These crocheted Starry Dream Ornaments by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk (Lilla Björn Crochet) have been on my to-make list for a good few years now, so I finally decided to give them a try this Christmas! I think they’re so pretty (plus, a fun opportunity to revisit some of the crochet techniques I don’t get to use so often!).

I made 3 ornaments, using the same colour palette in different variations for 2 of them, and then using a single, solid colour for the final ornament, to see how that affected the finished product. Today, I’ll be chatting about which colour arrangement I liked best, how I adapted the pattern to use more/fewer colours and how I found the process overall!

In this post, as always with my 'Making a...' series, I'll be chatting about my experience making this pattern, as well as detailing any changes/adaptations I made. The pattern I have used belongs to Tatsiana Kupryianchyk (Lilla Björn Crochet). If you want to make your own Starry Dream Ornament, you can purchase the pattern from the designer here!

Table of Contents

• The Yarn
• Adapting the Pattern to Include Different Colours
• Making the Ornaments (My Experience Following this Pattern)
• Round-By-Round Colour List for My Ornaments
• Final Thoughts

The Yarn

For my ornaments, I chose a colour palette that I already had to hand, because I used it for a different, festive, yarn-y project (more on that later on this month, or you can check out my Ravelry page for a sneak peak!).

The palette is made up of the following colours:

• Dark blue (I used DROPS Fabel in the shade Blue 107).
• Dark red (I used DROPS Fabel in the shade Ruby Red 113).
• Cream (I used DROPS Fabel in the shade Off White 100).
• Gold (I used some unidentifiable (sorry!) scrap fingering weight yarn).

I really love this colour palette: it’s very rich and festive, but also not your typical Christmas colour scheme! It’s a little bit different, which I think makes it extra special.

For the Star #1, I used all 4 colours.

For Star #2, I used the blue, red and gold shades.

For Star #3, I used the cream shade on its own.

My cream yarn was slightly thicker than the other two Fabel shades, which I guess is why my all-cream star is a little larger than the other two ornaments. The gold yarn is also slightly thinner than the Fabel in general, so that could also be the reason!

Adapting the Pattern to Include Different Colours

The pattern is originally designed for 3 colours of yarn (as I’ve done with Star #2). It can easily be adapted to use 2 or 4 shades (you could even use more, if you wanted!), because you can just join a new colour at the start of the round. If you do use more colours, I would recommend planning out the colours, round-by-round, before you begin and making a note of them on the pattern itself, otherwise it can get a little confusing!

Surprisingly, it’s actually harder to use a single, block colour (like Star #3) for this design than it is to add more colours. I thought that using a single colour would be great, because I wouldn’t need to cut the yarn at all and, as a result, would be left with fewer ends to sew in. Alas, I was wrong. The position of the beginning of the round changes after most of the rows, so, honestly, I found it was still easiest to cut the yarn and reattach it in the right place. There’s probably a way around this (slip stitches, maybe?), but I didn’t want to risk confusing myself!

All in all, the solid colour star was not the revelation I thought it would be and, honestly, I don’t think it highlights the texture and features of the crochet like the multi-coloured stars do. A fun experiment (and completely possible, if it is the look you’re going for!), but I’ll stick to my stripes!

Making the Ornaments (My Experience Following this Pattern)

I made all of my stars exactly according to the pattern (except for the placement of the colours). For each ornament, I made two identical stars and joined them using the crochet method given in the pattern, stuffing them lightly as I went. I did not add a hanging loop at this stage, because I am toying with the idea of making many stars and stringing them together into a garland? Who knows! They’re just so pretty! If I want to hang the ornaments up individually, though, I figure I can always thread a piece of ribbon through the top?

My finished stars are slightly smaller than those in the pattern: the multicoloured ones are about 8cm from point to point, while the cream one is about 8.5cm. I used the same hook size listed (2.5mm), but the pattern samples are knitted in Scheepjes Catona. It could be the yarn, or it could be my tension!

I’ve made a quick list of pros and cons for you, detailing my overall impressions of this pattern, in case your considering making your own Starry Dream Ornament!

Pros!

• Quick project.
• LOADS of colour possibilities.
• Simple way to practise slightly more complicated techniques (there are lots of photo tutorials in the pattern!).
• Easy to join the stars together.
• SO PRETTY.

Cons!

• LOTS of ends to sew in.
• A little hard on the fingers (is this because of my tension? Possibly…).
• Not overly suitable for solid colour designs.

Round-By-Round Colour List for My Ornaments

Just in case you wanted to make your own stars and replicate my colour layouts, I thought I’d include the round-by-round breakdown below.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed making these Starry Dream Ornaments! In particular, I’m super happy with how the multicoloured ones turned out (the solid colour version was a fun experiment, but I just don’t like it quite as much as the other two!). I think my favourite is probably the 4-colour version, but the original, 3-colour version is also lovely.

I think this pattern is super clever in the way it forms the star shape while also creating the surface texture with the stitches: it looks super complicated, but, once you get down to it, it’s nothing too crazy! This project is complex enough to be fun and interesting to make, without being so complex that your brain feels tired afterwards (never fun, not the vibe).

I made some knitted stars last year (these Stjärna ornaments!), but I actually prefer these crocheted ones: I found them a lot less fiddly to make and I really love the extra detail on the design.

If you're interested...

You can find the Starry Dream Ornament pattern by Lilla Björn Crochet here.

You can find my Starry Dream Ornaments project page on Ravelry here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post (and the first yarn-y post of Blogmas 2025)!

Gemma

xxx

It’s been a while since I’ve released a crochet pattern but, in today’s post, that’s exactly what’s happening! This pattern is for a super quick & easy, festive project that can be whipped up using scraps of cotton yarn (that you probably already have!). These are my…

❄️☕️ SNOWFLAKE COASTERS ☕️❄️

You can find this pattern on Ravelry here, if you want to save it for later!

Table of Contents

• Materials & Tools
• Pattern Notes
• Abbreviations
• Written Pattern
• Photo Tutorial
• Blocking the Coasters
• Final Thoughts

Materials & Tools

To make these coasters, you will need the following:

• Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton, in the shade Gypsum (7168), (50g = 104 m [114 yds]) (or other, DK weight yarn). You will need about 5g of yarn per coaster.
• 3.00mm crochet hook.
• Darning needle.
• Scissors.

Pattern Notes

• This pattern uses UK crochet terminology (please check the Abbreviations section below for stitch explanations if you’re unsure!)
• Gauge is not important for this project. I would recommend using a size down from whatever hook size you would usually use for a DK weight yarn- for me, this is a 4.00mm hook, so I’ve used a 3.00mm hook for this project.

Abbreviations

• ch = chain: yarn over and pull through.
• ss = slip stitch: insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull through stitch and loop on hook.
• dc = UK double crochet: insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull through. You will now have two loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through both loops.
• tr = UK treble crochet: Yarn over, insert hook into stitch, yarn over again and pull through. You will now have three loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through two of the loops, then yarn over again and pull through the remaining two loops.

Written Pattern

Round 1: 11 dc in a magic ring. Ss to join.

Round 2: Ch 3 (counts as first tr), then tr in the same stitch (at the base of the ch 3). *Ch 4, skip 1 stitch, 2 tr in next stitch* until there is 1 stitch remaining. Ch 4, then ss to top of the ch 3 to finish round.

Round 3: **Start by working a ‘long arm’: (*Ch 5, skip first ch, then ss in next 2 ch* twice. Ch 4, skip first ch then ss in next 3 ch. *Ch 3, skip first ch, then ss in next 2 ch AND first 2 ch from second ch 5* twice. Ss to the 2nd tr from Round 2). 2 dc over the ch 4 from Round 2, then work a ‘short arm’: (Ch 6, skip first ch, then ss into next 2 ch. Ch 4, skip first ch, then ss in next 3 ch. Ch 3, skip first ch, then ss into next 2 ch AND first 3 ch from previous ch 6). 2 dc over the same ch 4 from Round 2, then ss to top of the next tr from Round 2.*** Repeat from ** to *** around.

Cut yarn and fasten off. Darn in the ends, then block before using (see instructions at end of post).

Photo Tutorial

I’ve also created a photo tutorial for this pattern, just to help make everything super clear and easy to follow! If you find the above pattern a little hard to follow (I’m looking at your Round 3…), hopefully this will help you.

Start by working 11 dc in a magic ring.

After you’ve worked the stitches, pull the tail to tighten the loop.

Then, to finish off Round 1, slip stitch to the top of the first double crochet stitch. Andddd there you have it! 11 dc in a magic ring.

To begin Round 2, work 3 chains. This ch 3 counts as the first treble crochet of the round.

Next, you need to work a treble crochet in the same space (i.e. where you worked the slip stitch to finish off Round 1). I’ve used a needle here to indicate the stitch you need to work into.

Like this! As I mentioned, the ch 3 from the start of the round counts as one treble crochet, so you now have a cluster of 2 treble crochets.

Work 4 chains.

Then skip the next dc and work 2 treble crochets into the dc after that (again, indicated here by a needle).

Like so!

Keep repeating this process (ch 4, skip one dc, then work 2 tr into the next dc), until there is one dc remaining on the round below (you will have just worked 2 tr into the previous dc, as pictured).

Work 4 more chains.

Then, to finish off Round 2, slip stitch to the top of the ch 3 from the beginning of the round (indicated by the needle again).

Like so! Now you’ve finished Round 2.

Round 3 is where things get a little more complicated, but it’s also the final round of the coaster, so you’re nearly there! Start by working 5 chains.

Now you’re going to start by working into the 2nd chain from the hook (indicated by the needle). You’ll be doing this throughout the rest of this process (after any chaining), so try to remember that rule of thumb— it will make things a lot easier!

Slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Then slip stitch into the next chain as well, so you have a little row of two slip stitches at the top of your chain. This forms the first ‘branch’ on the arm of the snowflake.

Next, you need to make another branch, so chain 5 again.

And, again, you’ll be working into the 2nd chain from the hook (indicated by the needle).

Starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, work a slip stitch into each of the next two stitches to make the 2nd ‘branch’.

Now, it’s time to make the top of the snowflake arm. Start by chaining 4.

Then, starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next 3 stitches.

Now you’re going to come back down the other side of the arm, to make the branch symmetrical. Chain 3.

Starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next two stitches to make the next branch.

Now you need to anchor this branch to the other side of the arm. To do this, you want to slip stitch into the two remaining, intact chains from the 2nd chain 5 (the first of which is indicated by the needle here). These two chains are the first 2 chains of that chain 5, that you didn’t make into a branch.

Slip stitch into those two stitches, and you’ll see that the branch you just made has lined itself up alongside the 2nd branch. Success!

Now, it’s time to make the final branch on this arm, in exactly the same way as the previous branch. Chain 3.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, work 1 slip stitch in each of the next two chains, then work 1 slip stitch into each of the two remaining chains from the first ch 5 of the arm (the first of which is indicated by the needle).

Like so!

To finish off this first arm, you need to anchor it back onto the top of the 2 tr cluster from Round 2. To do this, slip stitch into the top of the 2nd tr, indicated here with the needle.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll have finished your first arm! I call this one a ‘long arm’, because it is the larger of the two arm styles used in this pattern. You’ll work a ‘long arm’ over every 2 tr cluster, and a ‘short arm’ in every ch 4 gap. Next up, then, it’s time to work a ‘short arm’.

To set up the short arm, you need to work 2 dc under the next ch 4 from Round 2. To do this, insert your crochet hook from front to back through the gap made by the ch 4, as pictured.

Pick up a loop of your working yarn with the hook and bring it back through to the front.

Then, pick up another loop of the working yarn (over the top of the ch 4, this time) and draw it through both of the loops on your hook to make a double crochet.

