2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches – Week 23 Starburst Stitch

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The Starburst Stitch

Hmmm, my lovely blanket seems to be being used as a train track!!!! Little monkey!! Oh the joys of the little people. I’m pleased I’ve taken this picture, as I feel like it marks the week of our little man suddenly becoming utterly obsessed with his Brio train track. He just loves it. So pleased for him. He seems to be spending many a happy moment sitting in the middle of his track fiddling with bridges and moving the crossing barriers. I love how you can show him something new and his little face lights up in amazement at the simpliest of things. It’s so lovely to see and watch his abilities grow! Bless him. Hmm, I wonder if I could crochet something for his train track! Now there’s a thought. I’ve already had an idea for a car storage system, but will share that when I have put my idea into action. I reckon crocheting can be found in all areas of our lives. Haha, I do have a lovely friend who is new to the crocheting world and keeps calling it croqueting! Haha – they will remain nameless, but it does make me chuckle each time it’s said!!!

My daughter had a new little doll last weekend for being such a good girl. She was so excited. It was on her birthday list which isn’t for quite a while yet, so as soon as she entered the toy shop, she was on a mission to find it! So obviously her little doll, Snowbeam, needed a place to sleep. So out comes at breakfast, 2 balls of dk sublime and one ball of 4ply cotton. Nothing like a bit of speed crocheting at breakfast with a 7mm hook.

Quite chuffed with the end result!! Think it might need a little flower decoration though.

This week I was reminded of the feeling of living away from loved ones and setting off on new adventures. I think everyone deals with different situations in their own way. I was never any good at living away from home. I’m definitely a pack member! And pack members stick together!! My husband’s cousin has just started out in London and moved into her own little pad. She has a big new job in the big city and is loving every minute of it. So I decided a little mandala love was required! Couldn’t resist making this little one. Thought she might need a little crochet love in her life. I used my Beautiful England pattern, which you can find in the patterns catergory. This one in only up to round 9. Hopefully she’ll like it.

For the very first time ever, I have had a few fellow yarn chums over for a little woolly crocheting and knitting club. It was rather a surreal moment to have my conservatory sofa consumed by happy crocheters and knitters, while the little man was asleep upstairs. I usually run around like a lunatic at this time of the day, so I can tell you it was a welcomed change. I’m hoping to hold the group every week and obviously open it up to more fellow yarn lovers at some point. But I just need to check that it fits with the little man. Bless him – he would have an absolute ball with everyone’s yarn stash and hooks/needles! Next week I’m putting my teacher hat on and teaching my two knitters how to crochet. Fingers crossed it will go well. I’ve just ordered a stash of 4mm Clover crochet hooks. They are my favourite kind of hook, so thought it was best to teach with them. Ekk. Wish me luck…

Hope you are all enjoying the start of the summer. We are loving spending time in the garden. My little man is utterly obsessed with watering the plants. Our tomatoes have never grown so well!! I love crocheting in the garden – doesn’t happen very often, but I managed some crocheted bunting for my daughter’s fairy world in the evening. My feet were getting rather cold though – where’s a blanket when you need one!!

This is her fairy world. There’s still a few bits to add to it, but it’s nearly there. I keep adding little extras for her to find. My friend reckoned that if I kept the garden fairies happy, the kitchen and house fairies would come in and help clean! Haha, if only! I’m still waiting for the day they arrive!

I did manage a little moment of fun with my wool winder this week. I wanted to make a little yarn cake for my dear friend’s daughter. She has just started out in the crocheting world, so I thought a cotton yarn cake would be a nice birthday pressie for her. Thought she could make a continuous Grannie Square blanket with it or a stripy bag. Will be great to see what she makes with it.

Hmm, I think we had better get on to this weeks blanket stitch. Now it’s a bit of a tricky one this week, but totally worth it as I am sure you will agree. It’s called the Starburst Stitch. It’s very similar to a fan stitch, but it creates full circles, thus it’s called a Starburst. Hope you like it and can follow my instructions.

Supplies –

So this week I have used a lovely fresh calm cream yarn from the wonderful Rowan baby merino silk range. It’s 66% wool and 34% silk. So rather nice and lovely to work with.

