Crochet onigiri pattern — three pieces, 48 rounds written out
About 7 cm tall, about 8 cm across the base and roughly 2 cm thick: a free crochet onigiri pattern, worked on a 4.0 mm hook in three colours, around two and a half hours. The nori band takes twenty of the pattern's forty-eight rounds and sits at ten stitches for eighteen of them — a narrow tube worked plain, then pressed flat into a strip. All 48 rounds are written out across the three pieces, with the number it leaves you on printed beside it.
Maths verified, not yet made. Every one of the 48 rounds was checked against the round before it by machine — the counts, the increases and the decreases all add up. What nobody can promise you yet is how it sits in the hand.How we check
6 of 8 checks ran on 2026-09-04
- 1 format and stitch chainscripts/validate.py — 113 patterns, all counts chain.
- 2 catalogue auditscripts/audit-patterns.py — 113 audited, 0 errors, 66 warnings.
- 3 geometrygeometry-check.py — 113 checked, 0 errors, 4 warnings.
- 5 not a duplicate113 distinct display names across 113 patterns
- 6c target on the recordseo.headKeyword, confidence and demand present and cross-checked by scripts/validate.py
- 8 page readinessscripts/check-completeness.py --gate — 0 required fields missing, 114 editorial flags, 0 unearned claims.
Not yet checked
- 4 render matches the pattern — no image has been compared against its own prompt, so a render showing a piece the rounds do not make would not be caught here. Nothing has counted how many do.
- 6a recognisability — provenance.recognisability is empty in every pattern, so there is no feature list to check the parts against.
Why it is rated Easy
Easy on the stitches — there are only three shaping moves in the whole pattern — but the three increases have to stay stacked in the same columns for all ten increase rounds or no corners form.
Sell what you make. Anything you crochet from this pattern is yours to sell — any quantity, no fee, no credit required.
00
00What you need before you start
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What you need before you start
Yarn — three colours, all weight 4
1 skein (about 40 g)Worsted / aran acrylic, CYC 4
scraps (about 8 g)Worsted / aran acrylic, CYC 4
scrapsWorsted / aran acrylic, CYC 4
Tools
4 you probably own, 1 to buyYou likely have
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Stitch markers
Pins
You need to buy
Polyester stuffing (~30 g)
Optional
A stitch marker in a contrast colour for the round start
A chopstick or similar blunt stick for pushing stuffing into the corners
Gauge and finished size
the last check before you cast onTension
Tight enough that no stuffing shows between the stitches. Exact gauge is not critical; a looser hand gives a bigger rice ball.
Finished size
~7 cm tall, ~8 cm across the base, about 2 cm thick
A smaller hook makes a firmer triangle, which suits this shape: the corners are held by the stuffing rather than the stitches, so a loose fabric lets them soften back towards a circle.
How to make the onigiri rice ball, piece by piece
Switching rewrites every round:US6 sc in mrUK6 dc in mrWork a US sc as a UK single crochet and the fabric comes out looser and taller.
1
01The rice body
Three increases a round, always in the same three columns. That is…25 RNDS
starts in riceWhite· magic ring· Piece 1 of 3
First six rounds[6] [9] [12] [15] [18] [21]
Opening out to the widest round
RND 1–111[6]
2[9]
3[12]
4[15]
5[18]
6[21]
7[24]
8[27]
9[30]
10[33]
11[36]
Straight through the middle
RND 12–1512[36]
13[36]
14[36]
15[36]
Closing back in
RND 16–2516[33]
17[30]
18[27]
19[24]
20[21]
21[18]
22[15]
23[12]
24[9]
25[6]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitchesreprepeat
When this piece is doneStuff it firmly before the last few rounds close, and press the stuffing out into the three corners. Pinch each corner while you finish so the shape sets.
2
02The nori band
A narrow tube, worked round and round and never stuffed. Pressed flat…20 RNDS
starts in noriBlack· magic ring· Piece 2 of 3
First six rounds[6] [10] [10] [10] [10] [10]
Opening out to 10
RND 1–21[6]
2[10]
Closing in
RND 3–203[10]
4[10]
5[10]
6[10]
7[10]
8[10]
9[10]
10[10]
11[10]
12[10]
13[10]
14[10]
15[10]
16[10]
17[10]
18[10]
19[10]
20[5]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitchesreprepeat
When this piece is donePress it flat with your fingers, then lay it across the base of the triangle and pin it before sewing so it sits level.
3
03The plum
Six stitches out to twelve, then one straight round, which lifts it…3 RNDS
starts in salmonPink· magic ring· Piece 3 of 3
First three rounds[6] [12] [12]
1[6]
2[12]
3[12]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitchesreprepeat
When this piece is doneA pinch of stuffing keeps the dome from sinking. Sew it to the middle of the front, above the band.
You are here
Seven notes on the onigiri rice ball
Read themClose
01An original Crochet Genie design.
02Worked in a continuous spiral in smooth single crochet throughout — no ribbing, no clusters, no open work anywhere in the piece.
03The three increases in every shaping round stack in the same three columns, one third of the round apart. Stacked shaping is what pulls a circle into a rounded triangle, so keep the columns lined up and mark them on round 2 if it helps.
04The corners come out soft rather than sharp. Stuff firmly and pinch each corner between finger and thumb as you close the last rounds — the stuffing holds the shape, the stitches only suggest it.
05The nori band is a narrow tube worked in the round, left unstuffed and pressed flat, so it reads as a double-thick strip about 5 stitches wide. It is sewn across the base of the triangle rather than worked into it.
06The umeboshi centre is a shallow salmon dome sewn to the front, the pickled plum you see in the middle of a real rice ball.
07This is a first draft of an original design: the counts chain, but adjust as you go if your rice ball wants another straight round through the middle.
Four questions this pattern answers
Not questions anybody asked. Each one is written from this pattern's own record, and every answer is read off the fields it names.
How many pieces make up the onigiri rice ball?
How much yarn will the onigiri rice ball take?
What hook will the onigiri rice ball need, and what is the finished size?
How long will the onigiri rice ball take to crochet?
A round that will not add up?
Tell us the piece and the round number — the stepper already knows where you are.There is nowhere to send one yet.
Put the laptop down mid-round
The iPhone app keeps your place — piece of 3, round of — and hands it back where you left it.