Work another double crochet in the same way, so that you have 2 dc around the ch 4.

Now it’s time to make the ‘short branch’. Start by working 6 chains. This slightly longer chain length helps to offset the ‘short arm’ with the ‘long arms’ on either side of it, so your snowflake coaster will lie flat more easily and look nice and even.

Just like with the ‘long arm’, you’ll always start by working into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next two chains to make the first ‘branch’.

Then, chain 4 to begin the top of the ‘short arm’.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next 3 chains. This makes the top of the ‘short arm’.

To make the final branch, chain 3.

Starting with the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch into each of the next two chains. This makes the final branch, which will sit opposite the first branch on this arm. To anchor it to the other side of the arm, just like with the ‘long arm’, you need to slip stitch into the remaining chains from the initial ch 6 (i.e. the first 3 chains from that ch 6). The first of these stitches is indicated here by the needle.

Slip stitch into the three remaining chains from the initial chain 6 to finish off the ‘short arm’.

To finish off this section, work 2 more dc over the ch 4, so that your ‘short arm’ sits in the middle of 4 dc in total, which, in turn, sit over the ch 4 from Round 2.

Then, slip stitch into the top of the next treble crochet.

This sets you up for the next ‘long arm’, which you can work in exactly the same way as the first.

Like so!

After the 2nd ‘long arm’, work a second ‘short arm’, making sure to work 2 dc over the ch 4 from Round 2 before and after working the arm.

Like so!

Keep repeating that process, alternating between ‘long arms’ (on top of the 2 tr clusters) and ‘short arms’ (on top of the ch 4s), until you’ve worked right around the snowflake and come back to your first ‘long arm’.

Finish off by slip stitching to the top of the ch 3 from Round 2 (i.e. where you started that first ‘long arm’, indicated here by the needle), then cut the yarn and fasten off.

And that’s it! Your snowflake coaster is done. All you need to do now is weave in both ends and block the coasters to help them lie flat (the instructions for that are below).

Blocking the Coasters

Blocking the coasters helps them to lie flat and look more even. You can block them in whatever way you usually block projects made with cotton yarn, but I’ve used steam to block these ones!

To steam block your coasters, do the following:

Using a steam iron/clothes steamer, briefly steam the coaster.

Pin the steamed coaster onto a blocking mat. Place one pin at the top of each ‘long arm’, making sure they are nice and straight.

Give the pinned coaster another brief blast of steam, then leave in the pinned position overnight to set.

After that, you can unpin the coaster and start using it! The finished, blocked coasters are about 10cm in diameter.

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Snowflake Coaster pattern: it’s such a quick, easy project to whip up, especially once you get the hang of the repeating pattern. I’ve actually made 7 of these coasters for our Christmas table this year, which I just know is going to look so lovely and festive!

As I mentioned earlier, you can find this pattern on Ravelry, so you can easily add it to your festive queue/favourites for next year, if you don’t have time to whip some up this year!

Gemma

xxx

Last year, just before Christmas, I saw this amazing crochet garland on Instagram by @deliacreates. It was designed to look like a string of popcorn and cranberries, which is a festive tradition in the US that I have always been fascinated by! I could never bring myself to sacrifice so much delicious popcorn in the pursuit of pretty, Christmassy decor (I love popcorn), so a crocheted version felt like the perfect, fun alternative. As an added bonus, the (free!) pattern looked super simple and straightforward, so I knew this would be a quick and easy project for the festive season. Unfortunately, I saw the post a little too late to make a garland in time for Christmas last year, so I carried it over and made it this year, instead!

Table of Contents

• Materials
  • Cygnet Seriously Chunky: Mini Review
• Making the Garland
• Final Thoughts

Materials

To make this garland, I used the following materials:

• 1 skein of Cygnet Seriously Chunky yarn, in the shade Cream (0288).
• 87 x 12mm dark red wooden beads (I bought this pack of 100 on Etsy).*
• 6.50mm crochet hook.
• 3.00mm crochet hook.**

That’s it! Because I already had the crochet hooks, I only had to buy the yarn and the beads (which worked out at just under £6), so this was a super budget-friendly project!

* The original pattern used bright red beads, but I wanted a more realistic-looking, muted garland, so I opted to use these dark red beads, which I felt had more of a cranberry vibe!

** The original pattern calls for a 3.25mm hook, but I found a 3.00mm hook was easier to insert through the beads and worked just as well.

Cygnet Seriously Chunky: Mini Review

Cygnet Seriously Chunky is a 100% acrylic, super chunky weight yarn that is sold in 100g skeins. Each 100g skein contains about 48 metres of yarn and (at time of posting), costs £2.99 on Wool Warehouse (my go-to for yarn-y purchases!). The yarn comes in a variety of colours (though it’s not the most extensive shade range I’ve seen), and I chose the shade Cream (0288) for this project, which was a nice, neutral, popcorn-esque colour.

I have to say, I truly forgot that this was an acrylic yarn as I was working with it- it has a real, wooly ‘fuzz’ to it that really tricked me into thinking it was made of natural fibres. While the ‘fuzzy’ look probably wasn’t quite the right vibe for making popcorn kernels, I do think this would be a great, budget alternative to a natural fibre yarn for other projects. Even though my kernels are a little on the fuzzy side, I still really love the way this yarn worked up for this project- I think it gives the garland a really homespun, felted look that feels very festive.

Making the Garland

When making this project, I followed the original pattern to the letter. It’s such a simple process, but it’s so effective (and so quick to work up- I made this whole garland in a single sitting!). The popcorn kernels are made from a simple puff stitch, worked in the super chunky yarn, and the cranberries are just wooden beads, added in between each kernel. I kept going until I ran out of yarn, then fastened off, and before I knew it, I had the perfect popcorn & cranberry garland, ready for Christmas. My finished garland, using a full skein of yarn and 87 cranberries, ended up being about 375cm long.

I did pick up a few little tricks and techniques when making this project, so I thought I’d share those with you here:

• Keep the beads at the front of the work.

When I first started working up my garland, I didn’t pay much attention to how I reinserted the 6.50mm hook into the working loop of yarn after I added each bead. After a little while, I found that this did have an effect on the garland- in some places, the beads were fully visible, while in others they were obscured by the yarn that runs along them. After a little bit of trial and error, I found that making sure the working loop wasn’t twisted when you reinsert the hook and making a conscious effort to keep the beads to the front of the work helped to minimise this problem. While the garland still twists a little, it’s much less noticeable than before!

• When adding the beads, keep the working loop of yarn as taut as possible.

Adding the beads is the fiddliest part of this project, because you have to pull a doubled piece of super chunky yarn through a pretty small hole! Honestly, this was easier than I expected- it took a couple of attempts sometimes, but, as the pattern says, if you split the yarn, you can just remove the hook, bring the yarn back together and try again! One thing that I found that really helped here was to hold the yarn as tightly as I could around the hook as I pulled it through the bead.

• Keep the beads in a bowl beside you.

This is such a small thing, it barely even warrants a bullet point of its own, but it made a big difference to my speed and efficiency! My beads came in a little, grip seal bag, which is great for storage, but not so great for quickly picking one up every time you need to add a ‘cranberry’ to the garland. I transferred my beads to a bowl and put the bowl on a flat surface beside me (a flat surface is important, if you would like to avoid beads rolling all over the place). This meant that I could just grab a bead super easily whenever I needed one, which really sped up the whole process for me.

Final Thoughts

I am so thrilled with how this garland turned out- it gives me such festive, homespun, felty vibes and I just love it! I particularly like how quickly it came together, how easy it was to work up and how effective the pattern was- I do really think it looks like a popcorn and cranberry garland!

I’m really glad that I opted to use the darker red beads- I think it not only makes this garland look more realistic, but it also looks a little more understated and classic. While the yarn I chose is a bit on the ‘fuzzy’ side, and so makes for slightly fuzzy popcorn kernels, I actually also really like that effect- this is, after all, a crocheted garland, and I don’t mind that being evident!

Overall, I loved working on this project almost as much as I love the finished product! It was the perfect, quick and easy festive project and I know I’ll be using it in my Christmas decorating for many years to come. Plus, no popcorn was harmed in the making of this garland, so that’s an extra little win.

If you're interested...

You can find the "Popcorn & Cranberry" Crochet Garland pattern here.

You can check out the Delia Creates website here.

You can find my Popcorn & Cranberry Garland project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

Last year, I became obsessed with making my own version of the fluffy, festive-themed pillows that were all over Pinterest and Instagram. If you haven’t seen them before, they’re this assortment of cushions, made with a soft, teddy fleece, in a variety of festive shapes and patterns like candy canes, gingerbread men, Christmas trees— all sorts! My favourite one, though, was a cushion that looked like one of those swirly, round, peppermint candies. Because the prices were pretty steep (and I’m pretty sure lots of the ones I saw were from slightly suspicious sources), I did what any crafter would do: I said to myself, “I can make that!”. So I did! However, I was a little too late to get it done in time for the festive season last year, so I decided to make it ready for this year, instead.

To make this Peppermint Swirl Cushion, I adapted this free pattern from the Red Heart Design Team. You can also find this pattern on Ravelry. 

Table of Contents

• Materials
  • Sirdar Happy Chenille: Mini Review
• Adaptations
• Final Thoughts

Materials

To make this cushion, I used the following materials:

• 3.00mm hook.
• Sirdar Happy Chenille yarn, in the shades Lollypop (0031) and Soda Pop (0021).
• Darning needle.
• Scissors.
• 16″ round cushion form (I bought mine from Wool Warehouse).

The original pattern calls for a non-chenille, worsted weight yarn, but the yarn I used is DK weight (and fluffy, obviously!). Therefore, I used a smaller hook than the one suggested (3.00mm, instead of 5.50mm). I actually went quite a lot smaller with my hook, to get a tighter gauge, in an attempt to make my work less gappy, but, honestly, if I made this again, I think I’d go even smaller.

Sirdar Happy Chenille: Mini Review

I hate to say it but… I was not a fan of this yarn. Admittedly, this was my first time working with chenille yarn, so maybe I just don’t enjoy working with this style of yarn in general, but my goodness was it frustrating to work with!

Chenille yarn is basically made up of a central piece of thread with a layer of fluff attached all around it. The central yarn in the Happy Chenille is very… string-like (which, again, could be normal!) and breaks really easily. Also, the fluffy layer isn’t attached very securely, so my yarn kept shedding, leaving me with sad patches of plain string… Weirdly, the red shade seemed to shed much more than the white, so the white parts of the project, me and the sofa I was sat on while making this ended up covered in red fluff.

Overall, I don’t think I’d use this yarn again if I could avoid it! I’d love to try some other chenille yarns, just to have something to compare it to, but, honestly, I’m not sure I can face it just yet…

Adaptations

I did make a few changes to the original pattern for this project, just to make my cushion cover more similar to my inspiration photos. Some of these changes were more successful than others…

• Instead of crocheting over the colour not in use, I opted to carry it loosely along the back of the work.

I did this because I didn’t want the colours peeking through, which you can see has happened in the original patterns photos! At first, I thought this had worked well, but, because the work is quite open, I have had some trouble with bits of yarn poking through to the front of the work, which is a shame! I do think that using a tighter gauge could fix this, though?

• I started one side with white yarn, the other with red.

Look, the perfectionist in me wanted both sides of this cushion to be identical, but I was worried about the amount of yarn I had left. You use significantly more of the colour you start with (which I can’t quite figure out because surely it’s just the extra from the first round?), so I did start running a little low on white yarn after the first side. Instead of buying more yarn (which would have been a shame, seeing as I was so mad at it by this point), I opted to just even out my yarn usage by starting the back with red, and, honestly, you barely even notice it.

• I left the border off (and sewed the cushion together around the form).

