Hello there and Happy Holidays! I am excited to offer a free pattern for wine bottle covers (carriers, socks, bags, or sacks?), using leftover yarn. To build my sample, I held 3 strands of yarn together throughout and changed out one strand at a time, making this cover fast, colorful, and scrappy. I hope you enjoy this free, flexible, and eco-friendly pattern that you can use with any yarn you have! I have given variations of this pattern to friends and they have all enjoyed their gifts.
The instructions are flexible for different yarn weights and should be made to the measurements of the wine bottle. I am including the measurements for the circumference and height of a standard wine bottle, in case you need to make your cover without a bottle handy! I am certainly guilty of being “that guest” that fails to plan ahead and grabs a bottle of wine on the way to the party. Now I can grab a handmade wine bottle cover as well. I keep an empty bottle at home so I can “try it on” before I leave!
Another great host gift you can make with yarn on hand is my free soap saver crochet pattern. Pair it with a great bar soap!
Materials Needed
- Scraps of multi-colored yarn. My sample yarn weights range from dk to light worsted
- Size K crochet hook
- Yarn needle
- Wine bottle
Time Required
Time required varies based on the thickness of yarn used. The sample, with three strands held together and many color changes, should require about 3 hours for an intermediate crocheter.
Steps overview:
- Bottle Base: Crochet a circle that fits the base of the bottle. Once you build up the sides, the base will be a bit bigger than the circle, so it doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Body: Work “even” (no increases) until your bottle holder is about an inch above the height of the wide part of the bottle bottle. The sample used three strands held together. For the “marled” look in the sample, change out one strand at the end of a row whenever you like to or run out of a color.
- Handles: Crochet handles by using chain stitch instead of some of your main body stitches. Then, on the next round, work your stiches in the chain spaces you created.
- Finishing: Weave in the ends and add a bottle of wine.
Step 1: Bottle Base
Work the rounds below until the diameter of the circle measures about the same as the diameter of your bottle. You should stop when it reaches this size, even though I have written the pattern to have extra rounds, in case your bottle is larger or smaller or your yarn is a different thickness. That is, the extra rounds are so you can adapt to smaller yarns! The next phase, the body of the bottle holder, will still be a bit bigger than your bottle, even if your base is exactly the same diameter as the bottle.
Start with a magic circle. Click here for a great video tutorial on the magic circle.
Round 1: 1ch, 5sc in the magic circle. Join to the first sc with a sl st. (5 sc)
Round 2: 1ch (first 1ch does not count as a stitch for all rounds of the base), 2sc in each sc of previous round (including the stitch that you slip stitiched into at end of last round). Join to the first sc of round with a sl st. (10 sc)
Round 3: 1ch, *2sc in next st, 1sc in next st* repeat between * 5 times. Join to the first sc of round with a sl st. (15 sc)
Round 4: 1ch, *1sc in next two st, 2sc in next st* repeat between * 5 times. Join to the first sc of round with a sl st (20 sc)
*This is the end of the base rounds for the sample in the pictures. Keep going if your circle is not close to the size of your wine bottle base yet! The base of the wine bottle I used is 7.3 cm*
Additional Rounds for Smaller Yarn:
Round 5: 1ch, *1sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st, 1sc in next st* repeat between * 5 times. Join to the first sc of round with a sl st (25 sc)
Round 6: 1ch, *1sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st* repeat between * 5 times. Join to the first sc of round with a sl st (30 sc)
Round 7: 1ch, *1sc in next 3 st, 2sc in next st, 1sc in next 2 st* repeat between * 5 times. Join to the first sc of round with a sl st (35 sc)
Round 8: 1ch, *1sc in next 2 st, 2sc in next st, 1sc in next 4 st* repeat between * 5 times. Join to the first sc of round with a sl st (40 sc)
Step 2: Body
Body rounds: 3ch (counts as the first st, skip first st (the stitch you slip stitched into). 1dc in each stitch around. Sl st into the top of the 3ch at the beginning of the round.
Continue making body rounds until you reach the neck of the bottle. Mine was 9 inches of body rounds.
Then work about 1 more inch (1 round in the sample)
How to Change Colors:
At the end of a round, before you sl st in the top of the 3ch, drop one yarn and pick up the new one, using the new one to complete the slip stitch.
Step 3: Handle
You are now taking about half of your stitches and turning them into handles. Since all the stitch counts aren’t a multiple of 4, it can be a bit tricky. So here are the 3 numbers you need for any stitch count in the instructions below. Plug in by referencing the colors:
For 20 stitches: 5, 4, 5
For 25 stitches: 6, 5, 7
For 30 stitches: 7, 7, 8
For 35 stitches: 8, 8, 10
For 40 stitches: 10, 9, 10
Handle round 1: 3ch, 1dc in next 4 st, 5ch, Skip 5 st, 1dc in next 5 st, 5ch, Slip stitch in top of starting 3ch.
Handle round 2: 1ch, 1sc in same stitch as ch1, 1 sc in next 4 st, 5sc in the 5ch space, 1sc in next 5 st, 5sc in the 5ch space, slip stitch in top of the first sc.
Handle round 3: 1ch, 1sc in same stitch as 1ch, 1sc in each stitch around, slip stitch in top of first sc. Cut yarn and tie off.
How to Weave in Ends Fast
If your project used the scrap yarn approach, you probably have a lot of ends to weave in. If you are like me and always making things at the last minute, you’ll want to tuck those in and get out the door as quickly as possible. Since all your ends are paired up from ending one color and adding another, here’s a quick way to get them all hidden on the inside of your cover.
Step 1: Find two ends that are right next to each other and tie them in a knot.
Step 2: Tuck the ends in a group of stitches using a yarn needle. Cut close to where the yarns emerge from the stitches.
Variations:
This pattern can easily be embellished to create a variety of different styles. Please see below for examples from my personal collection, to be updated over time!
To make holder with a drawstring instead of a handle:
Work the pattern until you reach the handle.
Drawstring row:
If you have an even number of stitches: 4ch, *skip 1 stitch, 1dc in next stitch, ch1* repeat from * until you reach the last stitch, skip the last stitch and sl st into the third stitch of the beginning 4ch
If you have an odd number of stitches: 3ch, dc in next st, *skip 1 stitch, 1dc in next stitch, ch1* repeat from * until you reach the last stitch, skip the last stitch and sl st into the top of the beginning 3ch
Next row: 3ch (count as a stitch), 1dc in every stitch and 2dc in every 1ch space around, sl st in top of beginning 3ch
Last row: 3ch (count as stitch), 1dc in every st around, sl st in top of starting 3ch, fasten off
Drawstring: using 4 strands of yarn (or at least 2 if using fewer in bkdy), leave a long tail (3 inches) and tightly make a long chain of stitches. Mine measures 22 inches. Tie off leaving another 3 inch tail.
Finishing: weave in ends (except drawstring). Weave the drawstring through the chain spaces on the drawstring round.
Example with a different stitch pattern (no instructions yet)
Please let me know what you think in the comments or email me at whatimadelastweekend@gmail.com. If you share your makes on Instagram, tag me @whatimadelastweekend as I love to see what you make!
See below for a pinterest pin for this post, to help you find it later:
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