A blue nazar eye at the top and two coils twisting beneath it, one navy and one pale blue, wound past each other all the way down to a crystal drop. It is a protection charm in the traditional colours, and the double coil makes it turn slowly on its own in any moving air.
If you have already made the purple version with the flower fairy, this is the same eye with a different body. That one has a single short coil. This one has two long ones interlocking, which is a completely different look and only slightly more work.
What you’ll need
Size 3 crochet cotton in navy, mid blue, pale blue and white.
A 2.5 mm hook.
You’ll also want a faceted glass crystal or a small silver bell for the drop, blue glass beads in a few sizes, silver seed beads, a scrap of thin card for backing the eye, about a metre and a half of 0.8 mm florist wire, and a tapestry needle.
Finished length is about 50 cm.
Abbreviations are US terms. ch is chain, sl st is slip stitch, sc is single crochet, hdc is half double crochet, dc is double crochet, inc is two stitches in one, MR is magic ring.
Part 1. The eye
Worked as one flat disc from the pupil outwards, changing colour as you go.
In navy. Round 1. 6 sc in MR (6) Round 2. Inc six times (12)
Change to mid blue. Round 3. Sc, inc, repeated six times (18) Round 4. Sc twice, inc, repeated six times (24)
Change to white. Round 5. Sc three times, inc, repeated six times (30) Round 6. Sc four times, inc, repeated six times (36)
Change to pale blue. Round 7. Sc five times, inc, repeated six times (42) Round 8. Sc six times, inc, repeated six times (48)
Change to navy. Round 9. Sc seven times, inc, repeated six times (54) Round 10. Sc eight times, inc, repeated six times (60) Round 11. Sc around with no increases (60). Fasten off.
Round 11 matters. Denying the circle its increase is what turns the outer edge up very slightly and stops the whole disc rippling.
Add a small white highlight to the upper left of the navy pupil with two or three straight stitches. Without it the eye reads as a target. With it, it reads as an eye.
Back. In navy, work a plain circle through the same increase sequence to 60 stitches.
Cut a card circle slightly smaller than the disc, sandwich it between the two pieces and sc them together around the edge in navy.
Picot edge. Work sl st, ch 2, sl st into the same stitch, repeated into every second stitch all the way round, in navy. Fasten off.
Part 2. The two spirals
Make one navy and one pale blue. The construction is identical, only the colours swap.
Ch 100. Keep the chain relaxed and don’t let it twist.
Row 1. Ch 2, then work 2 dc into the third chain from the hook and 2 dc into every chain across. Do not fasten off.
Row 2. Turn and work sc into every stitch across the full length. The work will be coiling hard by now, so follow the curve with your hands rather than trying to flatten it. Fasten off.
Row 3. The picot edge, worked in the opposite colour. On the navy coil, edge in pale blue. On the pale blue coil, edge in navy. Work sl st, ch 2, sl st into the same stitch, repeated into every second stitch, all the way along the outer edge.
Swapping the edge colours is what makes the two coils read as a matched pair rather than as two separate things that happen to be hanging together. It costs nothing and it is the detail people notice without knowing why.
Thread florist wire through the base of the row 1 stitches along the inner edge of each coil, folding both ends over and tucking them back inside.
Part 3. Getting the double spiral right
This is the only part of the piece that can go wrong, and both problems are easy to avoid.
First, the two coils must twist the same way. Set them with the wire so both are wound in the same direction. If one is left handed and the other right handed they will fight each other and tangle instead of nesting.
Second, they attach half a turn apart. Sew the top of the navy coil to the underside of the eye at the front, and the top of the pale blue coil to the underside at the back, directly opposite. Side by side, the two coils sit on top of each other and look like a mistake. Opposite each other, they wind past each other the whole way down.
Once both are attached, adjust the spacing so the navy band always sits in the gap between two pale blue turns. Work down from the top with your fingers, and the wire will hold whatever you set.
Part 4. The beaded centre cord
Chain 40 in mid blue and slip stitch back along it to firm it up.
Thread blue glass beads and silver seed beads onto short lengths of thread and attach them to the cord at three or four points down its length, alternating sizes.
Attach the top of the cord to the centre of the underside of the eye so it hangs straight down the channel between the two coils without touching either one.
Part 5. Putting it together
At the top, make a hanging loop by chaining 40 in navy and slip stitching back along it. Thread two blue glass beads and a silver bead onto it just above the eye, then fold the cord into a loop and stitch it firmly to the top of the disc.
At the bottom, attach the crystal or bell to the end of the centre cord, below where the two coils finish. The weight is not decoration. It keeps the whole piece hanging straight rather than drifting, and it makes the spin even.
Hang it up and leave it a day before you weave in the last ends. Two coils always want one more adjustment once they are carrying their own weight.
Notes and variations
The purple and lilac colourway is the one to make if you want it to read as decor rather than as a charm.
Turquoise and white gives a lighter summer version that suits a window.
Skip the eye and use a flat flower or a star at the top, and the double coil works just as well underneath.
For a car mirror version, shorten both coils to 60 chains so they do not swing into anything.
Questions I get asked
Why do my coils tangle instead of nesting? Either they are attached too close together at the top, or they twist in opposite directions. Check the handedness first, since that is the one you cannot fix by adjusting.
Why does my eye ripple? Skip nothing in round 11 and use the card backing. Those two things together keep it flat.
Do I need the card? On a disc this wide, yes. Stiffener alone will let it bow over time.
Can I use acrylic? For the coils it is fine, since the wire does the structural work. For the eye, cotton gives much crisper colour rings.