I wanted a really clean, modern look for this cushion, so I opted to leave the candy cane-esque border from the original pattern off. Instead, I just stitched the two sides of the cushion together, right over the cushion form, making sure to stitch red section to red section with the red yarn, and white section to white section with the white yarn, for a seamless look. This does mean the cushion cover can’t be removed, but, honestly, I don’t think you could wash this yarn (even by hand) without it all falling apart anyway, so it’s no loss.

One note here: for the white shade, I was able to use long lengths of the yarn to sew up the cushion and carry them underneath the red sections to get to the next white one. Because the red yarn was so sheddy, I found it got messy pretty quickly if I tried to use a longer length, so I opted to use shorter lengths and sew in more ends (except, as you’ll soon read about, I didn’t sew in any ends, so I felt very smug… until they all started poking out… Sigh). Also, I may be complaining about using the chenille yarn, but sewing up the cushion with it was SO MAGICAL because you can be as messy as you want and it will still look absolutely perfect! 1 point for chenille.

• I increased the number of rounds to ensure good fit/account for my smaller gauge.

Because I was using a lighter weight yarn and a smaller hook, I needed to increase the number of rounds I worked so that my cushion cover would fit the 16″ cushion pad I had purchased. This was super easy to do, because the pattern is so simple and repeats every round, so I just had to keep working until it was the right size. To measure that, I just placed the work over the pad and stretched it slightly (but not too much!), so that the cover would be nice and snug, but not distorted. When two opposite points on the circumference reached the seam of the cushion form, I fastened off (leaving a long end for sewing up) and made the second side the same size.

• I didn’t darn in my ends— just tied them off and left them loose.

This is very much a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ kind of situation: this did not work. The reason why I opted to do this is not because I hate sewing in ends (although I absolutely do), but because I was worried about the darned-in ends being visible from the front of the work (again, another problem caused by the loose gauge). I figured that tying them off tightly and leaving them pretty long, so they wouldn’t come undone, was a good plan, but it was not. Any time I move this cushion, a new, unfinished end (often a sad, stringy little one) seems to pop out of nowhere, so I spend most of my time these days poking them back in to the back of the fabric. Sigh. If it isn’t the consequences of my own actions…

Final Thoughts

Okay, so I’m not thrilled with how this cushion turned out, but I still like it. I guess I just think that I could do better if I gave it another go (and as I am writing this I am having to physically restrain myself from ordering a different, fluffy yarn and trying again). Maybe if I consider this a prototype, I’ll feel better about it?

It’s not all negative though— this cushion is super soft, fluffy and festive. It’s very huggable, perhaps because it is so soft and fluffy? It was also so quick and easy to make— the pattern is so simple, but it’s also really effective! I whipped this up in no time at all (so I could make another one in no time at all too… right?).

If I did make this again, I’d definitely try and scope out a different yarn— I love the fluff of this one, but, let me tell you, I was not loving it when I was lint-rolling myself for the fifth time in a single day to remove the rather spooky-looking red fluff balls from my whole body. I also really just didn’t enjoy working with it and I think I may have developed a fear of chenille now (chenillophobia?).

Also… I’d love to see if this pattern would work with double crochets, instead of trebles? I think part of the reason the fabric is so open is because of the use of trebles, so even if I made my gauge super tight by using a really small hook, I’d still run into problems. If the pattern worked with double crochets, I could probably get away with keeping the yarn floats at the back, so I’d get the clean look I wanted, plus I’d be able to darn in the ends more easily (or, at least, there’d be fewer holes for them to poke through!). Admittedly, it would make the project much less speedy to whip up, but I’d still be interested to try it! (Oh no, I think I’ve basically convinced myself now…).

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Posting about projects I’m not 100% happy with is something I still struggle with, but I do think it’s important to share all of the aspects of the crafty life, not just the highlights!

If you're interested...

You can find the Peppermint Swirl Pillow pattern by the Red Heart Design Team here.

You can find the Peppermint Swirl Pillow pattern on Ravelry here.

You can find my Peppermint Swirl Cushion project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

I ordered the top-up set of yarn pegs from ElizaAndTheGiraffe on Etsy as soon as Stylecraft announced the new shades, so that I could see the colours in person and easily compare them to the other shades (and so that my beloved yarn peg collection was up to date, of course). I’ll be using the pegs throughout this post to show you all the colours.

Quick disclaimer: it is SUPER hard to get a perfect representation of the colours in photos— I’ve tried my ABSOLUTE best, but please don’t use the photos of the new yarns as a be-all-and-end-all reference. The point of this post is to put the new shades into the context of the range itself, so, if you know what an older shade looks like, you can get an idea of how the new ones compare.

Table of Contents

• The New Shades
  • Poppy (2170)
  • Cinder Rose (2171)
  • Milky Tea (2172)
  • Mushy Peas (2173)
  • Hint of Lilac (2174)
  • Pink Rhubarb (2175)
  • Leaf (2176)
  • Jade (2177)
  • North Sea (2178)
  • Nigella (2179)
  • Mistletoe (2180)
  • Purple Smoke (2181)
  • Wild Orchid (2182)
  • Periwinkle (2183)
  • Heather (2184)
  • Mallard Blue (2185)
  • Blue Sky (2186)
  • Aquamarine (2187)
  • Green Lemon (2188)
  • Tea Green (2189)
• Fitting the New Shades into the Current Range

The New Shades

Poppy (2170)

Poppy is, I think, the closest thing to a ‘true red’ in the whole Stylecraft Special DK range. It’s not 100% a ‘true red’, though, because it does have an ever-so-slightly orange undertone, hence why I’ve included Tomato in the above photo. In real life, it’s slightly more vibrant than it looks here, but not quite as strong as Matador or Lipstick (the other two ‘proper’ reds in the collection).

On Wool Warehouse, Poppy looks a bit darker than it is in person. The orangey/pinky undertones aren’t quite so prominent, so it looks like more of a perfect ‘true red’ than it actually is.

Cinder Rose (2171)

Cinder Rose is a mid-toned, pinky-purple-y, dusky mauve shade. It’s a nice middle ground between Grape and Pale Rose, though I would say the basic tone is more similar to the latter. In real life, this shade appears quite a bit pinker than it does here.

Similarly to my photo, on Wool Warehouse Cinder Rose appears more purple-y than it is. It is also paler in real life (if you’re looking for a shade similar to the thumbnail, I think the Wool Warehouse image is actually very close to the shade Grape, in reality!).

Milky Tea (2172)

Milky Tea is an unusual shade— I was expecting more of a pale brown/taupe (hence why I’ve included Mocha in the above photo), but it actually has quite a strong, pinky-peach undertone. It’s a muted, dusky shade, but I would definitely group it with the pinks, rather than the browns. I think it is most similar to Vintage Peach, though Vintage Peach definitely has more of an orange-tone. It is also comparable to Apricot in terms of undertone, though Apricot is significantly lighter and brighter.

On Wool Warehouse, Milky Tea looks like a warm, pale brown shade. In reality, it is more of a dusky, brown-toned, pink.

Mushy Peas (2173)

Mushy Peas is a very pale, slightly muddy, green with yellow undertones. I have included Lincoln in the above comparison, because I was expecting Mushy Peas to be similar to it, but, in actuality, Lincoln has much more of a sage-y, blue tone than the new shade. Mushy Peas is actually more comparable to the more yellow-toned green shades, such as Pistachio, and the more neutral shades, such as Meadow. This is a very, very pale shade and has a bit more warmth & muddiness than in the above photo— it is quite unique in the range.

On Wool Warehouse, this shade appears much darker than it is in person. The green tone is also more prominent in the photo than in real life.

Hint of Lilac (2174)

Hint of Lilac is a super pale, almost-white shade with just a hint of pink-y purple colour. It is most similar to Soft Peach, just with slightly less of a pink hue. It’s actually got a similar tone to Mushroom, just (obviously) in a significantly paler form. I’ve also included A Hint of Silver in the comparison photo, because I think the intensity of the colour is very similar and the new shade does have a slight grey tone to it.

On Wool Warehouse, the thumbnail has a slightly more purple tint than in real life, but the level of paleness is quite similar.

Pink Rhubarb (2175)

Pink Rhubarb fits well into the pinky-orange shades in the range— it feels to me like a shrimpier, duskier version of Raspberry. It’s very definitely a pink, but the orange tones in it do make it comparable to Shrimp and, in a paler form, Vintage Peach.

On Wool Warehouse, this shade looks ever so slightly darker/muddier, and a little less orange-y, than in real life, but it’s a pretty good likeness!

Leaf (2176)

Much like Poppy, I would say Leaf is the closest shade to a ‘true green’ that Stylecraft has produced. It has the slightest yellow undertone, making it vaguely comparable to Grass Green, but it is very much a mid-tone, basic green. Before now, I would have said the closest thing to a basic, mid-green in the range was Meadow, but this is a stronger, brighter, truer shade. It is a little more muted than the other ‘strong’ greens in the collection— I’ve included Kelly Green (which I would say is its closest shade) and Green in the above photo, but you can see it is both slightly paler and less intense than both of them.

The thumbnail on Wool Warehouse is pretty accurate for this one— it’s just ever so slightly lighter and brighter in real life.

Jade (2177)

Jade is a strong, sea-green. It’s definitely got a whiff of turquoise about it, but it’s firmly on the green side of the spectrum. It’s pretty comparable to the other turquoise-y shades in the range: Aspen and Spearmint, but the green tint also feels very similar to Kelly Green.

For this one, I actually think the thumbnail on Wool Warehouse is pretty bang on!

North Sea (2178)

North Sea is a dusky mid-blue, with just the tiniest whisper of green (which, of course, you can barely see here), hence my inclusion of Duck Egg here, which has a similar green-blue balance. I expected this to be most similar to Denim, but, in reality, it’s closer to Storm Blue, perhaps because of that hint of green. I’ve also included Cloud Blue, which I think has a similar blue tone.

On Wool Warehouse, North Sea appears ever so slightly darker than in reality.

Nigella (2179)

Nigella is a dusky, mid-blue with just a hint of purple (it’s less purple than it appears here). I think it’s most comparable to one of the other new shades (Periwinkle— more on that later), which is just a slightly more purple-toned version of the shade, but the blue tone can be compared to Cloud Blue and Aster. I’ve also included the shade Bluebell, to highlight that slight hint of purple.

Again, the Wool Warehouse thumbnail is pretty spot on for this one!

Mistletoe (2180)

Mistletoe is a slightly muddy, lime green— it’s very similar to the existing shade Lime, just slightly deeper and a little more muted. It’s definitely a green, but it has a definite yellow tone, so I do think it has a similar vibe to Pistachio. I’ve also included Meadow, which, while it doesn’t have quite the same yellow tone, is probably the next closest shade of green.

The tone of the thumbnail on Wool Warehouse is pretty similar, but the shade appears darker online than in real life.

Purple Smoke (2181)

Purple Smoke is actually the shade I was most excited for! It’s a deep, rich, purple-toned shade, that has a similar depth and warmth to Burgundy (but with more of a purple hue than a red one!). It is quite a bit duskier than the other purple shades, making for a more muted entry to the purple selection. In terms of tone, I think it is most similar to Plum, which has that same, pinky-purple-y warmth, but Emperor and Proper Purple are the closest, ‘true’ purple shades. I’ve also included Dark Brown here, because the shade is so deep and muted, it is actually quite similar!

On Wool Warehouse, Purple Smoke appears significantly darker and less purple than in real life.

Wild Orchid (2182)

Wild Orchid is a dusky, pale pink shade, with just the barest hint of purple. Powder Pink is the most similar shade, but the new shade is much more muted, with less of a bright pink hue. In terms of tone, I think this shade is similar to Soft Peach, though it is slightly deeper and more neutral. I’ve included Mushroom here, because I think it has a similar, muted tone (just with a stronger purple tint).

