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

Dotty flower pattern

Hello! I hope you're having a lovely day!

   You know how I really like crochet flowers?  

Well, I have a little pattern to share with you all today.  I have been fiddling around with this flower pattern for a while, I like how the inner ring of tiny petals are nestled in the big petals. I am calling it the Dotty Flower because of the inner ring of small petals (dots).  

It is not very hard to make, and it is always fun coming up with 3 colour combos. :)  

I made mine in MoYa DK cotton, just because I like the washed out look of the colours, but you could use any yarn that takes your fancy, just make sure you use the right size hook for your yarn. 

I think I'll write the pattern out in one chunk, then you can look at the photos for extra help if you need it. This pattern uses US terminology.  

Ok here goes! 

Dotty Flower

4 mm hook, small quantities of 8ply/DK yarn in 3 colours

Special instructions:  

2dc Cluster: Yo, insert hook in stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops ( 2 loops left on hook) , yo, insert hook in same stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops (3 loops left on hook) , yo and pull through all loops on hook. 

Petal Cluster: Step 1- *Yo twice, insert hook into 2 ch space, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops, yo and pull through 2 loops, leave last loop on hook ( 2 loops on hook) * .  

Repeat * to *  (3 loops on hook) 

Step 2 - Yo 3 times, insert hook in skipped stitch of round 1, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops, yo and pull through 2 loops, yo and pull through 2 loops, leave last loop on hook  ( 4 loops on hook) 

Repeat Step 1 into the same 2 ch space ( 6 loops on hook) .

Step 3- Yo and pull through all loops on hook. 

( I know that was a long winded explanation of a petal cluster, if you are confused there are photos of these steps to help you see what I mean)

Pattern: 

Chain 4, slip stitch into 1st chain to form a ring.

Round 1: ch2 (does not count as a stitch), 12 dc into ring, slip stitch join to 1st dc, fasten off. 

Round 2:  Join next colour to any stitch, ch2, make a 2dc cluster into same stitch, *ch2, skip 1 stitch, make a 2dc cluster in next stitch, * .  Repeat * to * 4 more times, to make 6 cluster, ending with 2ch and slip stitch join to 1st cluster. Fasten off.

Round 3: Join next colour to any 2ch space.  *Ch 4, make a petal cluster, ch 4, slip stitch into same 2 ch space, slip stitch into next 2ch space. *  Repeat * to * making 6 petals around the flower in the 2 ch spaces of previous round. Slip stitch into 1st space to join, fasten off and weave in all threads. 

All finished! :) 

Helpful photos! 

Round 1 done............

 Round 2 done........

 How the petal cluster should look, from right to left on the hook - the 4 chains, then 2 trebles made into the space, then 1 double treble made into the skipped stitch of the 1st round, then 2 trebles made into the space again, leaving the last loop of each stitch on the hook. ( 6 loops in total) 

....then you yarn over and pull through all the loops.......

.......and make 4 chain........

....... then slipstitch into the same space to finish off the petal......

........Slip stitch across to the next space and make the next petal in the same way.......

.......all finished ! .........

I hope that wasn't too confusing, they are really pretty easy to make.  

I hope you have fun with this if you give it a go.

Have a lovely crafty day! 

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Puffy Flower Decoration Tutorial

Hello!

It's been a while since I shared a pattern with you lovely readers, so I thought it was about time to post a tutorial, there is still time to make a few of these before Christmas.  I thought you might like to make a Puffy Flower decoration, I have been making these recently and they are fun and not too difficult, I think they look pretty dangling around the place, or they make nice little gifts.

 I think it is nice to make a decoration or two each year to add to the collection, and I try and come up with a new idea each year, this is what I have been making this year!  

So I have made a little tutorial for you if you would like to have a go. This is a little thank you to all the people who visit here and my shop and leave lovely comments, thank you for your support and kind words, I really appreciate them! 

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Puffy Flower Decoration

Ok, so you will need small amounts of cotton yarn in different colours, I used 8ply and a 3.5mm hook for this example, but you could use what ever you have, just use a hook that is one size smaller than recommended.  This tutorial uses US terminology.

( Throughout this pattern the initial chains made at the start of each round to get to the stitch height do not count as a stitch unless otherwise stated)

To begin chain 4 and join with a slst to form circle.

