Valentine Sweet Heart

Hello! I thought it would be nice to share a colourful bit of crochet with you today, something bright and cheerful and a just a teensy bit unnecessary. I mean, I'm fairly sure there is no real pressing need for you to drop everything and make a decorative little hangy thing, but then again, it might be just the ticket for these dull, grey January days. I am all for a pretty little bit of creativity that brings happiness and colour to a small corner of the room, this sort of crochet is good for the soul.

I designed this project for Simply Crochet magazine last year as a celebration for Valentines Day, and I've had it hanging in my studio ever since. It's a very simple little project but a joyful one - the idea for it came to me in a flash one morning and I hooked it up in a whizz of excitement - the simplicity of it pleased me very much!

I used yarns that I already had sat on my shelves for this project, but this is a fabulous stash buster as you only need the smallest scraps of left overs. You can mix any colours that tickle your fancy (I've gone for five candy-brights, with two shades of green for the leaves). Any sort of yarn will do, it doesn't have to be cotton. Thickness wise, I think slightly finer yarns work best for small decorative projects. I've used Drops Muskat (a mercerised cotton) with a 3mm hook. If you're using something like Stylecraft Special DK, try dropping to a 3.5mm hook to make the flowers nice and neat.

You will need 18 x 10mm buttons and some sewing thread for stitching the buttons to the flowers.

As you can see from the above picture, you'll also need 4 x 12" pipe cleaners to form the heart shaped base (this is a true DIY project), so raid your kids craft drawer, or find them online {Amazon}. The colour of the pipe cleaners doesn't really matter - I used green and brown ones as a kind of a nod to twiggy things, but they should be pretty much invisible by the time you've smothered them in flowers.

And lastly, you will need sticky glue - I used a hot glue gun for speed and ease, but strong white glue would work (PVA) or you could always stitch the flowers around the pipe cleaner shape if that suits you better.

You will need to make 18 flowers in total, and 12 leaves.

I'm writing in UK crochet terms.

FLOWERS (make 18)

:: Round 1 :: Chain 2, 6 dc in 2nd chain from hook, slip stitch to first dc [6 stitches].

:: Round 2 :: in each stitch, work the following :: (slip stitch, chain 2, 1 tr, chain 2, slip stitch), making 6 petals in total. Fasten off and darn in ends.

LEAVES (make 12)

:: First side :: Chain 6, 1 dc in 2nd chain from hook, 1 htr in next chain, 2 htr in next chain, 1 htr in next chain, 1 dc in next chain.

Chain 2, slip stitch in 2nd chain from hook (picot point made)

:: Second side :: Work on the opposite side of the foundation chain in remaining loops to mirror the first side as follows :: (1 dc in next stitch, 1 htr in next stitch, 2 htr in next stitch, 1 htr in next stitch, 1 dc in next stitch). Slip stitch into loop at end of foundation chain. Fasten off, leaving a 20cm tail end to use for stitching the leaves to the flowers.

Making the heart shape out of pipe cleaners is reasonably straight forward, I didn't take any photos of this in progress but I'll talk you through it as best as I can.

Take 2 pipe cleaners and lay them side by side. Twist one pipe cleaner around the other to form a double-stranded length. Repeat this with the other two pipe cleaners so that you have two double-stranded lengths.

Put your two lengths together and twist tightly together at the bottom to form the bottom point of your heart, Now bend both lengths outwards and shape the pipe cleaners into a symmetrical heart shape. Twist the top ends together tightly to form the inner point of the heart. You might need to perform a little bit of light bending to make your heart shape sit flat. It does eventually work out even if it seems very wobbly at the start, just keep going, gently bending it until you're happy with the shape.

Now make up the flowers and leaves - first job is to stitch a little button in the centre of each flower using sewing thread.

Now take your flowers and place them around your heart shape until you are happy with the colour arrangement. There should be a flower sitting neatly at each point of the heart, with eight flowers spaced evenly around each side.

You need to stitch your leaves in place now, using the tail end of green yarn that you left at the end of each leaf. First, stitch two leaves to the underside of the two flowers sitting at the heart points. Then stitch the remaining 8 leaves on the underside of every alternate flower around, making sure the leaves point outwards.

Before you glue the flowers in place, attach a loop of yarn to the top of your heart for hanging.

Using the image above as a guide, stick your flowers to your pipe cleaner heart using a hot glue gun or strong fabric/craft glue. Start by attaching flowers at the two points of the heart (with double leaves pointing downwards), then work your way evenly from the bottom upwards, alternating non-leaf flowers with leaf-flowers (leaves pointing outwards).

