Tag Archives: Christmas

Free pattern for a Christmas Tree Ring

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in My crochet, Pattern, Ta-daah!

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It’s almost Christmas (shock, horror) so I decided to design a free Christmas crochet pattern for all my lovely readers, Facebook followers and Instagram followers.

Christmas tree crochet ring

Christmas tree crochet ring

The christmas tree ring is a cute accessory to wear on Christmas day, it’s a great stocking filler, or wear it throughout December to spread the Christmas cheer every day.

crochet thread crochet christmas tree

I use crochet thread for this ring. Please don’t be afraid of using crochet thread and the required 1.5 mm crochet hook. I used crochet thread for two of the projects in Crochet Pretty. Out of all the patterns in Crochet Pretty, the Oh What A Cute Oval Brooch is my favourite and that’s all down to the use of crochet thread for tiny flowers and picots. I’m falling in love with crochet thread more every day.

We are spoilt with choice when it comes to yarn weights and most of the time we go for the double knits or 4 plies, but crochet thread is made for us! Literally! Making something with thin yarn and a tiny crochet hook is just like regular crochet, you just need to look a bit closer when you’re crocheting. That’s all there is to it.

crochet thread crochet christmas tree with seed beads

Hopefully this tiny crochet christmas tree will give you the confidence to also use crochet thread more and see the 1.5 mm crochet hook as your friend.

crochet thread seed beads ring blank

You will need

1.5 mm crochet hook

Anchor Freccia ticket no. 6 in green

Ring blanks like this one sold at Hobbycraft

Clear super glue or use a mini glue gun

5 x size 8 red seed beads. I bought this pack of mixed colours at Hobbycraft and just picked out the red beads.

Notes and abbreviations

This pattern is written in US crochet terms. The sc (single crochet) in this pattern is the equivalent of a dc (double crochet) in UK crochet terms.

Bsc is a Beaded Single Crochet. You make a beaded crochet stitch by moving the bead up against your crochet before doing the last “yarn over” of the stitch. Watch this video to see how to make a beaded treble – the technique is the same no matter what crochet stitch you use.

Beads have to be threaded onto the yarn before you begin crocheting. Watch this video to see how to thread the beads onto yarn.

Turn your work after every row.

ch = chain

sc = single crochet

bsc = beaded single crochet

st = stitch

Pattern

Thread 6 seed beads onto yarn.

Foundation row: Work 2 chains.

Row 1: 1 sc into second ch.

Row 2: 1 ch, (1 sc, 1bsc, 1 sc) into next st. (3 st.)

Row 3: 1 ch, sc in each st to end. (3 st.)

Row 4: 1 ch, (1 sc, 1 bsc) into next st, 1 sc, 2 sc in next st. (5 st.)

Row 5: 1 ch, 1 sc in each st to end. (5 st.)

Row 6: 1 ch, 2 sc in first st, 1 sc, 1 bsc, 1 sc, 2 sc in last st. (7 st.)

Row 7: 1 ch, 1 sc in each st to end. (7 st)

Row 8: 1 ch, (1 sc, 1 bsc) into next st, 4 sc, 1 bsc, 2 sc in last st. (9 st)

Row 9: 1 ch, 1 sc in each st to end. (9 st)

Row 10: 1 ch, 4 sc, 1 bsc, 4 sc (9 st)

Row 11: 1 ch, 3 sl st, 1 ch, 3 sc (last 3 st remain unworked). (3 sc)

Row 12: 1 ch, 3 sc. (3 sc)

Fasten off and weave away the ends.

Glue the christmas tree to the ring blank.

xxxxxx

Christmas tree crochet ring

Terrific Tuesday

11 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Terrific Tuesdays

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On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

Christmas came a’knocking at our house.

xmas door snow and frost

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

The Journey

09 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in My ramblings

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The new Christmas TV advertisement from John Lewis.  It gave me goose bumps and a tear in my eye.

The advert was filmed in New Zealand in July and it set to the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song “The Power of Love”, performed by little-known Gabrielle Aplin, a 20-year-old singer-songwriter from Bath.

John Lewis, you’ve done it again. A heart-warming, feel good advert celebrating the spirit of Christmas. Love it.

