Crochet Star

 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

I’ve made many handmade gifts for my friends and family for this Christmas but as always I didn’t start early enough and have been spending every spare waking moment with a hook in my hand to produce the things I think people will love.  I now have a plan for next year so I can achieve all I want to and give those I love the most beautiful gifts I can create that are filled with my love for them.

I love the picture at the top of my blog.  The sun was shining when I took it so the lighting was perfect and I think I captured the essence of getting ready for the christmas season in that one image.  This is what the finished article looks like in situ.

I made the stars for me as a small reward for all my efforts in making gifts for Christmas, they were a brief respite from some of the bigger projects.  I find small things that are swift to produce very rewarding and crocheting in cotton is my favourite.  I am drawn to the look and feel of the things I produce in this yarn as you get such a crisp stitch finish I  think it may well become my signature yarn.

Watch out for some posts in the new year of the Christmas gifts I’ve made, they are secret until then!

Last Christmas was my first in my new crocheting world, as I was re-learning and remembering my craft I found a cheap crochet gift pack for making christmas tree decorations, it wasn’t the best! Not very easy to follow as the instructions were back to front and the hook was extra cheap and didn’t work properly it just bent every time you put any pressure on it. Enough to put any new crocheter off for life but I persevered and  here are the ones I made last year.

I had completely forgotten about them until I opened the decorations box this year. Last year, despite the quality issue, it was a good learning experience and after working out how to read the topsy turvy pattern and buying a metal hook I made quite a few. Luckily the high street retailer has not repeated the mistake this year.

This year I’ve been experimenting with lots of yarn, colours, textures and shapes.  See my Christmas Crochet pins here on Pinterest for the things that have inspired me.<a data-pin-do=”buttonBookmark” data-pin-save=”true” href=”https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/”></a&gt;

On reviewing last year’s effort with this years, I think you can clearly see the improvement.

I found the pattern for these stars on this blog site Persia Lou Handmade Modern. Please visit the blog as the five point star pattern is not my own and belongs to Persia Lou.  She has used the star as a tag for a gift.  I did block (wash, stretch and pin) my stars to give them a better shape but did not use any stiffening so they aren’t as pointy as Persia Lou’s.

I used a smaller 4 mm hook and stylecraft double knit cotton, lighter than the chunky knit Persia uses, for the cream stars and a limited edition recycled Drops DK cotton for the beige stars.

I made the garland by crocheting a long chain and placing the starts at even intervals but on different length of yarn hanging from the chain to give an uneven look. You can try hanging them evenly from the chain dependant on the look you want. They have taken pride of place in my kitchen for the holiday season.

See below for the a variation for a six pointed star, this is my own pattern. I have also given you a five pointed star pattern beneath. There is a trick to getting these to look good, makes sure that when you start row 2 that you have 12 stitches to work in.  Start row 2 with a chain one single crochet in the same stitch make sure you then do your series of stitches in the next stitch. When you are finished you do need to block the stars Persia Lou shows you how to do this. You can just use spray starch if you can’t find the fabric stiffener she uses.  If you don’t block it your star will look like a flower. I didn’t stiffen the garland stars but I did block them.  I have blocked and stiffened the six pointed star so you can see all the different options.

Row 1 showing 12 trc sl st to join in 3rd chain of row 1

         

Row 2 dc in the next stitch trc, dtrc, ch 1, dtrc, trc in the next stitch, first cluster completed repeat 5 times

              

Sl st to join and the Star is complete, see below for a blocked and stiffened star ready to use as a single decoration or for a garland.

  

Crochet Star Pattern

Supplies

4 mm crochet hook

Stylecraft DK crochet cotton in a colour of your choice, one ball will make many little stars

Yarn needle for weaving

Scissors

Pattern six pointed Star

English Terms

Row 1: Start with a magic loop, ch 3 (counts as first trc), 11 trc in magic loop. Pull to tighten, sl st in the 3rd ch of the starting stitch to join (12 trc in total).

Row 2: Ch 1, dc in same space, (trc, dtrc, ch 1, dtrc, trc) all in next st, *dc in next st, (trc, dtrc, ch 1, dtrc, trc) in next stitch, repeat from * to* 4 times, sl st to starting dc. Finish off, weave in ends (6 dc, 6 star points).

Pattern five pointed Star

English terms follow the link for American terms Persia Lou Handmade Modern

Row 1: Start with a magic loop, ch 3 (counts as first trc), 9 trc in magic loop. Pull to tighten, sl st to join (10 trc in total).

Row 2: Ch 1, dc in same space, (trc, dtrc, ch 1, dtrc, trc) all in next st, *dc in next st, (trc, dtrc, ch 1, dtrc, trc) in next stitch, repeat from * 3 times, sl st to starting dc. Finish off, weave in ends (5 dc, 5 star points).