French Horn Crochet Pattern

Design by Kyra Thomas www.etsy.com/shop/kyroozle

Copyright 2016 Kyra Thomas. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission
from the author.
This pattern is written in U.S. crochet terms. Please do not reproduce or sell this pattern. You may sell
the finished product, but please give credit where credit is due. 

Skills needed:

 Chain (ch)
 Magic Ring (MR)
 Slip stitch (slst)
 Single crochet (sc)
 Increase (inc)
 Decrease (dec)

Materials:

- worsted weight yellow/gold yarn (Shown: Lion Brand Pound of Love in “Honey bee”)
- Size G (4.25mm) crochet hook
- Size F (3.75mm) crochet hook
- tapestry needle
- fiberfill for stuffing
- metal wire
- (optional) hot glue gun
Mouthpiece/Bottom tubing/Bell:

Ch25, connect to first st with a slst

Row 1: sc24 (24)

Row 2: [sc3, dec] x4 (20)
Row 3: in BLO: [sc2, dec] x5 (15)
Row 4: sc15 (15)
Row 5: [sc1, dec1] x5 (10)

Continue single crocheting until the entire thing measures 9 inches (23cm), stuffing as you go. If you are
using a stitch marker, you may remove it at this point. Now we will begin working on the bell.

Row 1: inc in every st (20)

Row 2: (sc9, inc)x2 (22)
Row 3: (sc10, inc)x2 (24)
Row 4: (sc11, inc)x2 (26)
Row 5: (sc12, inc)x2 (28)
Row 6: sc6, inc, sc14, inc, sc6 (30)
Row 7: sc7, in, sc14, inc, sc7 (32)
Row 8: (sc15, inc)x2 (34)
Row 9: (sc16, inc)x2 (36)
Row 10: sc8, inc, sc18, inc, sc8 (38)
Row 11: (sc18, inc)x2 (40)
Row 12: (sc19, inc)x2 (42)
Row 13: (sc20, inc)x2 (44)
Row 14: sc10, inc, sc22, inc, sc10 (46)
Row 15: sc22, inc, sc22, inc (48)
Row 16: [sc, inc] x24 (72)
Row 17: slst all around (72)

Tie off and weave in tail

Upper tubing:

Ch11, leaving a long tail at the beginning of your chain for sewing (8 inches is good). Connect to first st
with a slst. Sc around, stuffing as you go, until piece measures 7 to 7.5 in (18cm). Tie off, leaving a tail
the same length as the first one. The tube should have a 10-stitch circumference the whole way. Pull
some stuffing out of the ends and pinched the ends closed, so that it looks like this:

Tuning slide holder:

 Ch15, turn
 Sc across (14)

Tie off.

Mouthpiece Stopper (optional):

MR5
Round 1: inc in every sc (10)
Round 2: [sc, inc]x5 (15)

Tie off.

Bell Stopper (optional):

Round 1: inc in every sc (10)

Round 2: [sc, inc]x5 (15)
Round 3: [2sc, inc]x5 (20)

Tie off.
Switch to 3.75mm hook

Side tuning slides (make 2):

 Ch42, turn
 slst 14, dec, slst 4, dec6, slst until end

*To decrease:

[Insert hook in next ch, pull yarn through the loop]x2 (= 3 sts on hook), pull the last st on hook through
the first 2 sts on hook

Middle tuning slide:

 Ch22, turn
 Slst 8, [ 2 sl sts in next ch, 1 sl st in next ch (=3 sl sts over 2 chs)] x2, slst 8. Tie off.
 Ch14, connect to first st with a slst to make a circle, sew onto curve of first part
Valve keys (make 3):

 MR 6, ch6, connect to first st with a slst

Tuck and cut the tail, but leave the string that was left in the middle by the magic ring. Use this string to
sew closed the opening left by the ch6, like this:

It is totally okay if they all look slightly different, so long as they are the same general shape.
Assembly:

First, cut a length of wire the same length as your bottom tubing (not including the bell). Then insert the
wire into the tube and curve it as shown:

Next, you are going to do the same thing with the top tubing. Then, sew the top to the bottom
somewhere around the area of these red lines (sew on the bottom and upwards).

For this step and everything after, I took some extra stuffing and stuffed it in the bell (the big part) so
that it would keep its shape while I manipulated everything.
It should look like this:

Now, decide where you want your valve keys to be, and place sewing pins there. Valve keys are the
“buttons” on the instrument. On a real horn they look like this:

A horn is played with the bell (wide, open part) facing to your right and the mouthpiece (small, open
part) toward your face. The valve keys are pressed with the index, middle, and ring fingers on the left
hand. I decided where I wanted my valve keys to be by putting my “horn” in this position. Wherever my
fingers rested naturally was where I put my pins.
After placing your pins, sew the tuning slide holder into the horn. It should be pulled taut so that it can
hold the tuning slides, and it should be flat so that the stitches are facing toward you.

Next, you are going to attach the tuning slides. Use the tail from the end of each tuning slide to sew it
on. First, you will attach the side tuning slides (leave at least 3 stitches in between them). To determine
the placement of each slide, use your pins as a guide. The middle or side of each individual slide should
line up with its corresponding pin. The easiest way to sew these on is to sew one side into a stitch (or a
“v”) on the tuning slide holder, skip a stitch, and then sew down the other side of the tuning slide on
the next stitch, so that there is a one-stitch space in the middle. Do this for both sides. Then, do the
same to attach the middle tuning slide.
Then, shape all the tuning slides to the best of your ability until it looks the way you like it. After you get
it to this point, use a hot glue gun to glue the parts of the side tuning slides that touch the upper tubing.
If you prefer not to use a glue gun, you can sew them down instead. Then, use the glue gun (or sew) to
attach the sides of the middle tuning slide to the sides of each side tuning slide. This makes them all
sturdier and makes them look neater. Here is a guide on where I glued:

I unfortunately do not have a picture of right after I glued before I did anything else, so the slides in that
picture had not yet been shaped to the “best of my ability”. Just do what you think looks correct (or use
the finished picture as a reference).

To attach the valve keys, I tied the tail from each valve key tightly to the tail from one of the tuning
slides. After that, I used hot glue to glue down the part of each valve key that touched the lower tubing,
directly underneath the pins that I placed earlier. You can also sew these down if you prefer.
Then, I brought all the tails down to the backside of the instrument and stuck them to the back of the
tuning slide holder with hot glue (you could also weave the tails in). Lastly, I cut the strings down and
used a bit more hot glue to stop them from fraying.
The Mouthpiece Stopper and Bell Stopper are circular pieces to add into the horn to stop the stuffing
from showing through. If you are keeping this for yourself you can leave these pieces out, but if you are
giving it as a gift (or just want it to look neater overall) then I recommend adding them in. The
mouthpiece stopper goes in the smaller opening and the bell stopper goes in the larger opening. You
may hot glue these in or sew them in.

And you’re done!