Crochet a Christmas Tree!

Hi there! I hope you're having a great day wherever you are! 

So December is nearly here, and that means Christmas is just around the corner!! Eek!  Where has the year gone? I feel like I have been going backwards this year, always chasing my tail!  Hopefully I'll be more organised next year and get my act together!! :) 

Anyway, I have been doing a bit of crochet and I thought I'd share a little Christmas decoration that I've been making this week, I like to try and come up with a new decoration each year and this is what I've made for this year! 

I hope you like it!  It has a bit of a rustic, folky feel which I like.  

These cute crochet Christmas Trees are made in 2 flat pieces, a front and back, that are then crocheted together. They can be left flat or can be stuffed for a more 3D effect, They are very simple to make, I have done a spotty bobble version and a striped version, so you can make a whole forest of dangley trees if you like!  There are lots of ways you could decorate these trees you could add a little sparkly star to the top and a loop and hang them, you could sew on beads or buttons, or make little stands from slices of branches and stand them up like a forest. or you could make a few and turn them into a Christmas bunting!  ( I think I might do this with mine!)

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Crochet Christmas Trees!

Materials and hook: They can be made from any yarn you like, different yarns will give you different looks, use the crochet hook 1 size smaller than recommended for the yarn you use.

I used MoYa cotton Caresse which is a rustic 10ply yarn and a 4.5mm hook.

Stitches used:

Chain (ch): Yarn over and draw through loop on hook.


Treble (tr): Yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, (3 loops on hook),

yarn over and draw through 2 loops, yarn over and draw through remaining 2 loops.


Treble two together (2trtog): [Yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over, draw through 2 loops] 2 times, yarn over , draw through all loops on hook.

Double Treble Bobble (dtr bobble) : [Yarn over twice, insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over draw through 2 loops, yarn over draw through 2 loops] 3 times, yarn over draw through all loops on hook.

(To make a bobble in a contrast colour; in the stitch before the bobble, use the bobble colour for the last yarn over so that it is ready to be used to make the bobble. Change back to the background colour in the last yarn over drawing through all loops on hook.)

Turn work after each row.

Staring chains in each row do not count as stitches. 

Australian/English terms.

Bobble Tree Front:

Row 1: Ch3, 2tr in 1st chain. (2sts)

Row 2: Ch2, 2trtog in first stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (3sts)

Row 3: Ch2, 2trtog in first stitch, dtr bobble in next stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch (4sts) 

Row 4: Ch2, 2trtog in each stitch to last stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (5sts)

Row 5: Ch2, (2trtog in first stitch, dtr bobble in next stitch) repeat to last stitch,

2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (6sts)

Row 6: Ch2, 2trtog in each stitch to last stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (7sts) 

Row 7: Ch2, (2trtog in first stitch, dtr bobble in next stitch) repeat to last stitch,

2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (8sts)

Row 8: Ch2, 2trtog in each stitch to last stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch (9sts) 

Row 9: Ch2, (2trtog in first stitch, dtr bobble in next stitch) repeat to last stitch,

2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (10sts)

Row 10: Ch2, 2trtog in each stitch to last stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch. Bind off (11sts)

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Tree Back:

Row 1: Ch3, 2tr in first chain. (2sts)

Row 2: Ch2, 2trtog in first stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (3sts)

Rows 3 to 10: Ch2, 2trtog in each stitch to last stitch, 2trtog x 2 in last stitch. (increasing 1 stitch in each row) Bind off.

Place the front and back together with right sides outside, join edge colour to bottom right corner and dc through both layers. Dc around the tree making a picot (4 chain, slip stitch into 1st chain) ever 3 stitch or so. when you get back to the bottom edge, dc half way along then pop a small stick for a tree trunk and crochet around it and continue to where you started , join with a slip stitch to the first stitch and bind off.

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For a striped tree:

Make as for the tree back, but use 2 colours alternating each row and crocheting over the unused colour across the row, so it is in the right place to start the next row. 

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Well that's it for now, I'm off to make a few more trees for my shop window! 

Talk soon! xxxxxxx

Baubles for Christmas - things I'm making.

Hi there!  Hope you have had a gorgeous day!
I just thought I'd pop these photos on here because I am enjoying making Christmas Baubles at the moment and aren't those colours just lovely together!   I haven't made these for a few years and am really having fun with all the colour play.  The end of the year is coming up so fast, it feels too early to be thinking about Christmas, but it will be here before you know it!  So this is me being organised and Getting Things Done Early! :)

Have you started to think about Christmas yet?

I am planning on writing up this pattern tomorrow as I am having a bauble workshop on Saturday,
so I thought I might pop a few bauble kits in the shop next week, and put the pattern in my Ravelry shop if anyone would like to make some of their own...... well that's the plan anyway, fingers crossed it will happen!

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Merry Christmas Eve

Hello!! 

It feels like ages since I've given my poor old blog any attention, so sorry for the unexpected absence! Life just got busy and blogging has been on the part of my to-do list that I just didn't seem to get to! 

Oh well, these things happen don't they! 

It's Christmas Eve here and I thought I'd share my shiny, happy, Christmas dangley thingy with you.  This is our answer to a Christmas tree this year, non-traditional but colourful and fun.  I think it suits the hot Summer Christmas that we get in Melbourne. ( It's going to be hot tomorrow, so might head to the beach after the big lunch!) 

I also had to show you the very cute mushrooms that I made from The Little Box Of Crochet November kit.  Have you heard of  TLBOC?  It's a subscription box that arrives once a month with a different project and all the supplies you need to make it.  The first one was these gorgeous mushrooms designed by the amazing Kate from Greedy for Colour, aren't they so cute!! 