So once again you will need about 40g of double knit yarn and not forgetting your 4mm crochet hook, scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle to sew in the ends.

Stitches –

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

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.

Treble 4 together (tr4tog) – *Yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through the 2 loops.* Repeat ** 4 times. (5 loops) Now yarn over your hook and pull through all the loops.

Treble 9 together (tr9tog) – *Yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through 2 loops.* Repeat ** 9 times. (10 loops) Now yarn over your hook and pull through all the loops.

Ok so here we go … 

Right, so the Starburst Stitch. Now it’s rather a complicated stitch, as it has quite a few elements to it, but once you get the hang of it, you will be well away. It’s such a stunning stitch it just had to be added to the blanket!!

1 – So start off on the wrong side and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch and 1dc in the next stitch. Now *work 1dc in the chain 1 space and 1dc in the next stitch.* Continue ** across the row and then work 1dc in the top of the chain 3 from the row below. (200)

2 – Right so turn your work and then in this row chain 1, then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now miss 3 stitches. We are now going to start our first starburst, so *work 9tr stitches in the next stitch. (So all in the same stitch!) Then miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the next.

Once again miss 3 stitches.* Now repeat ** across the row.

After the last fan miss 2 stitches and then work 1dc in the last stitch. (25 half starbursts)

3 – Turn your work and chain 3. Miss the first stitch and then work a tr4tog over the next 4tr stitches. To do this place your *yarn over your hook, insert into the treble stitch, then yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through the 2 loops.* Repeat ** 4 times. (5 loops)

Now yarn over your hook and pull through all 5 loops.

Now chain 4 stitches and then work 1dc in the next tr stitch. (This is the 5th of the 9 tr stitches from the row below.)

Now chain 3 and then work tr9tog over the next 9 stitches (these stitches are 4tr, 1dc, 4tr) So to do this place your *yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through 2 loops.* Repeat ** 9 times. (10 loops)

Now yarn over your hook and pull through all the loops. This completes your 9trtog stitch.

So now it’s time to repeat the process across the row. *So chain 4, 1dc in the 5th of the 9th tr stitches from below, chain 3 and then work 9trtog over the next 4tr, 1dc, 4tr stitches from below.* Repeat this across the whole row.

For the last starburst in the row, chain 4, work 1dc in the next stitch, chain 3 then work a tr4tog over the next 4tr stitches and then 1tr in the last stitch. (24 half starburst and 2 quarter starbursts)

4 – Phew – so we are now on the last row of this new stitch. I hope you are all still with me. I promise it will be a simple stitch next week!! ☺ Right so after you have turned your blanket start by chaining 4. Then work 4tr in the top of the tr5tog stitch – this is at the base of the chain.

*Now miss 3 chains. And work 1dc in the next dc stitch where the arrow is.

Then miss 4 chain stitches and now work 9tr stitches in the top stitch of the tr9tog stitch from the row below.*

Right so repeat ** this across the row. After the last 9tr stitches, miss 3 chain stitches, then work 1dc in the next 1dc stitch. Ok so now work 5tr in the top of the tr4tog stitch from below. You can see where the arrow is in the picture below where the 5tr stitch needs to go.

Once you have worked the 5tr stitches, fasten off your yarn and sew in your ends. (24 half starbursts and 2 quarter starbursts.)

Right now that wasn’t so bad was it!?!?! Hope you all enjoyed it. Originally I had crocheted a fifth row, but I realised that to give the full effect of the stitch, it was best to leave it here. The change of colour will definitely help the Starburst stitch to stand out. I do think it’s worth the fiddliness. Such a pretty stitch. Please ask for help if you need any help.

Anyways, just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for following me and having a go with this years PipsRainbow CAL. I am loving how the blanket is coming along and feel that by the end of the year, we will all have a mega blanket that can also be used as a reference guide for all the new stitches you have all learnt! Yey!! There’s still so many to have a go at, but scarily we are nearly half way – meaning we are nearly half the way through the year!!! Bonkers!!! I promised myself I would start crocheting early for Christmas this year!! Maybe I should be thinking about that soon!!! Ekk!!!

Hope you all have a super week.

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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