Round 1: Ch3, make 12 dc into circle, join with slst to 1st dc (not top of 3ch)  (12 st) Fasten off.

Round 2 : Join second colour, Ch3, create puffy petal - make 4 tr into same st as chains, leaving the last loop of each stitch on the hook.....

......so it looks like this, with 5 loops on hook...... ( sorry about the sideways photo, it refused to be edited!)

.....then make the last yarn over through all 5 loops, creating a puffy cluster........

.....into the next st make 1dc and a puffy petal in the same way......

Continue making a dc and a petal into each stitch until you have 12 petals made.  In this round only, join with slst to third ch of starting chain. Fasten off. (24st)

It should look like this.

Round 3: Join 3rd colour to stitch at top of any puffy petal, chain1, make 2sc into same stitch, then 1sc into next st (top of dc of previous round).  

Continue making 2sc in top of petal, and 1sc in top of dc, 12 times in total till you are back to the start, join with slst to 1st sc. (36 st)

 Round 4 : Chain 1, make 2sc in same stitch, then 1sc in next 5 stitches, *then 2sc in next stitch, then 1sc in next 5 stitches* , repeat from * to * all around , join with a slst to 1st sc. ( 42st)  Fasten off.

This makes one puffy flower circle.

Make a second puffy flower circle the same way.

Take both circles and place wrong sides together. 

Working through the back loops only of each circle, join yarn and chain 1, make 1sc in each pair of back loops, with a 4 chain picot every 6th stitch if you wish, or you could just leave the join a plain circle of sc..........

......continue around the circle until you get back to the start, join with a slst to 1st sc.  Chain 45  and join with slst to 1st chain to create a hanging loop. Fasten off.

Use a needle to weave in your end securely.

And there you have it, one finished decoration! Yay! 

I hope these instructions make sense, if you have a problem, I'll try and help.

Now you can go and play with colour combinations and make lots of dangling goodness for your holidays! I hope these little things help make your Christmas very merry! 

Have a lovely crafty day! 

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Crochet 101 - Skinny stripes 3 ways.

Hello!

 Today I have a little crochet class for you.  I have had a few questions on my skinny stripe blanket and how I made the rows stay straight and what not, so I thought I'd do a 'how to' to show you how I did it and also give you a few other options for narrow striped effects.  You know I love a good stripe, so it was fun to make little samples of skinny stripes and actually think about how I have been making them.  It's not rocket science, but it might be helpful to people still finding their crochet feet!

The 3 different stripe effects I am going to show you are pictured here.

The top one is the one I used for my skinny stripe blanket, I'll call this one Classic stripe.

The middle one is Classic stripe, but made alternating the starting side. (I'll try and explain this more clearly in a minute)

The bottom one is single rows of sc started from the same side each row.

Classic Stripe

(Each stripe of colour is actually 2 rows of sc,  down the front side, turn work and back down the reverse side.)

1. Make your chain row and sc into the second stitch from hook and into each stitch along the row. 

At end of row, ch1, turn work and sc into same stitch as chain (chain is not counted as a stitch in this case), and sc in each stitch along row till end , Fasten off.

2. Join your second colour, and ch 2, ( this counts as 1st stitch) sc in each stitch along row.

3.At end of row, ch1, turn work.

4.Sc in each stitch along, (remember turning chain does not count as first stitch), with last sc going in the second ch of your starting chain where you joined the new colour. fasten off. (See picture below)

So, this is what you have when you have done a few double rows of colour, this is the front side.....

....and this is what you get on the reverse side, I like this side the best as the stripes are nice and defined and quite square.  You can also start each new colour with 1ch instead of 2, but I like the extra square edge of each stripe when you do a 2ch start.  Totally up to you though.

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front side of classic stripe with a twist......

reverse side of classic stripe with a twist.....

Classic stripe with a twist!

This is made using the same method as the Classic stripe except that you start each new colour at alternating ends. ie, after first blue stripe, start green strip on the wrong side, then red stripe start on the right side, then pale blue stripe start on the wrong side, and so on.

It just gives a slightly different pattern to the fabric, with a less obvious back and front ( the fabric is pretty much reversible) and you don't get the same thickening of the side where all the threads are woven in like you do with stripes started all on the same side. 

