Crochet Half Sphere/Ball

Question

I want to crochet a half sphere. I can crochet a ball, no problem (I'm crocheting in the round, by the way). However, I can't find any (readable) patterns for a half-ball (meaning a ball cut in half).

I have tried a few guesses, but I can't figure out how to make the end of the sphere flat, and not rounded as I increase or decrease (depending on if I start at the half or the end of the ball.

In reality, I want to make a lemon that looks cut in half, like what's shown in this picture. ]

I got that image from this article, which does have instructions, but they're unreadable (it has strange words mixed in)

I just need to figure how to make a half-ball. Does anyone have a pattern or any guidance on how to make the end of the half ball flat (or as flat as possible).

Answer 1

1. The cut face of the lemon is a flat circle in pale yellow. You start with a magic ring and proceed in a spiral in single crochet (in US terminology) with 6st in the first circle^[1] and roughly increasing 6st per full circle. It's important to stagger the increases or you'll get a hexagon. See here for example for a more detailed tutorial.

2. The last round of the flat face is worked in white to represent the pith. The radial lines separating the segments are embroidered (not crocheted) using the same white thread.

3. You then move to dark yellow to represent the peel. You can try the slightly less incomprehensible translation from Chris H's answer to work out the exact stitch numbering, but in general:

   • "sharp" corners (like the edge where the lemon is "cut") are often obtained by over-increasing in one round and decreasing back in the next (this is probably why the lemon looks like it's got a bit of a "collar")
   • you may want to decrease a bit less frequently than you would do for a perfect sphere in order to get the oval lemony effect
   • as Chris alludes to, stuffing will be crucial for shape here (all crochet yearns to be a ball), and I would recommend something spongy that you can cut into a half-sphere rather that loose stuffing

Edit

After looking at the picture on a bigger screen than my phone, I now suspect that the two parts are worked separately and sewn together. The flat part is pale yellow, then one row white, then one row dark yellow; the lemon-shaped half is worked starting from the nubby tip and progressing like a sphere that stops at the widest point. Make sure that the two pieces end up with the same number of stitches on the edge. You then join the two pieces by either sewing the edges together or potentially working a slip stitch row hooking each stitch into two stitches, one from the peel and one from the face.

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[1]: These first 6st may have been done in white for the central pith, but you don't have to, you can embroider over (point 2)

Answer 2

Let's try to get more sense out of the pattern.

It's been auto-translated from Russian by the look of things. Provjazyaem = Провязяем = (We) knit (according to Google with help from https://translit.cc/), with Vyvjazyvaem having a similar meaning

Ubavlenij = Убавлений = Decrease

Stjagivaem = Стягиваем = Tighten

That page links to the original Russian pattern and Google seems to do a bit better at translating it. There are still deficiencies - "1р" in the Russian seems to mean "1st row" (the Russian Er looks like the Latin/English P but matches our R). It also seems to convert ст (=st = stitch?) into Tbsp (tablespoons!) at times.

I speak about as little crochet as I do Russian, but Google with these more obvious fixes should help quite a bit.

What I do know from having lived with a crocheter is that shaping the stuffing as you put it in will be critical to the finished shape.