On Wool Warehouse, Wild Orchid appears quite a bit darker than in real life, and the purple tone is slightly more pronounced than it truly is.

Periwinkle (2183)

Periwinkle is a dusky, blue-toned mid-purple with a slight warmth to it. Bluebell is probably the closest of the pre-existing shades, as it shares that same, purple/blue tone, but is slightly less muted. Aside from that, the closest shades I could find were Cloud Blue, which has a similar blue tone, and Wisteria, which has a similar purple tone. If you combined those two, I think you’d get Periwinkle.

As I mentioned earlier, Periwinkle is most similar to Nigella (another of the new shades). You can see a comparison of those two new shades below:

It’s a little hard to see in the photo, but Nigella has more of a blue tone, while Periwinkle has more of a purple hue.

On Wool Warehouse, Periwinkle looks ever so slightly darker and less purple-toned than in real life.

Heather (2184)

Heather is a soft lavender shade with just a hint of pink. It’s very similar to Mushroom and Parma Violet, but with a little more purple than the former and a little less blue than the latter. The pink undertones are comparable to that of Wisteria, which Heather feels a little like a toned down, paler version of.

On Wool Warehouse, Heather has slightly less of a pink undertone and more of a grey hue than in reality.

Mallard Blue (2185)

Mallard Blue is a dusky, deep shade of blue. When looked at individually, it feels very similar to Denim, but, in actuality, it is a deeper, slightly more muted version of that existing shade. It does have a touch of a stormy sea vibe about it, which I think also makes it comparable to Storm Blue (though that shade is much lighter and brighter).

On Wool Warehouse, Mallard Blue appears to be much more of a dark, teal-y blue shade than in real life. In reality, it is more blue and less jewel-toned.

Blue Sky (2186)

Blue Sky is a pale blue with just a hint of green. It’s most similar to Duck Egg, but, when looked at on its own, it does make me think of Cloud Blue (which is actually quite a bit stronger and bluer in tone, when the two are compared). It has a similar tone to Sherbet, but is much more muted, and the blue hue is more prominent in Blue Sky.

On Wool Warehouse, Blue Sky looks a little bit muddier than it is in real life— it is actually quite a bright, pale shade. The slightly hint of green is not reflected online either.

Aquamarine (2187)

Aquamarine is a strong aqua/turquoise shade, with a pretty even blend of green & blue tones. There are quite a few similar shades in the range already, including Aspen, Spearmint and Sherbet, though Aquamarine has a slightly deeper, bluer tone than all of them.

I’ve included a comparison between Aquamarine and Jade here, just to demonstrate the difference between the two blue-green shades in the new collection. As you can see, Jade is much more a green-toned shade, while Aquamarine has more of a blue hue.

The thumbnail on Wool Warehouse for Aquamarine is pretty similar to it’s real-life appearance— it is just ever so slightly less muted in person.

Green Lemon (2188)

Green Lemon is a bit of a wacky shade— it’s kind of like if a yellow Easter chick got ever-so-slightly grass-stained? It’s closest in colour to Lemon, but (obviously, given the name) has a slightly greener hue and brighter tone. The closest green shade is probably Pistachio, but that is a much deeper, greener colour. I’ve also included Apple, because I think that has a similar, yellow-green vibe, and Citron, so you can see how different this colour is to a typical yellow shade.

It did occur to me after taking the first photo that, in terms of tone and general brightness, Green Lemon is actually pretty similar to the neon shade Bright Green. Bright Green is obviously a lot… brighter, but the general undertone and vibe is very similar!

The thumbnail for Green Lemon on Wool Warehouse is pretty accurate, but the yarn is brighter (and slightly more… lurid?) in real life.

Tea Green (2189)

Tea Green is a pale, blue-toned green shade, that feels like a cross between Lincoln and Spring Green. It is paler than the former, though with the same, muted vibe, and bluer than the latter. I’ve also included Sage in the photo comparison, because I actually think the two shades have very similar undertones.

On Wool Warehouse, Tea Green appears slightly stronger in colour than it is, but it is pretty similar to the yarn.

Fitting the New Shades into the Current Range

I decided to put all of my yarn pegs (rather painstakingly) in rainbow order, to show you where the new shades fit into the general Stylecraft Special DK spectrum of colours. The photo below is the result of that!

Just to help you out, I also drew little stars beside each of the new shades:

From this, you can see that a hefty proportion of the new shades fall into the blue/green category (over half!). There’s also a handful of pink shades (a pretty even split between the dusky and the shrimpy) and a few purple shades (which, aside from Purple Smoke, I have to say, don’t feel overly unique in the range?). Other than that, there’s a single red shade, which I’m actually pretty excited about, especially with the festive season rapidly approaching!

So, that’s all of the new Stylecraft Special DK shades, explored in detail and compared to the rest of the shades in the range. I hope this post has been useful— I know how hard it can be to buy yarn online, so I wanted to do a full summary of the new shades to help give you a better idea of the colours before you order them!

Gemma

xxx

I thought this project would be a great way of trialling some of the amazing, free patterns out there for knitted/crocheted pumpkins. I wanted my pumpkins to have a variety of textures, colours and patterns, so it gave me the perfect opportunity to try out lots of different methods and styles. In total, I made 5 different pumpkins. In this post, I’ll go through all of the details for each pumpkin, link the patterns I used & share any amendments/changes I made.

I think it’s time for some pumpkins, don’t you?

Table of Contents

• Pumpkin #1: Wee Pumpkin by Susan Rainey
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #1
• Pumpkin #2: (Fluffy) Pepo Pumpkin Patch by Sandra Magalhães
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #2
• Pumpkin #3: Darlin’ Plaid Pumpkin by Stitchberry
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #3
• Pumpkin #4: Vertical Stripe Pumpkin by Sara Myers
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #4
• Pumpkin #5: Handsome Cable Pumpkin by Sara Kiesel
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #5
• Final Thoughts

Pumpkin #1: Wee Pumpkin by Susan Rainey

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Wee Pumpkins by Susan Rainey.

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply, in the shade Cinnamon (leftover from my Anthology Pumpkin Hat).

Needles: 2.75mm DPNs.

Stem Details: 5-stitch i-cord, made using King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply in Chocolate (023) on 2.75mm DPNs. I knitted 5 rows of i-cord, then pulled the yarn through the stitches to ‘cast off’.

Adaptations:

• Used fingering weight yarn instead of sport.

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #1 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #1

• This makes a super small pumpkin. It’s SO cute, but a little flat.
• It’s quite easy to make the pumpkin ‘segments’ uneven by accident (I did).
• Pattern used BLCO for increases (not my fave method) and K2tog for decreases (a classic). This pattern, unlike some of the others, does include shaping, which gives the pumpkin a nice appearance.

Pumpkin #2: (Fluffy) Pepo Pumpkin Patch by Sandra Magalhães

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Pepo Pumpkin Patch by Sandra Magalhães (large size, in-the-round version).

Yarn: Scheepjes Sweetheart Soft, in the shade 06 (leftover from a spontaneous mammoth amigurumi, made a while back for my soon-to-be sister-in-law).

Needles: 4.5mm circular needles (40cm).

Stem details: I followed a similar method to the stem of Pumpkin #5, using the same Scheepjes Metropolis in Valencia (062), but made the stem a bit wider (24 stitches, as opposed to 12) to suit the larger pumpkin. Because of the larger stitch count, I worked an extra round of k2togs before finishing off.

Adaptations:

• Used fluffy, chunky weight yarn instead of worsted.
• I added stitch markers to mark where the purl stitches went on every round. This was super helpful, particularly at first, because the fluffy yarn is quite difficult to see/work with! It also made the knitting process much quicker/easier, because I didn’t have to keep double checking where I was in the round.
• I knitted the main piece until it measured 25cm.

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #2 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #2

• I had planned to crochet a pumpkin using this yarn, but my GOODNESS it was hard to work with— it was a real struggle to feel where the stitches were! I decided to use it for a knitted pumpkin instead and it was MUCH easier.
• This particular pattern gave some very helpful information on the ratio between the length of the knitted piece and the height of the finished pumpkin (0.4 ish), which I was able to apply to all of my subsequent pumpkin-making endeavours.
• I LOVED the use of purl stitches as a guide in this pattern— it made dividing the pumpkin up evenly SO simple and easy.

Pumpkin #3: Darlin’ Plaid Pumpkin by Stitchberry

Craft: Crochet

Pattern: Darlin’ Plaid Pumpkin by Stitchberry (regular size).

Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK, in the shades Cream (1005) and Gingerbread (1806) (from my excessive stash of Stylecraft Special DK).

Hook: 5.0mm

Stem details: I made a basic, crochet stem for this one using a single strand of the Gingerbread yarn and a 3.0mm hook. The pattern is as follows (as always, UK terminology is used):

Round 1: Work 6 dc into a magic loop (6)

Round 2: 2 dc in each stitch around (12)

Rounds 3-7: dc in each stitch around

Fasten off yarn, leaving long end for attaching to pumpkin.

Adaptations:

• Used DK weight yarn held double, instead of worsted (obviously, this is not equivalent, so my pumpkin is a bit chunkier than it should be!).
• For the surface crochet, I worked all of the horizontal stripes on the right side, leaving 4 stitches between each one. For the vertical stripes, I alternated between working them on the right and wrong side (to add a bit of interest) and left 5 1/2 rows between each right-side, vertical row.
• I didn’t darn in the Gingerbread ends from the surface crochet, just used a needle to carry them right to the edge of the work, in the same chain pattern, then tied them off and caught them behind the work with the ‘cinching’ yarn (though I don’t actually think the pattern calls for darning in the ends either!).
• I used a few extra stitches as well as the ‘cinching’ method to close the pumpkin shut (because my fabric was so chunky!).
• I used the MC yarn (Cream), not the CC yarn (Gingerbread) to define the pumpkin ‘segments’. I think this looks a little more seamless.

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #3 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #3

• Using DK held double was probably a bit thick— it worked perfectly everywhere except the top and the bottom, where there was a bit too much stiff material to gather it in properly.
• I really liked the effect and colour combo of this pattern!

Pumpkin #4: Vertical Stripe Pumpkin by Sara Myers

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Trio of Pumpkins by Sara Myers (Pumpkin #1 (Maroon & Beige Vertical Stripe)).

Yarn: Cascade Cantata, in the shades Cocoa (15) and Sand (16) (leftover from my Atlantis Sweater).

Needles: 5.0mm circular needles (40cm).

Stem details: Using the darker shade (Cocoa), I made a 4-stitch i-cord that was about 10cm long, then twisted it back on itself and secured it in that shape with a few stitches before attaching it to the pumpkin.

Adaptations:

• I used smaller needles than suggested (even though I actually used the right yarn weight with this one!) because I was worried about the stuffing poking through. I’m actually glad I did this— I think I could have gone even smaller because this pumpkin definitely has the loosest gauge of all of them!

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #4 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #4

• I was a bit disappointed that my pumpkin wasn’t as ‘swirly’ looking as the pumpkin in the pattern photo? I’m not entirely sure how you could achieve that, and I do like the stripes, but it’s just not quite what I was hoping for.
• As I mentioned, I think I would use slightly smaller needles if I were to make this again— perhaps 4.0 or 4.5mm?

Pumpkin #5: Handsome Cable Pumpkin by Sara Kiesel

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Handsome Cable Pumpkin by Sara Kiesel.

Yarn: Fyberspates CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, in the shade Citrine (118) (leftover from a project that I will be sharing soon!).

Needles: 2.75mm (DPNs and circular (40cm)).

