stuff susie made: Crochet Xiao Long Bao (pork dumplings) - Beginner Friendly Pattern and tutorial

Xiao Long Bao = Meat Dumplings

If you've never tried, these dumplings (the real ones) are killer comfort food. They're made with bits of jellied broth that melt when steamed so when you bite into them you get the yummy filling and a mouthful of meaty gravy. It does mean though you need to bite into them really carefully else you'll squirt a dose of boiling hot gravy onto your face. Not cool.

Crochet Snacks for Front-line Staff

I've been looking for small projects to make for my husband's colleagues (they're frontline medical staff). Hub leaves them in the pantry with a 'take me home' note as a mini surprise for anyone looking for a cup of tea. I can't make PPE but hoping something silly like these will put a smile on their faces.

Beginner Friendly Pattern

So my inspiration came from an old Taiwanese book called 'Fun Fun Zoo' (rough translation) where there was a small dumpling with a pained expression. It looked so cute I decided to make lots of them with different expressions that are kinda cute and weird at the same time.

My version is adapted from the book. It is more tapered at the top so they look more bao like - and there's no need to sew the top closed because the last round are all decreases and makes a cute well like the real baos.

It's a good pattern for beginners since the bao is basically a ball. You'll need to know how to do a magic ring, single crochet and increase and decrease.

Ingredients

Crown 4-ply acrylic yarn in white/cream;
Pink and Brown embroidery thread and large tapestry needles;
Polyester filling;
(Optional)
5mm eyes;
Brooch pin;
Blusher and
Scissors and glue.

Tip: You can use any type of yarn so long as it's not too soft so the bao will hold its shape. I used an acrylic 4-ply yarn because I had some lying around. The only difference may be the size. I would avoid very thick (chunky) yarn if you don't want the bao to be too big.

Method

The bao is made using joined rounds. Don't forget to slip stitch to close and chain 1 before beginning the next round.

R1: Using white or cream yarn, do a magic ring and do 8 single crochets (sc) into the ring, tighten and join to form a closed circle. (8 sts total)

R2: Work 8 single crochet increases (sc inc) x 8 (16 sts)

R3: (1 sc then 1 sc inc) x 8 (24)

R4 to R 7 (i.e. the next 4 rows): 24 sc (24)

R8: (4 sc then 1 single crochet decrease (sc dec)) x 4 (20)

R9: (3 sc then sc dec) x 4 (16)

R10: (2 sc then sc dec) x 4 (12)

You should stuff the bao now before closing the top.

R11: Work 6 sc dec. (6) Either weave in yarntail or use it to sew on brooch pin.

Here are the steps with pictures if you need some visuals:

R1: Using white or cream yarn, do a magic ring and do 8 single crochets (sc) into the ring, tighten and join to form a closed circle. (8 sts total)

R2: Work 8 single crochet increases (sc inc), you should now have 16 stitches.

Tip: Single crochet increase is where you work 2 stitches into one stitch from the previous row.

R3: (1 sc then 1 sc inc) x 8, you should now have 24 stitches in total.

R4 to R 7 (i.e. the next 4 rows): 24 sc. Because there are no increases, you'll see the sides beginning to curl up.

R8: (4 sc then 1 single crochet decrease (sc dec)) x 4 (20)

Tip: single crochet decrease is where you begin one single crochet, but before you finished by pulling yarn through two loops, you start another stitch, yarn over, then pass through three loops. It stitches two previous stitches into one.

R9: (3 sc then sc dec) x 4 (16)

R10: (2 sc then sc dec) x 4 (12)

You should stuff the bao now before closing the top.

R11: Work 6 sc dec. (6)

Cut off yarn and thread yarntail either along some stitches for security or straight into the bao, or if you want to make the bao into a pin:

Use the yarntail to stitch on the brooch pin.

Using a tapestry needle sew on expression or glue on plastic eyes then you'll just need to sew on mouth. For the side-eye I used a straight stitch and a french knot.