Amanda Bloom is the clever lady behind this new business, it is based in the UK, but she sends all over the world, so I couldn't wait to sign up!  Have a look at her website over here if you are interested in seeing more about her lovely boxes. 

I turned my mushrooms into hanging decorations and I love them on my dangley thingy! 

......I strung some lights around it too, it looks very pretty all glowing at night, a bit hard to capture in a photo....

So how have you been going?  

Are you looking forward to a nice festive break after the busy build up before Christmas? 

I know I am! 

I'd just like to thank you all for visiting this blog, even if the posting is somewhat sporadic!  I love my tiny corner of the crochet crafty online community, it is so supportive and kind!   I am planning on being far more organised and regular in the new year, so hopefully there will be a lot more posts!  

Also I'd like to thanks all the wonderful yarn lovers who have supported Little Woollie Makes Yarn Store during 2015, I so appreciate that you take the time and make the effort to shop with me, I am only a little shop and your support is just the best, you are all fabulous!! xxxxx 

I have a big wishlist of yarns that I'd like to get in the shop in 2016, so stay tuned, there will be lots of yarny love happening around these parts this coming year! 

Wishing you and your families all a very Merry Christmas, our gathering is quite small this year so it will be a lovely chilled out day, lots of food and drink and sitting out in the sunshine! 

Have a great day tomorrow! 

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Have a good one!

So, it's Christmas Eve and I am just about to sit down and watch the Carols and do a bit of present wrapping, while trying not to cry to much. ( The carols always make me cry, a goodwill and joy overload maybe.)

I really hope you all have a lovely Christmas and festive season, my good wishes go out to you all dear readers, have a very merry and bright day!  Thank you so much for visiting my little patch of cyberspace in 2014, I so appreciate all the lovely comments and support you all provide, you guys really are awesome!  

This holidays I will be enjoying time with my family, and I hope you all get to spend some time with special people over the holiday period too, I really think that's one of the most important thing for us humans, feeling connected, feeling loved, feeling wanted and special, and if we can make someone feel that way I think that's a great thing! 

(I guess this bloggy internet community is just a great big extension of that! :))

I will be taking a little break from this space, I think a break from computer stuff will be quite refreshing, plus I have lots of hooky ideas to get out of my head!  A couple of weeks of planning and getting organised for the new year will get me all set up for a great 2015, I have some ideas that I wanted to try out on the blog this year but didn't get to them, so I hope I can get them off the ground in 2015!

Here are some cheery photos of my Christmas tree thingy this year, 

I am calling it our 'Christmas Cloud', it is definitely not a traditional tree, but I like it and there are presents under it too! 

I think it is well suited to our warm, sunny, Summer Christmas, kind of airy and bright, and it revolves in the breeze.  (Sorry for the excessive amount of photos, I was trying to capture the way it changed as it moved in the air. )

 All you Northern Hemisphere peeps, I hope you are warm and cosy, we will be trying to stay cool here in Melbourne, although the weather is looking lovely and mild for tomorrow, so it should be good for the big roast and pudding.  

Okay, that's enough waffling, Merry Christmas everyone!

Talk soon! 

Big love to you all! 

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Crochet Christmas Baubles. Love.

Hello!  How is you week going?  

Are you getting super busy yet?

The silly season has definitely arrived at our house, I seem to have lost a few days last week!

I have been so busy getting orders completed and trying to have enough stock for the Emu Plains Market on Saturday, my house looks like a dump, there are bits of yarn all per the place, it has certainly been a bit cray-cray round here! 

  

We also had our big extended family Christmas party on Sunday for my side of our family,  it was great to catch up with all my cousins and aunts and uncles, I love being part of a big family, it is always a really good day, and is fascinating to see the next generation coming along and getting so big!!  

So Sunday was great day, then Monday was a shocking day for the country.

 What an unsettling week so far, with the terrible siege in Sydney leaving the whole country feeling stunned and so sad, it's hard to believe something like the has happened in Australia, but I have just been watching the news and it is heartening to see how everybody is coming together to support one and other, the aftermath seems to be bringing out the best in people, that is something to hold onto I think.  Love to all of Sydney. xxx

Anyway, this is not supposed to be a sad space, so  back to the hooky stuff.  

Here's something to cheer you up, in a very colourful, fluffy, frivolous way!

I have been crocheting like a mad woman, currently I am making some crochet baubles.  I have seen some lovely looking baubles around the internet recently, so decided to have a go at my own version, and this is what I have come up with.  

I have to say I am rather pleased with how they are turning out.  They are so fun to make! 

As usual, I have gone over the top with colour, the colours of the Cascade Ultra Pima cotton really look fantastic together, and I have got a few favourite colour combos going that are working well I think.

I am also pretty happy with my little pattern, a bit of trial and error, but they are fitting nicely and I love all the colour changes.  Might try and write it down as some stage.  I am hoping to have about 20 of these ready to sell at the market, but I really won't mind if I bring them home again, they can certainly brighten up my pompom tree!

So here are a few extra photos, just because I thought they looked cheerful! :)

So, I am right in the middle of decoration making and have found some lovely tutorials and patterns around the traps at this time of year.

Here are a few links for other decorations to hook up if you have a few spare moments.

* Crochet baubles at The Patchwork Heart gorgeous!

* More crochet baubles from Handmade and Home lovely!

* Cute Christmas Trees from Poppy and Bliss over on My Poppet 

* more Christmas Trees from The Royal Sisters (great for buntings or garlands)

Are you making any decorations for your tree?

Have you had a go at crochet baubles yet?

Have a great day! 

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(Edited 10/11/16  it has taken a couple of years,but I have finally written up my pattern for these Christmas Baubles,  Yay!  It is in my Ravelry shop over here if you'd like to take a look! :) )