Stem details: I followed the instructions for the stem from the pattern, but made it separately (as opposed to directly on from the pumpkin itself) and stitched it on after stuffing because I knew my pumpkin was a little more sparse at that end (because of my reduced row count) and wanted to stitch it together first! Like Pumpkin #2, I used Scheepjes Metropolis in Valencia (062).

Adaptations:

• Used fingering weight yarn instead of worsted.
• After round 62, I jumped straight to round 103 to decrease the height of the finished pumpkin.
• I intended to follow the pattern from there as written, but I was playing yarn chicken, so, I ended up working rounds 103-108, then only worked rounds 110, 112, 115, 117, 119, 121, 124 and 126-134 (i.e. the ones with shaping/cables, plus a few extra rows, just until I was confident I had enough yarn!). I don’t recommend doing this, because (obviously) the top of my pumpkin was a little sparse, but it was nothing a little darning couldn’t disguise.
• I made the stem separately (so that I could fix the problems caused by my above fudging more easily).

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #5 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #5

• I ran into SO MUCH trouble with this one at first, because I just couldn’t work out the increases vs the stitch count! Turns out you absolutely NEED to use an increase that doesn’t use an existing stitch (i.e. not KFB), otherwise the stitch count won’t add up right. I ended up using a combo of lifted increases and M1Ls.
• This pattern is a little bit fiddly to work up at the beginning and the end (when you’re on the DPNs), but becomes much more fluid on the circular needles.
• This definitely took the longest of all of my pumpkins— it involves a lot more knitting than the rest!
• If knitted as instructed (using worsted weight yarn/ and working the whole pattern), this pumpkin would be absolutely huge. Like, HUGE. If you want a massive pumpkin, this pattern is your friend.
• I absolutely LOVE the cable pattern and yarn colour.
• I’m also a big fan of the slip knot/crochet starting technique used in this pattern! It’s not a technique I’ve come across before, but I thought it was very neat and super snazzy.

Final Thoughts

I have to say, I really LOVE my yarn-y pumpkin patch. I think each pumpkin has so much character— they’re all so different and individual, but still all very pumpkin-y. I think that they make the perfect, autumnal decorations!

Overall, I think my favourite pumpkin is probably Pumpkin #5 (the Handsome Cable Pumpkin), which is funny because it was definitely the one that caused me the most grief as I was making it! I don’t think the written pattern is perfect, but the cable pattern is just so gorgeous, and the Fyberspates yarn is such a pretty shade of orange, I think it all came together really nicely (even with all of my fudging).

Sadly, I do think Pumpkin #4 (the Vertical Stripe Pumpkin) is my least favourite of the quintet. It just doesn’t have the same neatness (dare I say, elegance?) as the other pumpkins, and I was disappointed not to achieve the same swirly effect that the pumpkin from the pattern seems to have. I also think I could have knitted this pumpkin on even smaller needles, because it has a slightly more open fabric than I would have liked for a stuffed object.

Having said all that, I love all the pumpkins together and think they make a lovely, autumnal cluster! What do you think? Which pumpkin is your favourite?

Gemma

xxx

It was actually my mum who found this pattern and fell in love with it, but, because she’s not a big crocheter, she asked me to make it for her. Because I am a big crocheter- I readily agreed! It was perfect timing as well, because we ordered the yarn just before the Olympics began, so I was able to start making this blanket while watching the Opening Ceremony on 26th July 2024. Because I basically watched the games 24/7 while they were on, I had a lot of time to spend working on this project. In fact, as time went on, I got more and more hopeful that I’d get it all finished by the end of the Closing Ceremony on 11th August 2024, but, alas, it was not meant to be (read: I had to stop crocheting to take a nap). Instead, after 19 days of pretty hardcore crochet, I finished this blanket on 13th August 2024 (only 2 days off my target, though!). Still, to me, this blanket will forever be my Paris Olympics Blanket.

Table of Contents

• The Yarn
  • Wendy Supreme DK: Mini Review
  • Buying the Yarn
• The Starbursts
• Crocheting the Squares Together
• The Granny Rounds
• The Mini Grannies
• The Picot Edging
• Final Thoughts

The Yarn

I used the exact yarn specified by the pattern for my blanket, because a big part of what drew my mum to this blanket was the colours. The pattern calls for 19 balls of Wendy Supreme DK, which is an acrylic yarn that I’d actually never heard of before! If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll know that I’m very loyal to my beloved Stylecraft Special DK, so I was tempted to get similar colours in the Stylecraft and use that instead. However, I was a bit worried that the shades wouldn’t be perfect matches. I also figured that this could be a nice way of getting out of my comfort zone (in the gentlest of ways) and testing out some other yarn, so I opted to use the Wendy Supreme DK.

Wendy Supreme DK: Mini Review

After using the yarn to make this blanket, I thought I’d share a few quick thoughts on it (and talk about how it measures up to my beloved Stylecraft)!

• The Wendy Supreme DK is pretty soft, but ever so slightly ‘squeaky’…? It also felt a little rougher than the Stylecraft– I actually gave myself yarn burn at one point (but that could very well have been due to the excessive amount of crochet I was doing on a daily basis…)! It definitely feels more like acrylic to me than the Stylecraft, but not so much that I couldn’t be tempted to use it again.
• The Wendy Supreme DK is significantly more ‘splitty’ than the Stylecraft. It’s not unmanageable, but it was definitely noticeable as I worked with it.
• The colour of the Wendy Supreme DK was really nice and even, much like the Stylecraft shades. No complaints on that front!
• In all 18 balls of the Wendy Supreme DK (that I used), there was not a single knot, which made me very happy (because, you know, fewer ends to sew in). Big win for Wendy (though, having said that, I don’t often find knots in the Stylecraft yarn either…)!
• This might just be because I was working with so much cream yarn, but I did feel that the Wendy Supreme DK was a tiny bit… sheddier… than the Stylecraft? I made the mistake of wearing black trousers for a couple of the days and it was definitely giving me white-dog-fur-curse vibes.
• The Wendy Supreme DK is slightly cheaper than the Stylecraft (£1.99 vs £2.35, respectively), which is good to know if you’re looking for a slightly more affordable option.

Overall, the Wendy Supreme DK was a perfectly pleasant yarn, but I don’t think I enjoyed using it quite enough for it to usurp the Stylecraft Special DK as my all-time favourite. It was a fun experiment though! Just for fun, I did take out my (beloved) Stylecraft yarn pegs to see if I could find the closest shades and managed to find some pretty good (but not quite exact) matches:

• Cream WD02 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Cream 1005 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Duck Egg WD28 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Duck Egg 1820 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Rose WD09 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Pale Rose 1080 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Soft Peach WD52 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Soft Peach 1240 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Natural WD17 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Parchment 1218 (Stylecraft Special DK)

In general, I would say these Stylecraft alternatives are ever so slightly lighter than their Wendy counterparts, but the tones are pretty spot on (aside from Soft Peach, which is also slightly brighter and pinker than its corresponding Wendy shade).

Buying the Yarn

You can actually buy a full yarn pack for this particular pattern from Black Sheep Wools, for £36.99. However, I had a discount code for Wool Warehouse (which is my usual go-to for wool purchases) and it actually worked out slightly cheaper to buy the balls individually from there, so that’s what I did (oh, she’s thrifty).

The blanket calls for:

• 2x100g balls of Rose, Soft Peach and Natural.
• 3x100g balls of Duck Egg.
• 10x100g balls of Cream.

However, I did have a bit of yarn leftover- particularly of the cream shade. I could definitely have gotten away with buying one fewer ball of cream, because I had just under 2 balls left by the end. Having said that, I am a pretty tight crocheter, so that might be why?

The Starbursts

The first step of the blanket is to make the central starbursts. I’ve never actually made starbursts like these before, though I have seen them frequently on social media, so I was excited to give them a try myself! They were super simple to make, but I did make a commitment to myself that I would sew in all of the ends as I went along (blegh). It was a bit of a drag at the time, but I was so relieved not to have thousands of ends to sew in at the end of the process, so I guess it was for the best.

The pattern provides colour charts for all of the starbursts, because the colour choices are intentionally random and don’t follow much of a pattern. Unfortunately, the colour chart isn’t colour-coded- I can completely understand why this is the case, because if you were following the pattern using different colours, it would be tricky to follow, but ohhhhhh… I struggled. Ultimately, I just colour coded the chart myself on my computer, which wasn’t too tricky for the first lot of starbursts, at least.

For the second lot of starbursts, the colour chart is arranged a little differently, so I ended up just making a separate spreadsheet and using the ‘conditional highlighting’ feature to quickly colour code it. I’m not too mad about that, though… I love a spreadsheet.

Crocheting the Squares Together

I’ve done a lot of crochet in my life, but, surprisingly, I’ve never actually crocheted granny squares together using the join-as-you-go method. I know- crazy right?! It took a little bit of time to get my head around it, but I got into a rhythm pretty quickly and, actually, those rounds always seemed to fly by!

The instructions were super detailed for the first couple of times, but I would have loved a slightly more detailed explanation for the joining of the second round of starbursts- the pattern (completely reasonably, I have to say) just says to follow the previous instructions, but I felt that this round was a little different from the previous two joining rounds (almost a combination of the two?), so I would have liked a recap at this point (if just to save me from having to scroll back and forth between the other two instructions- especially seeing as you have to keep an eye on the colour chart at this point, too!).

I admit, I was a bit worried about how smooth the joins would be using this join-as-you-go method, and, for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised! I felt the method was really good for the bigger starbursts, but maybe not quite so smooth for the mini granny squares? My mini granny rounds are just a little bit bumpier around the joins than I would have liked, but perhaps that will smooth itself out in the wash…?

The Granny Rounds

The granny rounds really brought me back to my early crochet days and I really loved having the blue rows every now and then to break things up. The initial, photographic instructions for the granny sections were super clear and worked really well- though I do think that after that first set of instructions, the directions for the setup rows aren’t quite so clear (I feel there’s a couple of treble crochet instructions missing when joining the squares?). That doesn’t really matter though, seeing as the detailed instructions are right there at the start of the pattern anyway.

The Mini Grannies

Ah, we get to the part of this blanket that nearly, nearly got me. The mini grannies.

I opted to make all of the mini granny centres for the first round to start with, sewing in the starting ends after making all of the centres for a particular colour, so that I could work the joining round continuously. Honestly, I would still do it this way if I were to make this blanket again, but, my goodness, when I had to make 152 of the things for the second mini granny round, I really had to force myself to stay strong. I survived though! Big win for Gemma At Home.

I wasn’t crazy about the crocheting over the end technique used for these mini squares. On the one hand, I hate sewing in ends, so it should have been right up my alley, but I just feel like it’s not the… neatest? The pattern assures me it’s super secure, but I’ve already had a few little ends poking out… Maybe I did it wrong? Plus, you still have to sew in half of the ends, so I guess I’m wondering if it’s really worth it?

The Picot Edging

The joy I felt when I got to the picot edging- I can’t even tell you. Not because I struggled with this project, or didn’t enjoy it- I actually loved the process of this (except the mini grannies. Screw you, mini grannies.)! You know that feeling, though, when you know you’re going to finish a project that day? I had that. Also, I knew I only had about 6 ends left to sew in at this point, so I didn’t have the impending doom of thousands of ends waiting to be darned in, staring up at me from the depths of hell. Thank you for that, past Gemma. Your sacrifice is very much appreciated.

I don’t know why, but I found it so hard to get into a rhythm with this edging! I think because I was so used to doing treble crochets by this point, working double crochets and chains just threw me off. I had to keep checking to make sure I was actually doing it right, so it took me a bit longer than it should have. I also added an extra dc at the end of the round, alongside the first cluster, because I just felt it looked a bit uneven compared to the rest of the picots, but that was just a tiny, spur-of-the-moment thing.