And that's it - simples! Now all you need to do is find somewhere to hang your floral heart so that it can deliver maximum pleasure and joy.

Awww, I do think it looks rather sweet, not just for Valentines Day but for all year round.  A little celebration of Hooky Love!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Those of you who have a Yarndale Calendar will be enjoying this colourful heart image for the twenty eight days of February this year, a bright spot in a grey month.

I hope you enjoy this project - go and dig into your scraps and you'll be hooking up some sweet little flowers and leaves in no time. Have fun!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

Comments

[Donna Kasulis d]

In new at this ,how do I down load the directions for the wreath?

[ELAINE ADAMOV]

Lindo, parabéns! Eu gostaria de saber qual o valor para venda... pode me informar? meu e-mail [email protected] Grata

[millie]

Thank you! I just made this with a random assortment of leftover yarn bits and a wide assortment of buttons from my sewing box and it still looks great without being uniform. I do find that my pipe cleaners are too soft to hold the shape well, so will just hang it from the two high points of the heart.

[Maria]

I absolutely love this idea of yours. I think it would be nice to make one for each of my granddaughters! Thank you for sharing!

[Sandra Ellis]

Hi Lucy, you are inspiring to this beginner crocheter... Any chance you might make a video?

[Mehreen]

Amazing... requires skill n patience

[Esther]

This is adorable! I just finished mine but couldn't link the pattern on Ravelry...
Thank you for sharing so much!!

[Sara]

Thank you for sharing this wreath! I made one this week-end while it was snowing and snowing outside :-)

[Loobyloucreations]

I am going to make this for my mum for Mother's Day and will probably make my nana one too as she loves everything home made. Thank you so much for sharing this :)

[Barb Siddiqui]

Your Heart Wreath is adorable. I wish I'd seen it earlier so I could mail it overseas for the holiday, but I can keep it on file for next year! Thank you!

[Sue]

Have had a weekend off my coastal blanket to make one of these. What a quick, colourful treat, and all from bits and pieces I already had. Very portable too - I made quite a few flowers sitting waiting outside my girls' dance classes!Thank you for the idea!

[Lani B.]

I just found your site and I LOVE the projects that you do and your tutorials are superb! Thank you for such great ideas!

[UK City Crafter]

This is such a lovely bright project for a cold January, thank you.

[email protected]

[SHARITA]

-What is "colour" for you?
-LUCY IS!!!

[Cheri George]

Lucy, I want you to know how much I enjoy reading your blog. I lived in the UK for 4years, way back in the 1970s.I loved it so much. My first daughter was three when we went there and she and I did so much sightseeing. We lay on the floor and did brass rubings, traipsed all over old castle ruins, picnicked at the bea h. It was wonderful!!

[ช่อดอกไม้]

It's cute, I'll try to do it with my girlfriend. It fits Valentine's Day is coming. I think it's not too difficult.

[ช่อดอกไม้]

It's cute, I'll try to do it with my girlfriend. It fits Valentine's Day is coming. I think it's not too difficult.

[Lucie]

Love this so much, you're a wonder!!!

[lorraine]

This is very pretty and I am going to try this. Thank you for sharing.

[keltika]

Pretty, lovely little rosehart :)Thanks for the instructions. I'm your follower Lucy, and I admire your work!

[bgplayer]

Thank you for posting this! I will be making a bunch to use up yarn and to make my friends each one! Im looking for a light scarf pattern that can be worn indoors. Not a warm winter scarf but a soft pretty accessory.

[Liz]

This is lovely. I'm focussed on the Cosy right now but will do this after. [Completer Finisher here!]
Could you add it to your tutes list for later reference? I can't identify it there atm.

[Lee]

Hi Lucy, I love all your creatîons and your tutorials, they are so easy to follow and they make me feel so good once I have finished them, and they are such a pleasure! But . Can I ask you to what colour you used to paint that lovely board ? Love the turquoise/minty shade ! Thanks so much, Lee

[Robin Summers]

Absolutely precious! I so love the flowery buttony goodness. The colors are so pretty. Thank you so much for the tutorial and your patience. Lots of scrummy hugs from across the pond.

Robin

[Teresa Kasner]

That really is fabulous! I love hearts, colors and flowers so this ticks all my boxes! I will have to stick that in my list of things to do. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)