Festive Crochet Decorations

These days I don't tend to do very much commission work for magazines, but every so often I get asked and if the idea fits with me at the time then I do enjoy the challenge. Sometimes I'm asked to write, sometimes there's a design brief and sometimes it's a combination of the two.

A few months ago I worked on a feature for Crochet Now magazine with my Stylecraft Blogstars hat on. I was given some fun interview questions which were quite the challenge as the required word count was minuscule and you all know how very wordy I generally am. When there are questions about yarn, crochet and colour my over excited word count goes into overdrive - I did my best to be concise.

The other part of the feature was to design a crochet pattern which had to fit in another very small space on the page. The brief was very open, and simply asked me to come up with a "scrap busting" project suitable for a late November/December date. I keep a box of Stylecraft Special yarn oddments in my studio which are small quantities left over from my blanket making. They are perfect for small decorative projects, and often just playing with the colours can spark off all sorts of ideas.

Inspired by the timing of the magazine, I decided to make something festive, and found myself getting very excited about the idea of incorporating some sparkly bits. I dug out my modest stash of colourful sequins and little silver beads and spent a ridiculous amount of time just messing about with them. Colourful sequins are just so pleasing in every way possible, don't you think? Which reminds me that {these} are high high on my lust list right now.....I am currently trying to convince myself that it's good to occasionally indulge in something totally unnecessary but very wantable all the same. I am worth it, no?

Anyhow.....getting back to the crochet......

.....once I got over the sequin-induced giddiness, I had a huge amount of fun designing and making some  very cute little decs out of my yarny oddments. 

I loved playing with the colour combinations and embellishing the centres with sequins and beads to add a little bit more of a festive glimmer. 

These decorations are fun and fast to make, with just five simple little rounds of crochet (the fifth round joins two circles together so they are double sided decorations). I added a tassel to a couple of the decorations, which was a great way to deal with all the tail ends - instead of darning them in, I simply gathered them all together at the bottom edge, tied them in a knot and neatly trimmed the ends.

Now I usually opt for the full-on approach when it comes to choosing a festive colour palette, going for rich jewel shades inspired by sequins and chocolates. However, I have to admit that the lure of red and white was fun to explore too, and I love how the two-tone decs turned out. 

I ended up with quite a tight turn around for this project as my deadline was unexpectedly brought forward at the last moment. So I didn't have time to take many photos of my decs before I had to package them up and send them to the lovely Crochet Now team. Mind you, I needn't have worried.......

....the above photo was the professional photo-shoot one sent to me by the magazine, and I think they did a terrific job of making my little crochet decs look very festive indeed.

The magazine with my pattern in is Issue 22 and out in the shops right now - you can see more of the projects in this issue on the Crochet Now website.

I have to say I'm very taken with Brian the Brown Bear who is the cover star of this issue, he looks so kind of peed off somehow but in a really cutesome way! The magazine comes with a full kit so that you can bring Brian to life in your own home - the yarn is a gorgeous, silky 4ply, and the kit even comes with stuffing and Brian's cute/grumpy eyes and nose. I want to give him a hug and tell him it's all going to be OK.

It's a strange thing to see one's own face sitting on the page of a magazine, and I have never gotten used to it. It's a curious mix of pride and embarrassment, but overall I do enjoy working with crochet magazines. This is mainly because the people who make the magazines happen are an amazingly dedicated, hard working, friendly and all round lovely bunch. 

Whilst I was making these decorations and pondering on the whole idea of festive colours, I thought it would be fun to put a little bit of a colour palette together, much as I did when I made my pumpkins in the autumn.

Stylecraft Special DK, from left to right, as follows ::

✵ Lapis ✵ Empire ✵ Turquoise ✵ Kelly Green ✵ Grass ✵ Gold ✵

✵ Spice ✵ Lipstick ✵ Plum ✵ Magenta ✵ Fuchsia ✵

These jewel-brights are very much the essence of Christmas for me - I would love to know whether anyone else shares my love of bright Christmas colours, or whether you are more in the Scandi red-and-white camp, or maybe a frosty silver-and-white lover? Or perhaps it's the vintage pastels which make you swoon? Do tell me what colours make you giddy for Christmas?!

Speaking of yarny Christmas colours, have you noticed that there is a bit of a crochet christmas bauble craze happening on social media at the moment? You can read more on Kathryn's blog Crafternoon Treats, which has lots of colour inspiration and pattern links. 

You can also find patterns for other little Christmassy things here on my blog, if you fancy a bit of festive hookery in the weeks leading up to the big day ::

✵Christmas Baubles✵ and ✵Stars✵

✵Holly Leaves✵

✵Snowflakes✵

✵Little Lacy Stars✵

✵✵✵HAVE FUN!!!!✵✵✵

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Comments

[Holly]

Just found your jolly holly leaves - hooked a couple and enjoyed them even more as I'm a Holly!

I've gone a bit Scandi this year with my colours- starting with teal, white and turquoise Xmas party invites.

[rachel]

I am a very taditional come Christmas colours.... rich greens deep redsand wine and rich Gold. Warm, cosy and forever. though I have experimented with other colours for gifts but they are not for me.

[Sam]

Ha ha, I made the bear and even though we really hate teddy bears in our family. I really like him because of his fed up look and cynical view of the world!

Lovely decorations!