To be honest, I’m not usually crazy about picot edgings on blankets (or borders, in general, really), but I actually really like this one??? The blanket pattern, admittedly, is not overly modern-looking, so maybe it just fits the vibe, but I think the picot edging really finishes this blanket off. I’m super happy with how it turned out!

Final Thoughts

So, after 19 days, 17 of those spent non-stop watching the Paris 2024 Olympics (including 2 pretty early mornings to watch the Triathlon events), 1 ominous case of yarn-burn, 5 padded plasters on top of said case of yarn-burn (so that I could continue crocheting through the pain), 18 balls of yarn, 232 cursed mini grannies, thousands of ends and, surprisingly, only 2 naps, my Grace Blanket was finished. I’m so proud of this one- I love that I’ll forever associate it with the Olympics, but also that I didn’t let myself get scared off by the idea of all. those. ends. (and that I darned them in as I went along which was… groundbreaking for me).

What do you think? Would you ever make a Grace Blanket for yourself? It’s such a clear and easy-to-follow pattern, I think it’s a great project for beginners and hardcore crocheters alike!

If you're interested... 

You can download the Grace Blanket pattern here. 

You can find the original pattern page on Ravelry for the Grace Blanket here.

You can find my Grace Blanket project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

If you missed the first 5 parts of the series, you can find them here:

• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #1: Introduction
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #2: Making the Brick Blanket
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #3: Adding the Surface Crochet Vines
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #4: Making the Rose Pieces
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #5: Making the Wisteria Pieces

Table of Contents

• A Note on Child Safety
• Equipment
• Positioning the Elements
  • The Layout
    • The Wisteria
    • The Roses
• Sewing on the Wisteria Pieces
• Sewing on the Rose Leaves
• Sewing on the Roses
• Final Thoughts

A Note on Child Safety

Obviously, because this is a baby blanket, it’s important to make it as safe as possible for young children. When developing this pattern, child safety was always at the forefront of my mind, so I have used specific techniques for sewing on each of the appliqué elements to make sure everything is attached as securely as possible. Having said this, anything handmade will only be as safe and secure as you make it- if any elements are not sewn on securely, they will pose a serious choking hazard. Additionally, accidents can happen- appliqué elements may become loose after repeated use, or as a result of the wear-and-tear of daily life, so, just to be on the safe side I would not recommend leaving a young child/baby with this blanket unsupervised.

Equipment

To assemble the blanket, you will need the following equipment:

• All of the appliqué elements (i.e. the roses, rose leaves and wisteria pieces from parts #4 and #5).
• Sewing needle (with an eye large enough to fit DK weight yarn).
• Scissors.
• Crochet hook (optional: I used this to help position the elements before I stitched them down, to ensure I was happy with the overall look before attaching anything permanently).

That’s it! If you’ve left long ends on each of the appliqué elements, as instructed in the specific posts (one pink end for each rose piece, one dark green end for each rose leaf and two light green ends for the wisteria pieces), you shouldn’t need any additional yarn at this stage. This means that you will end up with fewer ends to darn in (a major win, if you ask me) and the appliqué elements will be attached more securely.

Positioning the Elements

Before you start sewing, it’s a good idea to lay out all of the elements on the blanket, so you can get an idea of how the finished blanket will look. You can absolutely just lay the elements on top, but I found that all of the loose ends lying on top of the blanket made it difficult to visualise the finished product. This is where the crochet hook comes in! Lay the elements out where you want them, then pull the ends through to the back of the blanket using the crochet hook (the size of the hook doesn’t really matter- use whatever you have to hand). That way, you’ll get a much better idea of how the finished blanket will look.

The Layout

You can attach the appliqué elements in whatever layout you choose, but, if you want to mimic my blanket, here’s a rough overview of how I did it:

The Wisteria

The wisteria pieces are grouped together in clusters of 2 (1 long piece, 1 short piece). You should have 10 long wisteria pieces and 10 small, so you’ll end up with 10 wisteria clusters around the perimeter of the blanket. Start by placing one wisteria cluster in each of the four corners. Then place one wisteria cluster in the centre of each short side. Finally, space 2 wisteria clusters evenly down each long side of the blanket. Like this, you should have ten, equally-spaced wisteria clusters all around the perimeter of the blanket.

When it comes to positioning the individual wisteria pieces, make sure that each wisteria piece sits right on top of (or up against) one of the brown, surface crochet ‘vines’. This is important because that surface crochet is supposed to mimic the wisteria branch, so the wisteria flowers need to look as if they are growing from it! Make sure that the leafy end of the wisteria pieces sits closest to the branch, as pictured. I opted to position all of the clusters so that they were pointing inwards, towards the centre of the blanket, as if they are hanging down from the branch.

The Roses

Each of the spaces between the wisteria clusters is filled with a rose cluster, so you end up with a continuous, alternating pattern all around the perimeter of the blanket: wisteria, rose, wisteria, rose, etc.

For the most part, rose clusters consist of two rose pieces (1 large, 1 small) and one rose leaf piece. The only two exceptions to this are the clusters in the centre of each long side of the blanket: these rose clusters consist of three rose pieces (2 large, 1 small) and two rose leaf pieces. You should end up with 8 x 2-rose clusters and 2 x 3-rose clusters.

Much like how the wisteria pieces should look as if they are growing out of the brown surface crochet ‘vine’, the rose clusters should sit on the green surface crochet ‘vine’, so they look like they are growing from it. The roses can be placed in any orientation, but the leaves should always be positioned so that the round end sits on the green vine, while the pointed end points away from it.

Sewing on the Wisteria Pieces

Each wisteria piece should have two long, green ends left attached for sewing onto the blanket. One end will be at the base of the petals, while the other will be at the top of the petals (i.e. the base of the leaves). The end at the base of the petals will be used to attach the purple part of the wisteria to the blanket, while the other end will be used to secure the leaves. This will add an extra layer of security, while also giving you the freedom to position both the petals and the leaves however you would like.

Let’s start with attaching the petals. Each wisteria piece is sewn on individually, one at a time. I prefer to start with a long wisteria piece and create an organic shape with that, then move onto a shorter piece and ‘nestle’ it alongside the first piece. After both petal pieces are attached, I stitch down both of the leaves. We’ll be using a simple running stitch to stitch the central, green chain that runs through all of the petals to the blanket.

Thread the petal end onto your needle, then insert the needle through the blanket, from front to back, as pictured, where you want the bottom of your wisteria piece to sit.

Bring the needle back up in a slightly different spot, so that it comes through the green starting chain, close to the end.

Bring the needle back down to the other side of the blanket, bringing it back through the green starting chain, a little further along the wisteria piece.

Keep going, weaving the needle up and down through the blanket and the starting chain, until you come to the end of the petals. I prefer to wait until I’ve attached all the elements before weaving in the ends, just in case I want to change any positions, but you can sew them in whenever you want. For the neatest finish, I recommend bringing the end to the front of the work and darning it into the starting chain underneath the petals. This way, the petals will hide it from the front and the back will still look nice and neat.

Once you’ve sewn the first, long wisteria piece on, you can attach the second, shorter wisteria piece. The two pieces should sit snugly alongside each other, to give the illusion of a single, full wisteria bloom. Attach the second wisteria piece in exactly the same manner as the first, using a running stitch that is worked through the central green chain.

At this point, you should have one wisteria cluster with all the petals stitched down. Now, it’s time to attach the leaves. Attaching the leaves will add an extra layer of safety to the blanket and allows you to control how they sit.

I like to stitch the leaves down in a wide ‘v’ shape, so that the top of the wisteria petals sits within the leaves.

Use the same running stitch technique as the petal section for the leaves. When attaching the leaves, I like to run my stitches right down the centre of the leaf piece, so that the leaves on either side can still move and stand up, to make them look more natural.

Start by threading the end (the one from the base of the leaf piece/top of the petals) onto a needle, then pull the needle through to the back of the blanket, where you want the top of the leaf piece to sit.

Bring the needle back up through the blanket, coming up through the centre of the leaf piece, near the top edge.

Bring the needle back down, slightly further along the centre line of the leaf piece to make the next stitch.

Repeat this until you have stitched all the way down the centre of the leaf, stopping just before the end, so that the final little leaf is left free to curl up/move. When sewing in the end, I like to darn it into the leaf piece itself, again, to keep the back of the blanket looking tidy.

Repeat this process for both leaves, then you’ll have your first, completely attached, wisteria cluster! Repeat for all ten of the clusters, aiming to keep the shapes of the petals and leaves as organic and natural-looking as you can.

Sewing on the Rose Leaves

The technique for attaching the rose leaves is exactly the same as for the wisteria leaves. The aim is to run a line of stitching down the very centre of the leaf, leaving the sides and pointed top free to give the leaf some dimension. The long end that we left on the leaf pieces should sit at the base of each leaf (i.e. the rounded end, not the pointy end). We’ll use this to attach the leaves to the blanket.

I like to sew the rose leaves on first, before the roses themselves, so that the roses can overlap the leaf slightly- it just makes everything look a bit more natural.

Start by threading the end onto the needle, then bring it down through the blanket, from front to back, where you want the base of the leaf to sit (i.e. on the green surface crochet ‘vine’).

Come back up through the blanket, from back to front this time, a little bit further down the centre of the leaf, sticking to that centre line. Because of how we crocheted these leaves, it’s pretty easy to see where that centre line is, so use that as your guide.

Then, bring the needle back down through the centre of the leaf and the blanket beneath.

Keep bringing the needle up and down, through the work, until you come to just before the end of the leaf. Leaving the pointed end unattached will help the leaf to look more organic.

Now, you have an attached leaf! As before, I like to leave all the sewing in of ends until I’ve attached everything, but, when you do sew in the ends for the leaves, try to sew them into the leaves themselves, keeping the ends at the back of the leaves, if possible.

Sewing on the Roses

The roses are, unfortunately, the trickiest element to attach to the blanket, but, once you get the hang of it, it shouldn’t take too long to attach each one. Each rose piece should have one, long end for sewing in at the back. The aim is to use this end to work a running stitch all around the base of the rose, in a rough circle. This technique will provide the most strength and security.

Start by threading the end onto your needle, then bring the needle through to the back of the work, anchoring the rose wherever you want it to sit.

Next, bring the needle back up through the work, slightly further around the circumference of the rose, and catch a few stitches from the lower side of the rose as you do this.

Bring the needle back down through to the other side of the blanket, slightly further around the circumference of the rose again, catching a few more stitches from the lower side of the rose as you go.

Work all the way around the rose like this, running the stitches through both the blanket and the rose as you go, until you have stitched a wide circle all around the rose. The wider your circle of stitching, the more secure the rose will be. Don’t go too wide, though, or you’ll be able to see the stitches.

Ta-da! Now you have one attached rose!

Attach any other roses in the cluster in the exact same way, with the circle of stitching. However, when you come to the area where the new rose abuts the old rose, push your needle horizontally through the side of the first rose, as shown (you’re not going through the blanket itself at this stage, just the rose!).

Then do the same thing to the new rose, pushing the needle through horizontally, before continuing on your way around the rose, stitching it to the blanket again.

These two stitches just help to pull the roses together a little bit. This is optional, but will help to make the rose clusters look more organic and less like two separate roses, sitting near each other.

Now you’ll have a perfect little rose cluster! Repeat this process for all of the remaining clusters, then sew in all the ends (once you are happy with your finished blanket, of course!). As with the other elements, I recommend bringing the rose ends through to the front of the work and sewing them into the underside of the roses, for the neatest finish.

Final Thoughts

And… that’s it! Once everything’s sewn on, you’ll have your very own, Bridgerton House Baby Blanket ready to be used!

These instructions may seem a little overwhelming, but once you get into the swing of things, the sewing-up part of the process will go really quickly. Of course, you don’t have to follow my instructions- if you have a preferred method of sewing on embellishments, or just think of a better way to do it, you can absolutely go ahead and do that!

