© June Gilbank 2022

By request, here’s a variation of my Love Hearts pattern that lets you crochet two-coloured hearts. It’s available in a flat and a puffy version (use the flat version for a quick appliqué to stitch or glue to something else, or the puffy version to make a self-contained heart).

Please use this pattern however you wish, and especially to make hearts in the colour of the Ukrainian flag to show your support during this crisis. You can also sell hearts to fundraise (look for an accredited humanitarian aid charity in your country).

The pattern is below, and I’ve also added it as an additional two pages to the donationware version of the Love Hearts pattern, so if you’ve already donated for Love Hearts, please feel free to log back into your PlanetJune account and download the updated PDFs (I’ve added it to both the US and UK terminology versions).

The complete Love Hearts pattern is Donationware – the pattern is available for free, but if you like it please consider sending me a donation to show your appreciation:

Send me a donation and receive the easy-to-print PDF version of the pattern as a thank you!

NEW! Now, in addition to the standard (US) terminology PDF pattern, with your donation you’ll also receive a second PDF file with a version of the pattern in UK crochet terminology.
NEW! Both the US and UK versions of the pattern have been updated again to include the complete Two-Tone Heart pattern (flat and puffy versions) and colour change tips.

Donations of any size are much appreciated. Just add the amount you wish to donate, and, once you have checked out and paid, your pattern will instantly be available to download from your PlanetJune account.

The pattern and instructions are available below, regardless of whether or not you choose to pay for them 🙂

This is a PlanetJune original crochet pattern. Feel free to use items made from this pattern however you wish, but I’d appreciate credit as the pattern designer. Please do not reproduce the pattern anywhere else; instead post a link to www.planetjune.com/hearts

Not ready to make it yet? Add it to your Ravelry queue:

Terminology

You will need…

• E US/3.5mm crochet hook (or smaller – see Gauge, below)
• Small quantity of worsted weight yarn in blue and yellow, or any other two colours of your choice
• Yarn needle to weave in ends
• Optional: small amount of polyester fibrefill stuffing for a puffy heart

Gauge

Gauge is unimportant for this pattern – getting a clean colour change is more important than the size of the finished heart. For the best result, use the smallest hook you can comfortably manage with your yarn! From my tests, a smaller hook will make a sturdier heart with a much straighter line of colour changes.

Note: See my worsted weight yarn comparison to see how much worsted weight yarns can vary. As a starting point I recommend an E US/3.5mm hook for a heavy worsted (or aran) yarn, or a D US/3.25mm or 3mm hook for a light worsted (or DK) yarn.

General Love Hearts Instructions

If you haven’t made any of my Love Hearts before, please take a look at the Love Hearts ‘Notes for all hearts‘ section for a demo of how to work all of Rnd 1 into the magic ring.

Notes for Colour Changing

Always change colour in the last loop of the stitch before the colour change (see my Changing Colour tutorial for help with this).

As always, it’s up to you how you deal with the yarn ends – see Changing Colours: Managing the Yarns for a rundown of the options. For speed and convenience, my suggestion is to carry the yarn ends on the back of your work – just drop the yarn when you don’t need it, and pick it back up at the next colour change, so the yarn forms a strand along the back of the work.

Flat and Puffy Versions

Flat Version: If the back of the heart won’t be seen (e.g. if you’re going to glue it onto a card, or stitch it onto a crocheted hat), the strands of yarn that are visible on the back won’t matter, so make the Two-Tone Heart pattern exactly as written below.

Puffy Version: If the back of the heart will be seen, use the ‘Puffy Heart’ technique from the Love Hearts pattern to make a self-contained heart with either a neutral-coloured crocheted backing or a matching two-tone back:

1. For the back of the heart:
   • Either make a single-coloured Love Hearts ‘Medium Heart’ for the backing (below, left). Choose a neutral colour for this (e.g. white, grey, beige), as it’ll be framed by both your main colours.
   • Or complete a Two-Tone Heart up to the end of Rnd 2 (below, right), then fasten off.
2. For the front of the heart, complete a Two-Tone Heart up to the end of Rnd 2 (below, right) – do not fasten off.
   
3. Hold your backing heart behind it, wrong sides together, and crochet through both layers (below, left) as you begin to crochet the stitches of Rnd 3, keeping all the yarn ends inside the hearts.
4. At the first colour change, pull the dropped yarn forward so it’s sandwiched in between the two layers of the heart (below, right), then keep crocheting with the new colour until you need to switch back again.
   

Note: If you’re making a two-tone back, you’ll notice that there’s one stitch at each colour change point where you’ll be crocheting into a different colour stitch on the front and back layers (see photo, right). Don’t worry – this isn’t a mistake! You’ll see when you’ve finished crocheting that the colours still match up on the finished heart.

Two-Tone Heart

Colour Code
A: colour for upper half of heart (e.g. blue)
B: colour for lower half of heart (e.g. yellow)

With A, make a magic ring, ch 2.

Rnd 1: work all these stitches into the magic ring:

Pull the magic ring mostly closed, leaving a small space in the middle. With A, ch 2, sl st into the remaining hole in the magic ring. Pull the magic ring tightly closed.

Note: do not turn work, continue working anti-clockwise (clockwise for left-handers) around the heart, working into the stitches of Rnd 1, and starting by working into the ch-sp formed by the ch 2 you made after the magic ring.

Rnd 2:

Note: do not turn work, continue working anti-clockwise (clockwise for left-handers) around the heart, working into the stitches of Rnd 2.

Rnd 3:

Join with sl st into first st. Fasten off and weave in ends.

I hope you enjoy this pattern and that you’ll put it to good use. Please leave me a comment below if you do, and consider leaving me a donation for the complete Love Hearts pattern including all six variants in US and UK terminology. Thanks!