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

[Ingeborg]

Dear Lucy, could it be that the vintage pastels link isn't working? I tried it, it said, this page doesn't exist. - Sorry for bothering you, Lucy. x Inga x