In other news…

Now that this pattern is finally complete, I’ve put it on Ravelry! You can find it here (and you can check out some of my other designs here, if you’re interested!).

I’ve had so much fun designing and developing this pattern for you over the past couple of years- I’m so glad it’s finally yours in its entirety! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Gemma

xxx

• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #1: Introduction
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #2: Making the Brick Blanket
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #3: Adding the Surface Crochet Vines
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #4: Making the Rose Pieces

Table of Contents

• Crochet Wisteria: The Basics
• The Starting Chain (or ‘Stem’)
• Crocheting Integrated Wisteria Leaves
• Crocheting Around a Central Chain
  • Small Wisteria Piece
  • Large Wisteria Piece
• Written Pattern
  • Materials & Tools
  • Small Wisteria (Make 10):
  • Large Wisteria (Make 10):
• Final Thoughts

Crochet Wisteria: The Basics

Each wisteria section on the blanket is made up of two individual wisteria pieces, one smaller, one larger, which are attached to the blanket alongside one another to create a tapered, organic shape.

Each individual wisteria piece consists of a central, green stem, two-tone purple petals and a sprig of green wisteria leaves. The leaves are crocheted immediately after working the starting chain, using the same yarn thread, without cutting it in between. This means there are fewer ends to sew in, but also adds an extra layer of safety to the blanket (as there are fewer small, separate embellishments). The petals are crocheted in a continuous spiral around the central stem, switching from the darker purple shade to the paler purple shade about halfway up. The technique is a little unusual, but is relatively simple to work up, once you get the hang of it.

The Starting Chain (or ‘Stem’)

Each wisteria piece begins with a green starting chain, which will form the main ‘stem’ of the wisteria blossoms. The important thing to remember with this starting chain is that you must use a larger hook than you would typically use for DK weight yarn- I typically use a 4mm hook for Stylecraft Special DK, so I have used a 5mm hook for this starting chain. This is because, when you crochet into the starting chain in a spiral for the petals, it pulls the starting chain much tighter than if you were crocheting into it in the usual manner. Using a larger hook helps to keep the starting chain nice and loose, so your wisteria pieces stay flat.

The length of your starting chain determines the length of your finished wisteria piece. For the smaller wisteria pieces, you will start by chaining 14. For the larger wisteria pieces, you will start by chaining 19.

Much like with the rose pieces from the last post, it’s important to leave a long end (approx. 25cm) at the start of your starting chain, for attaching the wisteria pieces to the blanket later on.

Crocheting Integrated Wisteria Leaves

I specifically formulated the pattern for these wisteria pieces to minimise both the amount of ends that needed to be sewn in (because sewing in ends is the WORST) and the amount of separate, small pieces that needed to be individually attached to the blanket (because this is, after all, a baby blanket and needs to be as safe as possible). Because of this, I integrated the wisteria leaves into the same pieces as the wisteria stem/petals. Although this does require a little bit of mid-crochet hook switching, it does mean that there are fewer ends and fewer separate pieces, so it’s really for the best!

The leaves are created using a combination of chains and slip stitches. The same pattern is used for both wisteria pieces, large or small. The size of the leaf piece does not change, irrespective of whether the starting chain consists of 14 or 19 chains.

The wisteria leaves are crocheted immediately after the starting chain is worked. Once you have completed the starting chain (on the larger, 5mm hook), don’t cut the working yarn. Pull the loop out a little, so it doesn’t unravel mid-switch, then remove your 5mm hook and replace it with a 3mm hook (as shown above). Using a finer hook for the leaves helps to give them more definition.

Start by chaining 6 more stitches, using the smaller hook. This will form the start of the leaf section. I’ve marked the end of my starting chain with a stitch marker, to make it easier for you to see what’s going on, but it’s not necessary.

Next, slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Then slip stitch into the next 2 stitches. This creates one, 3-stitch leaf.

Now, we’ll make the next leaf. Start by chaining 5, then, again, slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook. Finally, slip stitch into the next 2 chains. This creates a second 3-stitch leaf.

Now we’ll make a third 3-stitch leaf. Chain 5, slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook, then slip stitch into the next 2 chains.

Now we’ll make a smaller, 2-stitch leaf. Chain 4 this time, then slip stitch into the second chain from the hook. Slip stitch into the next chain to finish this leaf. This finishes off the left-hand side of the sprig. As you can see, it consists of three 3-stitch leaves and one 2-stitch leaf.

Now, we’ll make the 1-stitch leaf that will sit at the very bottom of the sprig. Chain 3, then slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook. This completes the leaf.

From now on, we’ll be working back up the length of the sprig, creating the leaves on the right-hand side. The leaves on the right-hand side will be a mirror image of the ones on the left.

Start by slip stitching to the next stitch, to get to the right position to form the first leaf.

Ch 3, then slip stitch into 2nd chain from the hook. Slip stitch into the next chain to create another 2-stitch leaf, opposite the 2-stitch leaf on the other side.

Skip the next stitch (i.e. the base of the 2-stitch leaf on the other side).

Then slip stitch to the next chain to secure the leaf to the central train.

Make a 3-stitch leaf by chaining 4, slip stitching into the second chain from the hook, then slip stitching into the next 2 chains.

Again, to attach the leaf to the central chain, skip the next stitch (the base of the 3-stitch leaf on the other side) and slip stitch to the next chain.

Repeat this process to make another 3-stitch leaf. After, attach the leaf to the central chain by skipping the next stitch (the base of the 3-stitch leaf on the other side) and slip stitching to the next chain.

Make a final 3-stitch leaf by chaining 4, slip stitching into the second chain from the hook, then slip stitching into the next 2 chains to finish off the stem

Once you’ve done this, you should have a symmetrical sprig of wisteria leaves that is completely attached to your initial starting chain. Cut the green yarn now, leaving a long end again for sewing up (approx. 15-20cm). We will be using the long end from the start of the starting chain to attach the petal section of the wisteria piece to the blanket, while this end will be used to attach the wisteria leaves to the blanket.

Crocheting Around a Central Chain

Once you have the starting chain ‘stem’ and the integrated sprig of leaves, it’s time to add the petals. This is where things get a little… unusual, so stay with me! Essentially, all you’re doing is crocheting into each chain down the stem, but twisting the stem as you go. By doing this, you’ll end up crocheting a spiral of petals that winds it way around that starting chain ‘stem’, mimicking the conical, 3D shape of a wisteria sprig.

We’re going to start at the bottom of the wisteria sprig (i.e., the opposite end of the stem to the leaf). We’ll start crocheting with the darker purple yarn (I’m using Stylecraft Special DK, in the shade Wisteria) and a 3mm hook.

Small Wisteria Piece

Let’s start with a small wisteria piece. Start by laying out a 14-chain stem piece in front of you, with the leaf on the left-hand side and the ‘v’s of the starting chain facing up at you.

Insert your hook through the middle of the first chain, from back to front, as shown in the photo above.

Using the purple yarn, make the first petal in this stitch. Chain 1, then work 2 dc into the same stitch.

Because of how we inserted our hook into that first stitch, you’ll now be looking at the back of your starting chain. Don’t twist the chain, just insert your hook into the next stitch in exactly the same way as before: through the middle, from back to front (as you see it now), as indicated by the needle here.

Slip stitch into this chain.

Then make another (ch 1, 2dc) petal into it as well.

Again, you’ll notice the chain has turned over again, and you’ll now be looking at the front of the starting chain. Again, we’re going to work into the next chain by inserting our hook through the middle of it, from back to front.

Slip stitch to the chain, then work another (ch 1, 2dc) petal into it. You should now have 3 petals.

Repeat the whole process, continuing to insert your hook into new chains from back to front, twice more, for a total of 5 petals.

Now we’re going to start increasing the size of the petals, to give that slight conical shape to the sprig. While the petal instructions will change, the hook insertion method stays the same. That is, you should always be inserting your hook through the middle of the chain, from back to front. After working odd-number petals, you should be looking at the back (bumpy side) of the chain. After working even-number petals, you should be looking at the front (v-pattern) side of the chain. This can be a helpful rule to remember to keep you on track, in case your chain gets twisted and you forget where you are!

For the sixth petal, work the following pattern into the next chain: (Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc).

Slip stitch into the next stitch, then repeat this process once more, for a second medium-sized petal (or petal #7).

At this point, cut the darker purple yarn and attach the paler purple yarn (I am using Stylecraft Special DK, in the shade Parma Violet). I attach the pale yarn by pulling it through to finish off the dc from the previous petal, which gives a seamless finish.

With the paler purple yarn, work another 3 medium clusters by working in that same (Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) pattern into the next 3 chains, continuing on with the back-to-front hook insertion method and slip stitching into the next chain as you go.

Finally, we’ll make the large petals. Slip stitch into the next chain, inserting the hook from back to front. (Ch 1, 3 htr) into the same stitch.

Repeat this process (slip stitch into the next stitch, then work (ch 1, 3 htr) into the same stitch) 3 more times, for a total of 4 large petals.

Slip stitch to the final chain, again, inserting the hook from back-to-front, to finish off the final petal.

At this point, you can cut the pale purple yarn and fasten off.

At this point, you can weave in all of the purple ends (both pale and dark). Try to darn them into the petals themselves, matching the end to the petal to keep the colours separate.

I also used the green end at the bottom of the stem to define the bottom petals ever so slightly- just thread it onto a darning needle and pass it through between the two petals, to create a little green ‘stripe’. Keep this end attached for sewing the wisteria piece to the blanket later.

Large Wisteria Piece

To make the larger wisteria piece, all of the petal patterns and hook-insertion techniques stay exactly the same. All that changes is the number of petals and the point at which you change from the darker purple yarn to the paler purple yarn.

Following the instructions for the smaller wisteria piece, lay one of the 19-chain stem pieces out in front of you.

Work 5 small (ch 1, 2dc) petals in the darker purple yarn.

Then work 4 medium (ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) petals in the darker purple yarn.

Switch to the paler purple yarn, then work 1 more medium (ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) petal in the paler purple yarn.

Finally, work 9 large (ch 1, 3htr) petals in the paler yarn.

Weave in all the purple yarn ends as for the smaller wisteria piece, and define the bottom two petals using the green yarn end as before.

Written Pattern

Materials & Tools

• Stylecraft Special DK in the shades Pistachio, Wisteria and Parma Violet.*
• 5mm hook (for the starting chain).
• 3mm hook (for the leaves and petals).
• Scissors.
• Darning needle.

You can find the specific quantities for each of the yarn colours on the introductory post for this pattern, under ‘Master Material List’.

Small Wisteria (Make 10):

Using a 5mm hook, ch 14, leaving a long end (approx. 25cm) at the start for attaching to the blanket.

Switch to a 3mm hook to make the leaves.

*Ch 6, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Ch 5, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Ch 5, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next chain.

Ch 3, ss into 2^nd ch from hook.

Slip to next stitch, ch 3, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next chain.

Skip next stitch on main stem (at base of opposite leaf), ss to next ch, ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Skip next stitch on main stem, ss to next ch, ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Skip next stitch on main stem, ss to next ch, ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Skip next stitch on main stem, ss to next 2 ch.

Cut the green yarn, leaving a long end (approx. 15-20cm) for attaching to the blanket.**

From now on, when working into the starting chain, always insert hook through the middle of the chain, from back to front. This will twist the chain after every petal is worked. After working odd-number petals, you should be looking at the back (bumpy side) of the chain. After working even-number petals, you should be looking at the front (v-pattern) side of the chain.

Attach Wisteria yarn to first chain of initial starting chain (opposite end to leaf).

(Ch 1, 2dc) into first stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 4 more times, for a total of 5 small petals.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 1 more time, for a total of 2 medium petals.

