Dec in first 2 stitches, sc in next 2 stitches, repeat from * around. (15 stitches)

Row 21: *Dec in first 2 stitches, sc in next stitch, repeat from * around. (10 stitches)

Row 22: Dec around. (5 stitches)

Sew end shut and tie off.

Tails:

Crochet a chain longer than you want the tail to be. I used starting chains of 30 and 40 because I wanted different lengths for them. Work 3 sc’s into each chain. Be sure to leave a long tail at the beginning and end of each curl to attach it.

Attach the tails on the bottom. Use embroidery thread to sew on a face. I had fun making different faces for mine. I did a happy face, a scared face, an angry face, And a “how YOU doin’” face.

 

I hope you enjoy this pattern! You’re welcome to sell items that you make using my patterns, as long as you don’t post the pattern anywhere else, and link back to my page if you’d like to. If there are any mistakes, or something is unclear, please feel free to message me on Facebook.