Blogs, Patterns

🎄Super Sprout Pattern🎄

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Well hello all. Hoping you have all had a wonderful Christmas day, filled with love, fun & magicalness!! Can’t quite believe it’s already over!! It’s amazing how long we spend building up to the big day and then it’s over in the blink of an eye. It’s all worth it though to see the magic and wonder in our children’s faces and the happy smiles when you give your homemade gifts!!

But I can imagine that many of you are feeling a little low, as if you’ve just run a marathon and now you’re not sure what you should be doing!! You may also be feeling a bit down that Christmas is all over for another year!! Well if anyone is feeling a little sad by it all, then I may have the solution. You can crochet your very own little Super Sprout, to remind you of your happy Christmas Day with that yummy Christmas dinner. And it may also remind you of the conversation about who does and doesn’t like sprouts!! Haha!! I swear every Christmas table must discuss it!! That and what do you put in your Boxing Day sandwich! Now, I may have lost a few of you there, as some people will be like ‘what on earth?!?’ But there will be a few of you that could receit exactly what they have in that once a year special sandwich & to the point of what goes in which layer!! Love it!! (I know I could!!)

Anyways, my little Super Sprout is here to help. He will definitely brighten up your day and be all ready for next year’s Christmas!! I’m sure you are wondering why I even came round to crocheting a Sprout, well here’s how.

The other day we were in the supermarket, getting our big Christmas shop and we spotted a lowly little Sprout all by itself on the floor. It was nowhere near its little friends! My daughter immediately said it must have been a Super Sprout, that spends its evenings keeping the naughty peas in check in the supermarket. “It’s just like in the book!” She squealed!! She was referring to the Supertato book that they had read in Reception as a class.

 

The super potato basically saves the vegetables from a naughty pea that escapes from the freezer and causes havoc!!! She then insisted that I must crochet one and that I could put it on my blog! So without further a do. May I present Super Sprout. (You have to admit, he’s rather sweet!) He’s been snuggled up in my daughter’s bed since Christmas morning!! Anywho, back to crocheting. Right usual information on stitches here and supplies and then the pattern. Photos are on the go, so hope they all make sense. I only had a day to make him. So it was a bit of a quick one this one. She definitely loved finding him under the Christmas tree.

Stitches –

Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Double Crochet Decrease (2dctog) – This is where you crochet two stitches together to decrease the amount of stitches in the round. So insert the hook through the front of the first stitch only (the front V) and then insert again through the front of the second stitch (the front V). Now yarn over your hook and pull it back through both stitches, so you will then have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. And there is your 2dctog. (Basically 2 double crochet stitches crocheted together.)

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Half treble (htr) – A half treble crochet is basically one less movement than a treble. So yarn over hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through all 3 loops.

Double treble (dtr) – A double treble is quite a tall stitch. So yarn over hook twice, insert hook through the stitch/space and then yarn over hook again. Now pull the yarn through the stitch. There will now be 4 loops on the hook. Now place the yarn over the hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then yarn over the hook again and pull through the next two loops. Haha, now place the yarn over the hook again and pull through the last 2 loops. Phew! It’s a bit of a long process, but a lovely stitch with the height that it gives.

Supplies –

So for Mr Super Sprout you will need some green yarn, I have used stylecraft cotton, but you can use wool or any green yarn really. Some scissors, a blunt ended tapestry needle, some toy stuffing and little bit of black yarn for the face. Oh and I nearly forgot a 3mm and a 4mm hook. The 3mm hook is for the body and the 4mm hook is for the leaves.

So here we go…

Body – use a 3mm hook with your green yarn. You are working in the round for the body.

1 – Make a magic ring, chain 1, then dc6 into the ring. Then pull the tail tight to create the first round. (6)

2 – *2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)

3 – *1dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (18)

 

4 – *2dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (24)

5 – *3dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (30)

6 – *4dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (36)

7 – *5dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (42)

 

8 – 13 For each round, 1dc in each stitch. (42)

14 – *5dc, then 2dctog*. Work ** 6 times. (See stitches explanation above if you are unsure of 2dctog.) (36)

15 – *4dc, then 2dctog* Work ** 6 times. (30)

16 – *3dc, then 2dctog. Work ** 6 times. (24)

17 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times.(18)

18 – *1dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times.(12)

Now it’s time to stuff your body with toy stuffing,

19 – Work 2dctog 6 times (6)

Now sew up and fasten off your body using a blunt ended tapestry needle. You will notice that it gives a little bit of a point. This is where you can attach the base of your 4 leaves to.

Leaves – use a 4mm hook with your green yarn. Make two of each size. (Two small and two large.) For all of the leaves you are now working in rows and not rounds.

For both leaves –

1 – Make a slip knot on your hook and chain 4.

