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Looking for a new cu-tea to add to your amigurumi collection? Lil Boba might just be the perfect fit, especially if you are a bubble tea fan! Whether it’s matcha, taro, mango, or any other flavour under the sun, with the right colour of yarn and some tapioca pearls, you can make a Lil Boba to match! Lil Boba would be great as a toy, decoration, and even as a pin cushion!
Difficulty: Advanced Beginner
U.S. Terminology
Size: 5 inches (including the straw)
Materials
- Hook: 3.5 mm (and 1.65 mm or similar hook if making crocheted boba with embroidery thread)
- Yarn: A small amount of Worsted Weight in light yellow, bright yellow and off-white for the cup, straw and lid (I used Impeccable by Loops and Threads)
- 10mm Safety Eyes
- Polyfil
- Needle
- Black and pink embroidery thread for the mouth, eyelashes, cheeks and boba -see Other Notes for more ideas for making the tapioca pearls
- Optional: Stitch markers and pins, cardboard, pipe cleaner
My Picks:
Other Notes:
Rounds– All components are worked in rounds.
Starting tail for lid– When making your magic ring for your lid, make the tail 3-4 inches long. You will use this tail later to anchor the straw in place.
Boba/Tapioca Pearls– There are lots of options for making the tapioca pearls on the bottom of your cup! You can follow the instructions and crochet embroidery thread circles, use felt/fabric and glue in place, small safety eyes or skip making the pearls and use pin heads as your pearls (if you plan to use Lil Boba as a pin cushion).
Pattern:
Cup:
In light yellow colour yarn:
R1: SC 6 into MR (6 st)
R2: INC SC x6 (12 st)
R3: (SC, INC SC) x6 (18 st)
R4: (2SC, INC SC) x6 (24 st)
The first 4 rounds form the base of the cup. If you would like to make the base more stable, trace around the base on a piece of cardboard at this point and cut out a circle that is just slightly smaller. After completing a few more rounds, check to make sure the cardboard fits comfortably inside the cup and trim further if necessary until it fits.
R5: SC in BLO around (24 st)
R6-7: SC around (24 st)
R8: (11 SC, INC SC) x2 (26 st)
R9-11: SC around (26 st)
R12: (12 SC, INC SC) x2 (28 st)
R13-15: SC around (28 st)
R16: (13 SC, INC SC) x2 (30 st)
R17: SC around (30 st)
FO and weave in end.
At this point, you can attach the safety eyes, between rounds 12 and 13, about 6 stitches apart. If you want to add eyelashes before you attach the eyes, with embroidery thread and a needle sew through the hole where the eye will set and pass back through 2 stitches over. Come out through the same hole again and 2 stitches over and one stitch up, pass back through the cup and secure in place. Attach eyes.
Sew a mouth between the eyes and cheeks below the eyes using embroidery thread.
Boba:
These instructions explain how to make the tapioca pearls crocheting with embroidery thread. See Other Notes for other options for the pearls.
With a 1.65 mm (or similar) hook and black colour embroidery thread:
R1: 6 SC into MR (6 st)
SL ST to first st and FO, leaving a tail for sewing. Repeat above for as many pearls as you would like.
To attach, pin a pearl in a position you prefer and using the tail and needle, sew the pearl in place. Repeat for each pearl until they are all attached.
Set aside your cup for now. You will come back to it later.
Straw:
To help maintain the shape of the straw, you may opt to use a pipe cleaner or thin wire in the middle.
In bright yellow colour yarn:
R1: SC 4 into MR (4 st)
R2: In BLO, SC around (4 st)
R3-8: SC around (4 st)
FO, leaving a tail for sewing. Attach a needle and sew through the front loop of each stitch around and pull tight to close. Weave in the end. Set aside for later.
Lid:
In off white yarn:
R1: SC 7 into MR (7 st)
R2-5: SC around (7 st)
R6: SC, (INC SC) x5, SC (12 st)
R7: (SC, INC SC) x6 (18 st)
R8: SC around (18 st)
R9: (2 SC, INC SC) (24 st)
R10: SC around (24 st)
R11: (3 SC, INC SC) x6 (30 st)
R12: SC around
Before crocheting the lid and cup together, you will firstly attach the straw to the lid. DO NOT CUT YARN. The top 5 rounds of your lid need to be poked down into the lid to create a sort of ‘nest’ for the straw to sit in. After it is poked down, insert your straw. Using the yarn tail from when you made the MR, sew back and forth up through the ‘nest’, connecting it and the straw together. Stop between rounds 5 and 6. Weave in ends.
You will now connect the cup and lid together. Partway through this final round start stuffing, making sure to stuff up around the part of the straw and lid that is sticking down into your cup.
R13: In the BLO of the LID facing down, and the BLO of the CUP facing up (the inner loop) (4 HDC, INC HDC) x6 (36 st)
SL ST to first st of the row and FO. Weave in ends.
Check out the amazing Lil Bobas made by pattern testers!
Thank you so much for making this pattern! If you run into any problems or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me through Facebook or Instagram! Please remember to tag me @thecozychipmunk #thecozychipmunk so I can see your completed creation!