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Single row stripe:

1. After the chain row,  sc into second chain from hook, and sc in each stitch till end of row. Fasten off.

2. Join new colour into first stitch of row making 2ch to count as first stitch, then sc in each st till end of row. fasten off.

3. Join new colour into second chain of 2ch made at start of last row, make 2ch and then sc into each st till end of row,fasten off.

4. Continue adding new colour stripes in the same way until work is at desired size.

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Ok , I hope that wasn't too confusing or boring, I know most of you would know all this stuff already, but sometimes it is nice to refresh the basics and see different effects with you can get with the same stitch.  And I hope it makes it a bit easier for the ladies who were having trouble with their stripes! :)

Have great day, and happy striping! 

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Flower decoration tutorial......

Hello!  

How are you going? I have totally lost track of the days this week, fully in holiday mode at the moment!

But I have put together a little tutorial for the stuffed flower decorations I have been making, in case anyone would like to make a quick and simple decoration to add to their Christmas cheer. 

Ok, here we go!

Hook : 3.00mm

Materials : Small amounts of 8ply yarn, I used Heirloom cotton 8ply,  but this is a great scrap buster project, you could make these with any yarn I think.

Chain 4, slip stitch into first ch to form circle .

Round 1 : ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), 9 dc into circle, join to first st with slip stitch (10 sts all up), bind off.

Round 2: Join second colour to any st, Ch 1, 1 sc into same stitch, then 2sc in each stitch around circle 

( 20 stitches all up), bind off.

Round 3: Join petal colour to any stitch.  Make 5 petals in this round.  

(Work into the back loop of the st only in this round)

To make a petal, 

In 1st st : do 1sc

In 2nd st: do 1hdc, 1dc, 2tr

In 3rd st: do 2tr, 1dc,1hdc

In 4th st: do 1 sl/st

Continue around circle and make 4 more petals ( 5 in total), sl/st into first st of first petal and bind off.

Now you have a flower like this, you can do a few different things. You could leave it at this point, and have a flat plain flower, or you could do an extra round of sc around the petals in another colour for a finishing outline flower that is still flat, or you could do what I have done, .......

........which is make a second flower and join them together by sc all around in a contrast colour, stuffing the flower with a bit of fibrefill before completing the sc edge......

 .......and then I made a hanging loop by changing to a 2.00mm hook and chaining around 30 - 40 chains and joining the end with a slip stitch into the base of the chains.  Weave in the ends, and

 So that is it!  Very easy and simple, and I think  they are very cute when they are finished.  You could add these to presents as a sweet topper, or hang them anywhere you like!

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I am sorry about the poor quality photos, the lighting wasn't great and I think I must have been shaking the camera a bit. 

We are having a great holiday, and I haven't spent much time on the computer at all, the internet connection is fairly dodgy here anyway, (and I have almost forgotten about Christmas completely!), too busy having a fun relaxing time swimming, lazying around, sun soaking, eating, drinking, etc. You get the picture!

Anyway, I will be back in a week or so with normal life resuming. 

Hope you are all having a good week too! xxxxxxx

CAL update #10

Hi there.

I have been working steadily away at my big blanket now for ages, and I have decided it is big enough!   So I have the final instalment for my epically long CAL, and then I will do the edge and it will be finished!!  I'm not planning anything fancy for the edge, there is so much going on in this blanket already that I think something plain and simple will be fine.

Anyhoo, here is the last !! section of my blanket:

After the 2 rows of dark pink,

double row of SC in red (right side, then turn work and go back on wrong side),

then 1 row of 4dc clusters in sky blue,

then 1 row of sc in red,

then 1 row of 4dc clusters in spearmint,

then 1 row of sc in pale pink,

then 1 row of 4dc clusters in dark blue,

Then a section of double rows of sc in

light aqua

red

spearmint

flamingo

pale blue

celery

Next I did a section of bobble stitch in flamingo and green.

Then a double row of sc in celery,

and another double row of sc in red.

Next I did a section of granny stripes in sky blue and pale blue then sky blue again.

The last section of the blanket is 5 double rows of sc in

red

dark blue

mid green

celery

flamingo.!

And that is the end of the main part of the mixed stitch stripy blanket!!