2 – Now work a htr into the third stitch from the hook and another htr into the next stitch from the hook. Turn your work now, so that you can crochet back along the row. (2)

3 – In this row, chain 2 and work 2htr stitches into each stitch and turn your work. (4)

4 – Then chain 2 and *work 1htr into the same stitch, then 2htr into the next stitch.* Repeat ** twice and then turn your work. (6)

5 – Then chain 2 and *work 2htr, then 2htr into the next stitch* Repeat ** twice and turn your work. (8)

6 – Now chain 2 then *work 3htr, then 2htr into the next stitch.* Repeat ** twice and turn. (10)

7 – Now chain 2 and then work *4htr, then 2htr in the next stitch.* Repeat ** twice and turn your work. (12)


Now make two small leaves:

8 – 9 For each row, chain 2 then work 1htr into each stitch and turn. (12)

Now make two large stitches:

8 – 11 For each row, chain 2 then work 1htr into each stitch and turn. (12)

Now the next two rows are the same for both the small and the large leaves. So you are either on round 10 for the small leaf or round 12 for your large leaf.

– Slip stitch into the first stitch, dc, htr, tr, tr, dtr, dtr, tr, tr, htr, dc then lastly a slip stitch. Then turn your work. (12)

– For the last row, miss the first stitch then slip stitch into the next stitch, then dc, htr, tr, dtr, dtr, tr, htr, dc, then miss a stitch and slip stitch into the last stitch and fasten off. (10)

Right so this is what you should now have in front of you. One round ball, two large leaves and two small sprout leaves.

Now it’s time to sew the Sprout leaves in place. So start off by using the tail from the base of the leaf. So find the tip of the Sprout ball (its slightly raised) and using a blunt ended needle, sew on the first leaf base and fasten off. You will only be able to sew on the base as your tail of yarn is quite short.

Now move to the top of your sprout and using the top tail sew on the sides on the leaf but not the top.

Leaving the top part free, allows the leaf to have some movement.


Then carry on adding the other 3 leaves in the same way.


And now for the fun part. The eyes, eyebrows and smile. You need your black yarn, needle and scissors. (Don’t forget you can make the expression anyway you like.)

For the eyes. Attach by knotting one end and threading it through a gap in between a stitch at the back of the body. This will hide the end. Now pull the needle through where you would like the eye to be. I tend to sew over one stitch to make the eye and sew over this stitch about 5 times. You can add eyebrows in the same way but with one stitch. I love the simpleness of the eyebrows. They can make such a difference to a face!!

 

For the mouth. Pull the yarn through where you would like the mouth to start then thread back through where you want the mouth to finish. Now here’s the tricky part. You now need to anchor the mouth in the middle to make it a smile. So simply push the yarn back up in the middle of the mouth by one stitch lower, go over the top of the mouth, then back through the same stitch. This will give you the smile. Again simple, but effective.

And there you have it – one little Super Sprout to keep you feeling that little bit Christmassy. I was thinking today, you could make a whole family of sprouts or even crochet them some Santa hats!! Proper cute.

Well I hope you have enjoyed my post. As always, if you have any questions or queries at all, please don’t hesitate to ask!! Looking forward to seeing all other little sprouts made – don’t forget to share your little fellas on here or on instagram/facebook by linking it to  #pipsrainbow

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈 Xx

 

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Patterns

Christmas Tree Decoration Pattern

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A little something extra for Christmas

It’s not long now chaps!! Can’t believe how quick it’s come round this year!! It’s crazy! We literally have a couple of weeks till the big day and less till the little elves in our lives break up from school too!! I actually thought I was quite organised this year! My shopping list has been getting relatively smaller over the past few weeks. I had quite a big blast in October just before our two little one’s birthdays. I think because their birthdays are only two days apart and kind of near to Christmas, I had a big splurge on getting everything. But the to do list of making, still seems to be rather large! I’m not sure how, but recently things have been added which wasn’t the plan at all!! So starting to get a little bit panicky about it all! I know I will get it all finished in the end, but my time to finish things is getting smaller and smaller. There is definitely a need to prioritise now! Do I get things finished first that will be quick or do I finish the big jobs first?!? It’s a tough one! This is when I wish I had started everything a lot earlier in the year! I say it every year, but I never do. It always seems to catch me out for some reason!

So thinking about presents and things, I realised I needed to make some decorations to give to people. I love giving presents and especially crocheted ones. But it’s also nice to add a little crocheted present onto something else.

Now I’ve seen lots of different crocheted christmas tree decorations in my time. Some fat ones, some tall ones and some with lots of layers. But not really one that was flat & used simple treble stitches. So I had a little play and this is what I came up with. It’s so much fun making up a new pattern. My only problem is how messy my scribbles are, when writing down the pattern. I wish I was neater, but I’m usually frantically scribbling it down, before I forget or trying to change what I’ve written as the pattern hasn’t worked!

