Winter Garland Progress

I've been working on my Winter Garland today and thought it would be fun to have a play and take some photographs to record my progress and show you where I'm up to. I love taking pictures of my crochet work-in-progress because there is a lot of creativity involved in this kind of flat-lay faffery. It honestly gives me just as much pleasure to arrange and photograph my crochet as it does to actually design and make the stuff. 

Just to mention that it's been another very low light and rainy kind of a day, so I apologise for the poor colours in the photos today. My background is actually white, but in every photo it looks decidedly grey which is a shame because the lovely colour palette is not showing at its best. I promise I'll take lots more photos when the light is better. 

I mentioned my winter colour palette a few weeks ago when I first began to think about making a garland. I chose ten shades of Stylecraft Special DK to crochet a collection of seasonal flowers, leaves and berries and you can read more about my inspiration in this post. When I've made garlands in the past, they have generally evolved and grown over a period of time as I've slowly played with ideas and designed new patterns. For this winter garland I'm mainly using existing patterns that were created for my Winter Wreath but with a few tweaks here and there. When I come to share the final garland ta-dah with you, I'll give you all the pattern details and tweaking info so that it's recorded all in one place.

Winter Leaves - I followed the same pattern as for the Autumn Leaves ((here)) but I added some subtle shaping to the outer edge to make them ever so slightly spiky.

Blossom - this is also an existing pattern from last year and they are ever so quick and easy to make. You can find the pattern at the bottom of this blog post ((here)). 

Snowdrop - this is the new pattern I've been working on for the winter garland and I don't mind telling you it's been a tough one. For such a small bit of crochet, it's taken more hours to arrive at this point than I care to mention but I got there in the end. I'm actually thrilled with it, it's perfectly snowdropish and was worth the considerable strain on my brain. I'll be attempting to write up the pattern and make a photo tutorial in due course.

Remember me showing you this delightful hellebore a few days ago? Well, I already had a pattern for a crochet version ((here on my blog)), so it was lovely to be able to go to my own tutorial and hook one up today.

These flowers definitely need a little bit of pinning and steaming to set the curl of the petals just so....

....isn't it lovely? I used the colour "Hint of Silver" for the petals, with Pistachio and Cream to create the centre stamens. I then used a watercolour pencil to add a little bit of subtle pink shading to the petals and I love love love the finished effect.

Funny enough, I don't actually own any watercolour pencils and it was just by chance that I found one lonely pinky-purple coloured pencil sat in my pen pot, I've no idea where it came from. So I decided to invest in a set because they work so, so well for adding little bits of detail and shading to crochet. I bought {this set from Amazon} and I'm pretty sure my young self would think these were a gift from Heaven Above, they were everything I fantasised about owning when I was a child. I can't wait for them to arrive so I can try them out, I am majorly excited about it. I must give credit to Kate of Just Pootling for the idea of using watercolour pencils on crochet, she posted about it on instagram a few years ago and I am forever grateful for that very worthwhile piece of inspiration.

Fern Leaf and Berries - as well as the winter leaves, I fancied making some more delicate ferns and I already have a pattern on my blog for them ((here)). I made these ones much shorter than the originals, and decided they would look cute paired with some winter snowberries. I know snowberries don't have ferny leaves in real life, but I think it's OK to use artistic licence every once in a while.

And that's where I'm up to so far. Don't the colours look super pretty??

I've got all of the designs worked out now - hellebore, snowdrop, blossom, winter leaf, fern leaf and berries - so it's just a case of making more. This is what I'll need for my winter garland ::

16 winter leaves

16 blossom flowers

8 snowdrops

8 ferns, plus 24 berries

4 hellebores

I've just calculated that this equates to 76 individual crochet pieces in the garland, and right now I'm just over half way. I'd better get a wiggle on!

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Comments

[Louise]

Beautiful colours :)

[Liz]

Beautiful colors!

[Geeha]

What a change from the Harbour colours and so delicately pretty. We have hellebores and snowdrops in our garden now reminding me that spring is coming, I always have them wherever I have had a garden.

[cathy]

Fabulous, beautiful the colours are in osmose. Wow very pretty. Eager to see the final touch.

[Lita Elizabeth Ashley]

Love the Winter flowers and leaves, the colours are indeed very pretty. Your blog always cheers me up, thanks so much.

[Carolyn Dietrich]

You never fail to amaze me! The pieces for the winter garland are so beautiful! I look forward to seeing the finished project.

[Liz Hasler]

That is simply gorgeous! I love the pastels and the way that you're constructing it. Your talent is amazing. Thank you sharing it with us.

[Corinna Mazzotta]

Loving the intricate details of your winter wreath! The grey in the background of the photos probably doesn't have much to do with the light though - it's more likely to do with the fact that cameras are designed to find a balanced colour (it's called the rule of 18% grey or something like that). If you take a photo of a white piece of paper on auto it will come out grey!
How on earth do you colour on crochet? 🤣 Doesn't it come off when you wash it?! 😱
Loving these more frequent posts Lucy - I tend to read them in bed last thing and it's a lovely way to end the day! 😊

[Emma Varnam]

So so pretty my friend. The snowdrop is genius! The colours I adore. Love it

[Kath Grimshaw]

Fantastic Lucy! I love your colours! Pastels are always my absolute favourite and you attention to detail is awesome!
Thank you once again for your lovely blog and for your wonderful creations! Xxx

[Deb]

Pretty!

[CJ]

Gorgeous colours, so very pretty. I love what a wide range there is to choose from. The hellebore is absolutely brilliant, with the stamens and everything. CJ xx

[Line]

I love crochet flowers and leaves. It's a pleasure to make and yours are beautifully made.

[Louise]

Those colours are delicious! And I'm heading towards winter so well timed!

[Jean Stein]

I'm saving this post because I fell in love with your colors when you showed them and ordered all the skeins of Special DK plus a few more for the spring flowers, and I've been just basking in the colors. No crochet yet, just loving the color!

[Karen Dodgson]

Ooh Lucy those colours are SOOOO pretty! I love how it’s all looking….and dare I say a winter blanket in those colours would be a perfect project for later in the year???!!

[Simon]

The colours are just right for a winter garland - all frosty and muted, not just bright white and light blue! I can't wait to see the finished piece.😀 You're so right about the light, I've been having loads of trouble with it recently, it's been soooo gloomy!☁️☁️ Take care!

[Susan]

Very pretty.

[Ruthie]

I love this! The colours are sublime, perfectly wintry. The making of one of your creations is fascinating x

[Tammy]

The colors are beautiful!

[Linda from Boston]

Wow….wow…..wow!!! Beautiful. What a great idea with the watercolor pencils. So many little parts!! I admire your talent. ♥️

[Sue Boulding]

So pretty, love the delicate colours.

[Ana Luisa Portas Almeida]

Uau indeed! Such glorious creation as ever and so looking forward to your pattern/ tips and tutorial 😊.
Making a garland has been a long time dream of mine and this one sings to my heart. Spring is on its way and feel hopeful that I'll be able to create this one. Love crocheting little things and flower brooches or hearts for banners or filled with lavender for presents so it will be a step up for me. Have followed you for years and in the past bought yarn for a possible blanket but have not had the courage to start a big project.
Love receiving your email updates and your Facebook posts and blog always make me dream.
Thank you so much for the lovely stories and colour you bring into my world 🌸🌺🌷💖💚🕊🤍

[Maureen]

Stunning but I cannot get away with making small things! Looking forward to seeing the finished garland.

[Vicki B.]

Such lovely and relaxing colours! Thanks for sharing this! It's uplifting!