Just the edge to go now, so close to finishing, I really want to get this finalised before the weather gets much warmer, it is a very heavy, warm blanket!

Thank you if you are still with me on this CAL, I know I have been unreliable in it's progress, and a lot of people have got on with it and made up their own sequence, which is great.  I have seen many beautiful blankets finished months ago!  I apologise for my poor CAL admin duties, it seems I am not great at regular postings, maybe next time I will choose a smaller, more manageable project!  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the process, and created something unique and special along the way!

These instructions will be put onto the CAL page so that anyone can have a go at making their own mixed stripy blanket when ever they like, it's never too late to join in!

I'll be back with a post about the edging and a few pics of the whole thing finished, this blanket deserves a tadah, even if we are all sick of the sight if it!! :)

Have a great day y'all, and thanks for visiting!

Tapestry Crochet - Harlequin Pattern Tutorial

Hello! 

So today I thought I'd chat a bit about the very cool crochet technique called tapestry crochet. 

 Tapestry crochet allows you to create a piece of crochet that plays with colour changes and flat patterns. 

You use two coloured pieces of yarn and crochet over the colour not in use, so you can alternate between two colour as the pattern requires.  

That is pretty much it in a nut shell, so if you know how to crochet, draw up a pattern on graph paper and give it a try!  

Tapestry crochet creates a nice thick fabric, and you can be very creative with the patterns.  I am thinking of lots of things I could make using this technique! More on that later!

A few people asked for a pattern, so if you want a bit more detail, I have done a little tutorial and step by step guide, I hope it doesn't get too confusing. 

So this is how I made my basic harlequin pattern:

Firstly, I used graph paper to draw up my pattern, as you can see it's very simple!  

Each square represents 1 sc stitch. 

My harlequin squares are 13 stitches wide, if you wanted a bigger square you could continue increasing by 2 stitches each row until you get the size you want ( i.e., 15, 17, 19, 21 stitches wide, etc)

This is a repeating pattern, so you can make your piece as wide as you like depending on the number of repeats you do.

I am doing 3 repeats, so the first row of my pattern is 6, 1, 13, 1, 13, 1, 6  = 41 chains to start.

So chain 41 in first colour (pink) then lay the second colour (blue) across the yarn (see above) and ch 1 in pink to trap the blue yarn in the st so it is ready to be carried along the top of the row.

Sc the first 6 st according to the pattern going over the blue yarn, when you get to the last pink st, change to blue to complete the st, so you are ready to use blue for the next st.

ready to do a blue st!

 .

(This is how you change colours throughout the pattern, the stitch before the changed colour, you finish off with the new colour and then proceed in the next stitch with the right colour.  I hope that makes sense, and I''m not too confusing!)

Then you continue on with 1 blue st and 13 pink st, and so on, changing colours as needed and crocheting over the unused colour.

....this is how the first row looks at the end.....

.....bring the unused colour across front of work and 1 ch in pink, then turn work and start the second row, reading the pattern from left to right for every wrong side (even numbered) row, and right to left for odd numbered front side rows.

You get a nice neat edge by trapping the unused yarn at each turn.

...you can see the pattern forming.....so just continue changing from pink to blue and blue to pink as needed.......

....at the last row with 13 blue st, change the colour from pink to blue in the last stitch of the previous row, then trap the pink wool and ch and turn,  so you are able to do blue stitches from the start of the row

......here is what it looks like half way through the pattern, now we just mirror the pattern that we have  done to form the top half of the squares.

At this point you can change the pink wool to a different colour if you want to have different colours for all you rows of squares, like I have done below, or you can continue on with the pink and blue to create a checkered effect.

This is just a very basic guide to tapestry crochet, but I hope you can see it's creative possibilities, I think it could be used for many lovely projects, I am planning a harlequin cot blanket and I think it would make great face washers and potholders in cotton, I will be trying out some different patterns for those I think. (Also cushions, bags, purses, hotwater bottle covers......I could go on and on!)

Anyway, that's it for now, if you do have a go at this and find problems with my instructions, please let me know and I will try and fix them up.  

Have a great weekend!

xxxxxx

Edited to add:  If you would like to have a go at a spotty pattern for tapestry crochet I have another post over here with a graph for spots.  xx