Now as this is a little bit of a long winded pattern, with quite a few stitches, I haven’t included a photo for each part. As I think it would be a little bit crazy to follow and I’m sure you guys would get sick of the same thing!! So I’ve just included photos for each stage. Now if you do find you get stuck, please don’t hesitate to shout and I can show you what I mean.

Stitches – 

(Don’t forget that all the stitches on pipsrainbow are using the UK crocheting terminology. If you need help translating them to American, then just let me know.)

Magic Ring (mr) – For a magic ring, make a loop with the yarn, leaving a tail. (Make sure the tail is under the working yarn.) Now insert your hook into the loop, from the front to the back. Wrap the working yarn around your hook and pull the yarn through and pull tight to create a ring.

Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually into the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Chain (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Double Crochet (dc) – To make a double crochet, insert hook through your stitch/space, yarn over hook and pull through the stitch. You should have 2 loops on your hook, now yarn over hook and pull through both loops on your hook.

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Half treble (htr) – A half treble crochet is basically one less movement than a treble. So yarn over hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through all 3 loops.

Double treble (dtr) – A double treble is quite a tall stitch. So yarn over hook twice, insert hook through the stitch/space and then yarn over hook again. Now pull the yarn through the stitch. There will now be 4 loops on the hook. Now place the yarn over the hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then yarn over the hook again and pull through the next two loops. Haha, now place the yarn over the hook again and pull through the last 2 loops. Phew! It’s a bit of a long process, but a lovely stitch with the height that it gives.

Using multiply strands of yarn – when I use more than one ball of yarn together I literally just grab the two or three ends of each ball and place them together in between my fingers. Then start crocheting as if they are one. The photo below is showing you 2 strands of dk yarn in a magic ring.

Supplies – 

My little tree shown above is made with multi strands of yarn. So it uses a ball of cotton dk and a ball of wool dk in the colours of yellow, green and brown. So you will need a 7mm crochet hook, blunt ended tapestry needles and some scissors.

You can also make my little tree smaller, by just using one strand of dk wool. So again you will just need wool or cotton dk yarn in yellow, green and brown and you can use a 4mm hook. (The pattern below is using one strand of dk wool.)

So here we go 😁…

The tree itself.

1 – Make a magic ring and chain 3 into the ring. Now treble (tr) x 2, chain 3, tr x 3, chain 3, tr x 3 and then slip stitch (ss) into the original chain and pull the non working yarn to pull the ring together.

2 – Now for the next round chain 1, tr x 3 into the space, chain 3, tr x 3 into the same space, chain 1, tr x 3 into the next space, chain 3, tr x 3 into same space, chain 1, tr x 3 into the next space, chain 3, tr x 3 into same space, chain 1 then ss into the original chain.

3 – This is the start of the last round. So chain 2, ss into next space, chain 2, tr, dtr x 2, chain 3, dtr x 2, tr, chain 2 and slip stitch into the same space.

4 – Now chain 2 and work tr x 4 into the next space, then ss into the same space.

5 – Ok so now chain 2 and work tr x 3 into the next space, chain 3, tr x 3 into the same space, then ss into the same space.

6 – Now for the base of the tree chain 2, then work htr x 3 into the next space, then chain 2. Now ss into the next space.

7 – This is the other side of the tree now, so work tr x 3 into next space, chain 3, tr x 3 into the same space. Then chain 2 and ss into next space.

8 – For the last space work tr x 4, then ss into same space, then ss into the original chain, fasten off and weave in the two ends.

And there you have it. The branches of a little Christmas tree.

Now for the trunk.

Turn your tree so that the top of the tree faces down and locate the 4 centre stitches of the base you previously created. Now make a slip knot on your hook with the new brown yarn and take the yarn off your hook. Now push your hook through the first of the 4 stitches, place the slip knot back onto your hook, pull the non working yarn tight, then pull back through the stitch.

Now chain 5 which will give you the height for the next stitches.

Now in the next stitch, dtr, then dtr again in the next stitch. Now finish the trunk by working chain 5 and ss into the next stitch, fasten off and weave in ends.

Now every tree needs a star.

Magic ring, *chain 1, htr, chain 3, htr and slip stitch into the ring*. Repeat ** 4 more times then fasten off.

To finish off, pull the non working yarn tail tight to pull the ring closes and creates the star.

Don’t forget to use the ends to attach the star to the top of the tree by using a blunt ended tapestry needle then weave them in. And there you have it!


I hope you enjoy making these as much as I have. They are so quick and easy to make and lovely to add that little bit of something extra to someone’s Christmas.

Wishing everyone the best of luck for the next weeks finishing, crocheting, buying, decorating, writing & posting duties. It’ll all be worth it on the 25th!!

Don’t forget I am always here if you need any help with anything.

Happy hooking everyone.

🌈 xx

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