Crochet Solar System Wheelchair Spoke Cover

A wheelchair wheel with a dark blue crochet cover attached, showing the sun in the middle and the planets of the solar system around it.

Today I’m sharing a pattern for a crochet wheelchair spoke cover I recently made!

I took a basic pattern for a doily, altered the dimensions slightly and included a sun at the centre. I didn’t want the middle of my crochet piece to be rubbing against the centre of the wheel, so I took rings from old keychains and crocheted around them.

Two keychain rings on a wooden table.

Flexible hoops can be purchased to hold a circular shape around the outer rim, but we just affixed ours to the handrims with small ties.

The original pattern can be found here: https://easycrochet.com/free-crochet-doily-pattern/

This pattern is intermediate level, has not been tested and may contain slight errors.

For me the finished dimensions were 22 inches across to fit a 24 inch wheel. It actually came out a little big, so I would recommend checking your size as you go, and leaving off or adding a few lines as necessary.

Materials

I would recommend using something machine washable.

For the outer space background I used 2 balls Navy Glitter Fashion DK 100g 300 metres (1 ball per spoke cover), and for the Sun I used a little orange and yellow that I had to hand.

For the planets I used leftover yarn from other projects as follows:

Mercury: Brown
Venus: Coral
Earth: Turquoise and Green
Mars: Wine
Jupiter: Brown/Cream mix
Saturn: Yellow, Brown ring
Uranus: Sky blue, white ring
Neptune: Dark blue

Crochet Hook 4mm/F

Crochet Terms (US terminology)

dc = double crochet
sl st = slip stitch
sc = single crochet
hdc = half double crochet
ch = chain
yo = yarn over
sk = skip
st(s) = stitch(es)

Pattern

The Sun

Round 1: 20 sc around keychain ring in Orange, sl st in top of first sc (20).

Round 2:  Ch 1, 20 sc, sl st in top of first sc (20).

Round 3: Ch 1, starting first st * 1 sc, 2 scs in next st, repeat from * around, sl st in top of first sc (30).

Round 4: Ch 1, starting first st * 1 sc, 1 sc, 2 scs in next st, repeat from * around, sl st in top of first sc (40).

Round 5: Switch to Yellow, Ch 2, starting in first sc *3 hdc, 2 hdc in next stitch, 4 hdc, repeat from * around, sl st in top of first hdc (45).

Round 6: Ch 1, 45 sc, sl st in top of first sc (45).

Keyring with one round of single crochet in orange worked around it. in the open loop there's a bright blue crochet hook.Crocheted sun with orange center worked around keyring and one round of yellow added. Blue crochet hook in open loop.Finished orange and yellow crochet sun with the first row of navy background added.

Outer Space

Round 1: Switch to Navy, Ch 3, *yo, pickup a loop in next st, yo, pickup a loop in st after that, yo, pickup loop in same st, yo, pull through the 7 loops on the hook to form a triangle, ch 2, repeat from * around, 1hdc in final st, sl st in top of first Ch 3 (62).

Round 2: Ch 1, 2 sc in first ch space, *3 sc in next ch 2 space, repeat from * around, sl st in top of first sc (69).

Round 3: Ch 3, dc all round, sl to in top of first dc (69).

Round 4: Repeat round one (81).

Round 5: Repeat round two (104).

Round 6: Repeat round three (104).

Round 7: Repeat round one (154).

Round 8: Repeat round two (155).

Round 9: Repeat round three (155).

Round 10:  Ch 3, *yo, pickup a loop in next st, yo, pickup a loop in st after that, yo, pickup loop in next stitch after that, yo, pick up loop in same stitch, pull through the 9 loops on the hook to form a triangle, ch 2, repeat from * around, 1hdc in final st, sl st in top of first Ch 3 (158).

Round 11: Ch 1, 2 sc in first ch space, *3 sc in next ch space, repeat from * around, sl st in top of first sc (158).

Round 12: Ch 3, dc all around (158).

Round 13: Repeat round ten (164).

Round 14: Repeat round eleven (164).

Round 15: Repeat round twelve ( 164).

Round 16: Repeat round ten (161).

Round 17: Repeat round eleven (161).

Round 18: Repeat round twelve (161).

Round 19: Ch 3, *yo, pickup a loop in next st, yo, pickup a loop in st after that, yo, pickup loop in next stitch after that, yo, pick up loop in same stitch, pull through the 9 loops on the hook to form a triangle, ch 3, repeat from * around, 1hdc in final st, sl st in top of first Ch 3 (220).

Round piece of navy crochet with orange and yellow sun in the middle.

The Ties (make six)

Ch 16, sc into second st from hook, sc back along chain, tie off (15).

Six strips of navy-coloured crochet to be used as ties.

Planets

Mercury

Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle, sl st in top of first sc (6).

Venus

Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle (6).

Round 2: Ch 1, 2 sc in each st, sl st in top of first sc (12).

Earth

Round 1: Using blue/turquoise yarn, 6 sc in magic circle (6).

Round 2: Ch 1, 2 sc in each st,  sl st in top of first sc (12).

Then, take some green yarn on a darning needle and thread through a few stitches. Mine was pretty haphazard. You want to see a splash of green from afar, so don’t worry too much about where exactly you add stitches.

A light blue crochet circle, with a green thread and an embroidery needle attached.A light blue crochet circle with random green embroidery stitches on top.

Mars

Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle, sl st in top of first sc (6).

This will make it the same size as Mercury. I did sl st all around to give it a slightly thicker border. This is optional.

Jupiter

Round 1: 8 sc in magic circle (8).

Round 2: Ch 2, 2 dc in each st,  sl st in top of first dc (16).

Round 3: Ch 1, sc all around,  sl st in top of first sc (16).

Saturn

Round 1: 8 sc in magic circle (8).

Round 2: Ch 2, 2 dc in each st,  sl st in top of first sc (16).

Ring of Saturn: In another colour, ch 15 and tie off (15).

Uranus

Round 1: 8 sc in magic circle (8).

Round 2: Ch 2, 2 sc in each st (16).

Round 3: Ch 1, 16 sc, sl st in top of first sc (16).

Rings of Uranus (optional): In another colour, ch 15 and tie off (15).

Neptune

Round 1: 6 sc in magic circle (6).

Round 2: Ch 2, 2 sc in each st (12).

Round 3: Ch 1, 12 sc, sl st in top of first sc (12).

All the individual planets of the solar system in crochet. From bottom to top: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Sew the planets on the background, and your cover should look something like this:

Round crochet of solar system: orange and yellow sun in the middle, dark navy sparkly background, and all the planets attached in different positions around the sun.

Repeat the whole process for the second cover.

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