Bobble › Crochet chart, graph and grid maker

Crochet chart, graph and grid maker

Bobble is a crochet chart, graph and grid maker that turns a photo, or one of its designs, into a chart you make row by row. The chart, Make Mode and the yarn amounts are free for flat charts, bauble covers and the Daisy Tote, with no card; the Red Heart comes with free written instructions; other written rows and downloads are part of Bobble Pro.

Chart, graph or grid: three names for one plan

Crocheters call the same plan a chart, a graph or a grid: a picture drawn in squares, one colour to a square. A blanket worked from one is a graphghan (some write graphgan). In Bobble each square is one stitch when you work in rows or tapestry, which many call pixel crochet, and one block in C2C.

“Crochet chart” can also mean a stitch-symbol diagram, which draws each stitch as a symbol to show lace, motifs or textured stitches. Bobble makes colour charts, not symbol diagrams; it does not chart filet or mosaic crochet, and it has no blank grid to paint square by square. If the grid is new to you, see how to read a crochet chart.

A worked example: the Red Heart

The Red Heart is one of Bobble’s free designs, and it comes with free written instructions: 45 by 45 squares in 2 colours, worked in rows of double crochet (single crochet in US terms). In DK on a 4 mm hook it comes out at 25 × 23 cm (10 × 9 in), about 4 hours of crochet. Its chart, its yarn and all 45 written rows follow, as Bobble writes them.

The metres include the 10% Bobble adds for tension and 0.5 m a colour for the tails. Each colour needs one ball.

The written instructions, every row

UK terms. Each square is one double crochet (dc); in US terms, a single crochet (sc).

1. Chain 46 (ch 46) in A (White): 45 for the stitches of row 1 and 1 to turn.
2. Work row 1 into the chain, starting in the 2nd chain from the hook: 1 dc in each chain, 45 dc in all, in the colours row 1 lists.
3. At the end of every row, ch 1 and turn. The ch 1 does not count as a stitch: work the first dc of the next row into the last stitch you made.

1. Row 1 · 45 stitches ←: A x45
2. Row 2 · 45 stitches →: A x45
3. Row 3 · 45 stitches ←: A x45
4. Row 4 · 45 stitches →: A x22, B x1, A x22
5. Row 5 · 45 stitches ←: A x21, B x3, A x21
6. Row 6 · 45 stitches →: A x20, B x5, A x20
7. Row 7 · 45 stitches ←: A x19, B x7, A x19
8. Row 8 · 45 stitches →: A x19, B x7, A x19
9. Row 9 · 45 stitches ←: A x17, B x11, A x17
10. Row 10 · 45 stitches →: A x17, B x11, A x17
11. Row 11 · 45 stitches ←: A x15, B x15, A x15
12. Row 12 · 45 stitches →: A x14, B x17, A x14
13. Row 13 · 45 stitches ←: A x14, B x17, A x14
14. Row 14 · 45 stitches →: A x12, B x21, A x12
15. Row 15 · 45 stitches ←: A x12, B x21, A x12
16. Row 16 · 45 stitches →: A x11, B x23, A x11
17. Row 17 · 45 stitches ←: A x9, B x27, A x9
18. Row 18 · 45 stitches →: A x9, B x27, A x9
19. Row 19 · 45 stitches ←: A x8, B x29, A x8
20. Row 20 · 45 stitches →: A x6, B x33, A x6
21. Row 21 · 45 stitches ←: A x6, B x33, A x6
22. Row 22 · 45 stitches →: A x5, B x35, A x5
23. Row 23 · 45 stitches ←: A x5, B x35, A x5
24. Row 24 · 45 stitches →: A x5, B x35, A x5
25. Row 25 · 45 stitches ←: A x3, B x39, A x3
26. Row 26 · 45 stitches →: A x3, B x39, A x3
27. Row 27 · 45 stitches ←: A x3, B x39, A x3
28. Row 28 · 45 stitches →: A x2, B x41, A x2
29. Row 29 · 45 stitches ←: A x2, B x41, A x2
30. Row 30 · 45 stitches →: A x2, B x41, A x2
31. Row 31 · 45 stitches ←: A x2, B x41, A x2
32. Row 32 · 45 stitches →: A x2, B x41, A x2
33. Row 33 · 45 stitches ←: A x2, B x41, A x2
34. Row 34 · 45 stitches →: A x2, B x41, A x2
35. Row 35 · 45 stitches ←: A x2, B x41, A x2
36. Row 36 · 45 stitches →: A x3, B x39, A x3
37. Row 37 · 45 stitches ←: A x3, B x19, A x1, B x19, A x3
38. Row 38 · 45 stitches →: A x3, B x19, A x1, B x19, A x3
39. Row 39 · 45 stitches ←: A x5, B x15, A x5, B x15, A x5
40. Row 40 · 45 stitches →: A x5, B x15, A x5, B x15, A x5
41. Row 41 · 45 stitches ←: A x6, B x13, A x7, B x13, A x6
42. Row 42 · 45 stitches →: A x9, B x8, A x11, B x8, A x9
43. Row 43 · 45 stitches ←: A x10, B x6, A x13, B x6, A x10
44. Row 44 · 45 stitches →: A x45
45. Row 45 · 45 stitches ←: A x45

