Glossary / Puff stitch
puffPuff stitch
Several loose loops drawn up in one stitch and closed together into a soft mound.
Also written: puff st
How to work it
Yarn over, insert your hook into the stitch, and pull up a tall loose loop. Repeat that two to four more times into the very same stitch, so the hook fills with loops. Yarn over once more and pull through all of them, then chain one to lock the top. Unlike a bobble the loops are never finished individually, so a puff is softer and rounder. Puffs make flower centres, blanket texture, and the classic puff-stitch beanie.
Common confusions
What is the difference between a puff, a bobble, and a popcorn?
A puff is unfinished loops pulled up and closed at once, so it is soft. A bobble is several complete-but-for-the-last-pull stitches closed together, so it is firmer. A popcorn is fully finished stitches folded and pulled into a pouch, so it is the most sculptural. All three sit in the same family and patterns sometimes use the names loosely.
Why is my puff stitch tight and lumpy?
The loops were pulled up too short. A puff needs loops roughly as tall as a double crochet, all the same height, or the final pull-through cannot close smoothly. Pulling each loop up to the same height on the hook shaft, rather than letting them shrink, fixes almost every lumpy puff.
In other languages
| Language | Term | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| English | Puff stitch | puff |
| Español | Punto puff | no standard code |
| Deutsch | Puffmasche | Pfm |
| Français | Point puff | no standard code |
| Italiano | Punto puff | no standard code |
| 日本語 | パフステッチ | no standard code |
Related stitches
Keep your place while you work this stitch. Worsted counts your rows and rounds and remembers your spot in the pattern, for crochet and knitting.
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