[Dianne]

Love the decorations, nothing beats a handmade Christmas. x

[Linne]

Love your decorations, Lucy. A great idea for bits and pieces left over. I made all our ornaments ages ago when my boys were young and still have them in the storage somewhere. I crocheted mini stockings of red and white variegated yarn and it went very quickly. We will have a tree here, but it's my cousins' so we'll use their ornaments. I'm thinking of making some for myself in future, though.

I have always loved the red, white and green colours for Christmas; I'm half Norwegian thanks to my Mum, but wasn't aware that red and white was a Scandinavian tradition until fairly recently. So I love it for that, too, now.

I like crocheted snowflakes, too, and have borrowed my Auntie's book of patterns as well as having one of my own. I like the delicacy of thread ornaments and hope to continue her tradition of making the snowflakes for family members.

One thing your sort of decorations are also good for is adding to packages by tying them on with the ribbon. Quite lovely, I think.

Have a lovely weekend, Lucy. ~ Linne

[Tita Carré]

Hi, I love yours crochet!!! Hugs from Brazil.

[Kimmy]

Cute decorations, Lucy. Speaking of Christmas, have you seen this? It's clever and funny (and crocheted). I just had to share with you:

https://moralefiber.blog/2017/11/25/krampus-hat-pattern/

[Denise]

Ummm never thought about crochet decorations, yours are very pretty but no matter what I see I find myself drawn back to the bits and pieces that have served us well for the past ??? years. Old fashioned perhaps but it suits us.

[Cathy]

Your decorations are gorgeous, especially with added sequins. I like different Christmas colour combinations: rich colours in our living room, especially pale and dark green with berry colours and gold; pale frosty colours in our dining room - white, silver and pale blue. I like sparkle and natural too, so hard to decide! Needless to say, quite a few of your crocheted snowflakes feature in our Christmas decorating scheme.
Cathy x

[Charlotte.]

Love the jewel tones as they seem more festive to me.

[gina in alabama]

I love the bright jewel tones! could you post a list of the colours in your picture? i cant quite read all the names on the clothes pins. thanks!

[Karen]

Lucy I LOVE bright Christmas colours but sadly my family aren't so keen. Heathens!! lol. xx

[Pam]

Those decorations are really cute Lucy and I’m very tempted to have a go at making them. But they would have to be in the traditional red, gold and green. That has been my Christmas colour scheme for years, even the wrapping paper, and now my daughters follow suit. I do like other colour schemes but just can’t bring myself to use them - how obsessive is that? Lol

[Teresa Kasner]

I'm so proud of you to be published in a glossy magazine! You're such a yarny rock star! I got my big bag of yarn for the Woodland Blanket CAL.. it's going to be hard to wait until January 5th to begin! What size hook shall I need?

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*H*A*P*P*Y* * *H*O*L*I*D*A*Y*S*!*!*!*
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((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[Laurie Mowat]

You made me laugh...that bear does look peed off! I have switched my Christmas colors all over the place in the past but I think Scandinavian has become my favorite. I first saw the red, cream and grey combination in an issue of Simply Crochet and fell in love with the Scandi Gnome and I have crocheted quite a few ornaments in that theme, mostly little forest critters. Next year I hope to finally do my ''Nature'' tree and include some nests and woodsey things tucked into the branches.
I think everyone should buy themselves a little Christmas present so you should definitely splurge and get your sparkle on!

[Jenny]

Great post Lucy love the colours and inspirational thoughts thank you Love Jenny xxx

[Winwick Mum]

Unnecessary but wantable is certainly OK from time to time - and I'd say that Christmas is the perfect time :) xx

[Angela-Southern USA]

Such cute ornaments! I love ALL the colors, but we do a theme each year, so some years it's traditional colors, some times it's retro and others it's anything goes. I've knitted red sparkly mittens for this years tree for our red and aqua theme, and crocheted some red and white mini stockings, then back to knitting for some aqua bluebirds. Happy holiday hooking!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Susan Smith]

I love your Xmas decs & will happily employ all colours at this time of year. I'm even going to give one of them a go for my little tree. Oh, of course the mag doesn't hit our newsagents until about Feb. Hmm! Funny thing is that I read your last link as "Little Lucy Stars", so may pop that on my list instead. (giggle). Take care.

[Clare]

Your colour palette evokes happy memories of our shiny glass and glitter baubles on the tree in the seventies 😍 An advent string of Sucrette’s mini stockings used all my oddments up. Have a happy run up to Yuletide Lucy xxx

[CJ]

Lovely ornaments, and I do like little projects that use up the odds and ends. Christmas is very All The Colours here, lots of things the children made at school, you know how it is. I do like the red and white combination in your ornaments, it reminds me of peppermints. Nice to have a bit of sparkly in the middle too, there's always a few sparkly things knocking about here waiting to be used. CJ xx

[Nicola]

Last Christmas, I went for a turquoise and silver theme, and it was really pretty. I plan to make stockings this year and would like to continue with the same sort of colours. I don't think I have time to crochet them, sadly, so I may have to sew them out of fleece!

[victoria]

I am currently making lots of snowflakes, using your pattern and white yarn with sparkly bits in, for the Christmas window of my secondhand bookshop. They are addictive! It's a great pattern. And as for colour - I still love the red, green and cream combination for Christmas...but could be swayed by jewel colours!

[jacqui]

I have decided to do a Christmas wreathe late in the game so now am playing away with bits and bobs. I love experimenting with all colours but am trying very hard to go traditional. oooh holly leaves hook hook hook xx