What you give is what you get

25 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in My ramblings

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I’d like to share a Christmas tale that proves what you give is what you get. Seriously.

On Thursday John and I decided that we would only spend £10 on each other this Christmas. While I was thinking what to get the man who has everything I thought of a Boots voucher, but then I realised it’s actually something I would really want (there’s always something for me to buy at the make-up / hair care / lotion counter) so I tried to find another gift for him.

That morning I did some work for one of the lawyers in our department who I don’t usually work for. I must have done a really good job, because later that day he handed me an envelope with a £10 Boots voucher to say thanks for the work I did! I was gobsmacked! Here I received exactly what I had desired that morning, and from the most unlikely source (seriously, if you know this lawyer you would know that a thank you, much less a voucher, is totally out of character).

Friday, my last day at work, I received various christmas presents from the lawyers I work for, including a £100 Amazon gift voucher. £100 is a lot of money to spend at Amazon! During the course of Friday morning John went to the shops to buy my £10 gift. That evening I showed him the Amazon voucher and without thinking, I just blurted out that he could have half of my voucher to spend on himself at Amazon. I honestly hadn’t planned on giving him half, it just sort of “fell” out of my mouth. He was really happy and grateful and ended up buying new Philips hairclippers and PC memory. These two items came to £60 so he asked whether he should give me the £10 back in cash but I said no, go for it, £40 is enough for me to spend on Amazon.

Christmas morning, and I received my gift from John. Guess what it was….. a £50 voucher from Boots!!!!!!!!!!! Remember, he bought the voucher before I got home that evening, so he didn’t know I would give him £60 to spend at Amazon! That means that:

I think of a £10 Boots voucher, I receive the voucher the same day.

I receive a £100 voucher and give £60 to John, but I get my £60 back in the form of £50 Boots vouchers from him and the £10 from the lawyer, and he gets his £50 back in the form of £50 from Amazon!

I just love love love love these Laws of the Universe. If you give with love, it, and more, will come back to you!!!

By the way, I’m going to spend my £40 at Amazon on, among other things, Simply Crochet: 30 Stylish Designs for Every day and Crocheted Throws and Wraps. My £10 gift to John was a very cute and funny Red Bird Angry Bird that makes the same sounds as in the iPhone game. Red Bird is now hanging out with the three crochet birdies and they are big friends. We think he’s not really angry, just a bit misunderstood.

I hope you are enjoying your Christmas Day with friends and family. Hopefully you’ll find time for a bit of crochet action as well.

Christmas tree, crochet style!

03 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in My crochet, My ramblings, Pattern

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Behold our christmas tree in all its crochet glory!  Doesn’t it look christmassy, colourful and wonderfully crochety? (On this blog, crochety is a word okay?)

You will recognize the granny stars from previous posts. After selling one star at the market and giving 30 away, the rest went onto our tree.  Now I’m actually glad they didn’t sell at the market because they look every so cheery on our tree.

The round decorations are rounds 1- 3 of Attic24’s hexagons  and the christmas star at the top of the tree is this Super Mario Invincibility Star pattern. I left an opening between two of the points, and also ironed on fabric interfacing to the wrong side before sewing the two halves together so that it would keep its shape on top of the tree. It worked a charm.

All the decorations are done with Rowan handknit cotton in Bleached, Rosso and Gooseberry.

The stars even look good as part of the christmas wrapping!

Have you made crochet christmas decorations? Have you decorated your christmas tree? I’d love to hear from you!

Market Maths

05 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Markets, My crochet, Pattern

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I’m hard at work making stock for the WI Christmas Fayre in November. That means every spare minute I’m hook-in-hand, including on the train to and from work. This morning while I was hooking away (entertaining the people standing in the aisle pretending to read the newspaper *if you don’t turn the page I know you’re watching me*), I did some Market Maths.

If I want to make eight sets of six granny stars, I need 48 granny stars. I managed to do four stars this morning on the train. I do two train journeys per day. That means eight stars per day. 48 ÷ 8 = 6. Just six days, or 12 train journeys, and I’ll be done with the christmas decorations for the market!

I couldn’t resist hanging the stars off the gladioli that I bought for my boss who is coming back from maternity leave tomorrow.  Christmas trees are so last year. Gladioli are the way to show off your decorations!