Christmas Hanging Ornament

 

So, after making the puffy little stars in the previous post, I turned them into this cute little decoration. It looks better in real life than in the photo, the lighting is not great but you get the idea. 

I took the stars, made a bow and rastened them all together. The bow is just two rows of hdc to a suitable length and then two slip stitch chains along the length to contrast. It looks quite sweet just like that, but I added the bells by making chains and then single crocheting round them to neaten and reinforce them. I added another ribbon in the contrasting combination just for kicks. 

It looked very pretty hanging on the door as in the photo. I'm quite happy with it. It's not sales quality, but I may make more for my etsy shop...

Oh, My Stars!

Following on from my previous post, the crocheted baubles, I have also made some very sweet little festive stars. They would look lovely as gift decorations, as part of another festive creation, like Christmas stockings or a decorative wreath. 

      

Starting with my favoured 'magic circle' I made 5 bobble stitches with a ch1 in between each. Pull the circle tight

Second round, in the centre of the top of each bobble: 3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1. (Makes a small pentagon) 

third round: around the first ch1 in the previous round: corners of pentagon) 3dc, ch3, 3dc. In the second ch1(flat side of pentagon): slip stitch. 

The first part (3dc, ch3, 3dc) creates the points of the star, the second part anchors these and I think gives better definition and makes the points more pro I ant than just going from one point to the other without the slip stitch inbetween. 

To complete these stars, I completed two each, used single crochets to stitch them together and stuffed them. I added a ch12 and secured the end with a slip stitch to make a loop for hanging or otherwise securing depending on how they might be used. 

Christmas is coming!

Ok, I've been playing with crochet baubles this week, cute cuddly decorations that can be used to embellish gifts, home made stockings or even just hang about the house or on the tree. 

 

I started with a 'magic circle', 20 hdc and pull tight. You could do the usual chain and do the hdc around that, but you can pull the circle tight, which I find is great for making stuffed items. For the first round I just hdc all the way round, 2nd round: one hdc in each of the first five, hdc twice in sixth, hdc one in the next five, two hdc in the next one and so on to the end. Repeated this for each of the following rows till there was 40 sts. Then did 4 rounds of 40 hdc. I reduced in a similar way for the next 3 rounds or so till I got back down to 20 st. (Hdc 5, decrease in next 2 sts, 5 hdc...) then one round of 20 then final round reduced in first 3 sts, next 3 sts etc till the end. Leaves a little hole, make sure right side is facing, if not, turn inside out and stuff. 

You can decorate anyway you like really. I did simple single crochet stripes and tried to make them look like regular plastic ones by putting a white top and loop on the top, just two rows of sc and a chain of 12 for the loop. This closes the top and just makes them look a bit more authentic.