The chart has 45 rows. Rows 1 to 3 are the background; the red heart starts on row 4.

How to make a crochet chart from a photo

1. Choose a photo. Pick one with a clear subject and strong contrast, or start from one of Bobble’s designs instead.
2. Frame it. Move and zoom the picture to the part you want to crochet.
3. Pick the method and the size. Choose rows, C2C or tapestry, and the finished size in cm or inches: a cushion, baby blanket, throw or wall hanging, or your own. Add your tension from a swatch for an exact stitch count.
4. Set the colours and the yarn. Set the number of colours, from 2 to 20. Choose Stylecraft Special DK or Paintbox Simply DK, and Bobble names the nearest shade for each colour with the metres and balls to buy.
5. Start making. Tap Start making to save the project and open Make Mode, which takes you through any flat chart, bauble cover or the Daisy Tote row by row and remembers your place.

Pictures with a clear subject and few colours chart best: a pet, a silhouette, a logo. Forests, crowds and text smaller than a square of the chart end up muddy whatever the software. How to turn a photo or picture into a crochet pattern covers each step in more depth.

What Bobble does after the chart

An image-only generator stops at the chart. Bobble takes you through the piece in Make Mode, one run of stitches at a time: how many, and in which colour. It counts your stitches and keeps your place between sittings, and on every device you sign in on.

Each colour is matched to the nearest shade in Stylecraft Special DK or Paintbox Simply DK, two UK yarn ranges, with the metres and balls to buy. Crochet stitches are not square, so Bobble works the grid out from your stitches and rows per 10 cm, and the picture keeps its shape.

Patterns are written in UK terms unless you choose US, and the app is in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Italian. Rows and tapestry patterns start from the foundation chain; C2C patterns mark the longest diagonal, after which you decrease.

What is free

You can make a chart and follow it in Make Mode without an account, and Bobble keeps your projects in that browser. A free Google sign-in saves them to your account on every device, makes a share link and publishes to the Gallery. The free plan keeps 3 projects in progress at a time (finished ones don’t count), with 3 new projects a week.

Bobble Pro, £3.99 a month, adds written rows in UK or US terms, every download (the PDF, the chart as a PNG and printing), up to 50 projects in progress, the full template library, style filters and tote bags worked in rounds.

The Red Heart comes with free written instructions, as the worked example above shows. Every download is Pro for every chart, Bobble’s free designs included.

More on charts

• How to turn a photo into a crochet pattern
• Pixel, C2C or tapestry crochet: which to pick
• Tapestry crochet pattern maker
• How to choose yarn colours from a photo
• How Bobble compares with other chart makers