Cut Wisteria yarn and attach Parma Violet yarn.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 2 more times, for a total of 3 medium (pale) petals.

(Ch 1, 3htr) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 3 more times, for a total of 4 large petals.

Cut Parma Violet yarn. Weave in all purple ends, leaving both green ends for attaching to the blanket later. Define the bottom two (small) petals by threading the green end at the base of the wisteria onto a darning needle, then working a small stitch over the petals to separate them. Do not cut the green yarn after.

Large Wisteria (Make 10):

Using a 5mm hook, ch 19, leaving a long end (approx. 25cm) at the start for attaching to the blanket.

Switch to a 3mm hook and follow the pattern for the small wisteria piece from * to ** to make the leaves.

From now on, when working into the starting chain, always insert hook through the middle of the chain, from back to front. This will twist the chain after every petal is worked. After working odd-number petals, you should be looking at the back (bumpy side) of the chain. After working even-number petals, you should be looking at the front (v-pattern) side of the chain.

Attach Wisteria yarn to first chain of initial starting chain (opposite end to leaf).

(Ch 1, 2dc) into first stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 4 more times, for a total of 5 small petals.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 3 more times, for a total of 4 medium petals.

Cut Wisteria yarn and attach Parma Violet yarn.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch, to make 1 more medium petal.

(Ch 1, 3htr) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 8 more times, for a total of 9 large petals.

Cut Parma Violet yarn. Weave in all purple ends, leaving both green ends for attaching to the blanket later. Define the bottom two (small) petals by threading the green end at the base of the wisteria onto a darning needle, then working a small stitch over the petals to separate them. Do not cut the green yarn after.

Final Thoughts

Once you’ve made 10 small wisteria pieces and 10 large wisteria pieces, you will have all of your wisteria appliqué elements ready to go for your Bridgerton House Baby Blanket! The next post in this series will include detailed instructions for attaching these, along with the rose pieces from last week’s post, to your blanket, so keep them somewhere safe until then.

Obviously, these crochet wisteria pieces are nowhere near anatomically correct, but, when attached to the blanket, I think they do a really good job of giving the impression of wisteria, which was the aim! They are a little fiddly to make, but that’s more because the spiral technique is quite different to typical crochet, not because it’s particularly hard or fine work! Just remember that, when you’re working the petals, you should always be inserting the hook through the middle of the next chain, from back to front, and you’ll be absolutely fine.

These wisteria pieces were definitely one of the more complicated elements to design for this blanket pattern, but I’m super happy with how they turned out- particularly the integrated leaf section, which not only reduces the number of ends you have to sew in (yay!) but also makes this blanket that little bit safer for young children (double yay!).

I hope you’ve enjoyed this wisteria embellishment tutorial! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not super experienced at writing crochet patterns, so please do let me know if you run into any problems with this and I will do my best to help you out! I’ll see you next week for Part 6 (the final part!).

Gemma

xxx

• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #1: Introduction
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #2: Making the Brick Blanket
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #3: Adding the Surface Crochet Vines

Table of Contents

• Crochet Roses: The Basics
• Making the Large Roses
• Making the Small Roses
• Winding the Roses
  • Not All Rolls Are Made Equal
• Making the Rose Leaves
• Written Pattern
  • Materials & Tools
  • Large Rose (make 12):
  • Small Rose (make 10):
  • Rose Leaf (make 12):
• Final Thoughts

Crochet Roses: The Basics

Each rose is crocheted as one piece, which is then rolled up and sewn together to create the flower shape. The roses are crocheted on a very small hook (2mm). This helps to give the roses more structure and creates a neater finish. If you find using a small hook with DK weight yarn to be too much of a struggle (it can be a bit hard on your fingers!), you can absolutely use a larger hook- just be aware that your roses will be larger in size and less rigid.

For this blanket, you will need to make 2 different sizes of rose: large and small, using 3 different shades of pink. This provides dimension and reflects the roses seen in the show, where the centre of each flower is a darker shade that gradually lightens to the pale pink outer petals. To keep things simple, I’ve opted to use a few different shades to make multiple, plain-coloured roses, rather than incorporate the gradient into each individual rose.

The roses are arranged in clusters around the perimeter of the blanket. For the most part, the clusters are formed of 1 large + 1 small rose, though, in the centre of each long side of the blanket, there is one larger cluster consisting of 1 small + 2 large roses. For my blanket, I made the following number of roses in each shade of pink, but you can, of course, change this to suit your yarn/preference:

• Pale Pink (Stylecraft Special DK in Powder Pink): 4 large, 3 small.
• Mid Pink (Stylecraft Special DK in Pale Rose): 4 large, 4 small.
• Dark Pink (Stylecraft Special DK in Raspberry): 4 large, 3 small.

To help integrate the appliqué roses into the background, rose leaves are crocheted separately and sewn onto the blanket alongside the rose clusters. Each cluster is adorned with one rose leaf, except for the larger, 3-rose clusters, which have 2 leaves. The leaves are crocheted using the same Khaki shade used to make the surface crochet rose vine from the previous instalment. All in all, you’ll need to make 12 rose leaves for this blanket.

Making the Large Roses

You will need to make 12 large roses.

Using a 2mm hook, chain 25. Leave a long end (approx. 30cm) for attaching the rose to the blanket later on.

When starting the first row, work into the 3rd chain from the hook.

Work 4 dc into this stitch. Consider these 4 stitches, combined with the 2 turning chains, as a cluster of 5 dc, or 1 ‘petal’.

Skip the next stitch, so that you will be working into the second chain from your hook.

Slip stitch into that stitch.

Skip the next stitch, so that, again, you will be working into the second chain from your hook.

Work 5 dc into that stitch.

Keep working in this pattern (skip 1 stitch, 5dc in next chain, skip 1 stitch, ss into next) to the end of the row. You should now have 6 x 5 dc clusters (or 6 ‘petals’).

Turn and chain 1 to start the next round.

Skip the first slip stitch, so that you will start by working into the 2nd stitch from your hook (i.e. the first dc stitch).

Htr into each of the next 5 stitches (i.e. into each of the 5 dc from the row below).

Slip stitch into the next stitch (which is also a slip stitch, from the row before).

Continue working in this pattern (htr 5, ss) to the last 5 stitches (or the last petal). Work 4 htr into the next 4 stitches (the 4 dc from the row below), then work one final htr into the top of the ch 2 from the previous row.

Turn and chain 1 to start the next row. From now on, you will be working into the front loops only. This helps to give a delicate shape to the petals.

Dc into the first stitch (the last htr from the row below).

Work 2dc into each of the next 3 stitches, then dc into the next stitch. Finish off this first petal by working a slip stitch into the next stitch.

Work in this pattern (dc, 2 dc in next 3 stitches, dc, ss in next stitch) to the end of the row.

Cut the yarn and sew in this end, leaving the long end from the starting chain to secure the rose after winding/sew the rose onto the blanket.

Making the Small Roses

The smaller roses are made in a very similar manner to the larger roses, except they have fewer petals and are worked up in 2 rows, as opposed to 3.

Using a 2mm hook, chain 17. Leave a long end (approx. 30cm) for attaching the rose to the blanket later on.

Work 4 dc into the 3rd chain from the hook. Like with the larger rose, these 4 stitches, combined with the 2 starting chains, count as a cluster of 5 dc, or 1 ‘petal’.

Skip 1 stitch, then slip stitch into the next. Work in the following pattern: (skip 1 stitch, 5dc in next chain, skip 1 stitch, ss into next) to the end of the row. You should end up with 4 x 5 dc clusters (or 4 ‘petals’).

Turn and chain 1 to start the next row. From now on, you will be working into the front loops only. This helps to shape to the rose petals.

Skip the first slip stitch, then work in the following pattern to the end of the row: (dc, 2dc in next 3 stitches, dc, ss in next stitch) to end.

Cut the yarn and sew in this end, leaving the long end from the starting chain to secure the rose after winding/sew the rose onto the blanket.

Winding the Roses

To take the roses from flat, scalloped pieces to 3D flowers, you need to roll up the crocheted piece.

Start by threading the remaining end onto a sewing needle. You will use this end to secure the roll and it’s much easier to thread it before you’ve rolled up the rose!

Roll the rose up along the inner edge (i.e. the straight, non-scalloped edge), this will form the bottom of the rose, with the scalloped edge forming the top of the petals. Keep the bottom edge level as you roll and aim to roll it nice and tightly, for the most secure rose.

Once you have your roll, you need to secure it. Use the threaded needle and push it through the base of the rose a few times, staying relatively close to that bottom edge and making sure to catch each of layers of the spiral at some point.

Once your rose ‘roll’ is firmly secured, you can remove the sewing needle. Do NOT cut the yarn at this point- you will still need it to attach the rose to the blanket! Just set the rose aside as it is, ready for when you assemble the blanket.

Not All Rolls Are Made Equal

The direction in which you roll the rose does make a difference! Luckily, it just changes the appearance of the roses ever so slightly- so you can roll whichever way you prefer. I’ve used a combination of the two styles for my blanket, but you can do whatever you like!

Consider the initial, flat crocheted piece. Because of the way we worked the final round, working into the front loops only, there is a clear distinction between the two sides of the fabric.

If you roll the rose with the right side facing inwards, you’ll end up with a rose that looks a little like this- it’s got a slightly cupped, bulbous shape, as if the rose hasn’t quite fully opened yet.

If you roll the rose with the right side facing outwards, you’ll end up with a rose that looks like this- the spiral effect is slightly more prominent and the rose looks like it is a little more ‘open’ and ‘in bloom’.

As I mentioned, you can roll your roses whichever way you prefer- or you can be like me and use both! I did choose to roll all of the small roses outward, because they are so tiny I found that, when rolling them inward, they lost a little of their structure and rose-like appearance. Again though, it’s entirely up to you!

Making the Rose Leaves

For the rose leaves, you’ll be glad to hear that it’s very much a one-size-fits-all kind of situation! I used a slightly larger hook for the leaves, compared to the roses, to a) give my fingers a rest and b) allow the leaves to look a little more organic and natural looking (i.e. less stiff). It’s still a pretty small hook (2.5mm), to keep the leaves in proportion to the roses, but it won’t be quite as tight as the roses!

Using a 2.5mm hook and Khaki yarn, start by chaining 7. Leave a long end (approx. 25cm) to attach the leaf to the blanket later on.

Start by working into the 2nd chain from the hook. You’ll only be working into the top loops of the chains for this first part.

Work one dc into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Then, work a htr into the next stitch.

Work a tr into each of the next 2 stitches.

Then work another htr into the next stitch.

Work a dc into the final stitch.

Then, slip stitch into that same stitch.

This will allow you to curve around the base of the leaf, so that you can work back up the other side of your starting chain.

From now on, you’ll be working into the back loops of your starting chain (i.e. into the same stitches as before, just from the other side of the chain!

Work in the same pattern as before (dc, htr, tr 2, dc) all the way back up the starting chain.

To finish off the leaf and create the ‘pointy’ end, slip stitch to the top of the first dc.

Cut the yarn and weave in this end, leaving the long end from the starting chain for attaching the leaf to the blanket later on.

Written Pattern

Materials & Tools

• Stylecraft Special DK in the shades Powder Pink, Pale Rose and Raspberry (for the roses) and Khaki (for the rose leaves).*
• 2mm crochet hook (for the roses).
• 2.5mm crochet hook (for the rose leaves).
• Scissors
• Darning needle

* You can find the specific quantities for each of the yarn colours on the introductory post for this pattern, under ‘Master Material List’.

Large Rose (make 12):

Ch 25, leaving long end to attach onto blanket (approx. 30cm).

R1: 4dc in 3^rd ch from hook (counts as 5dc). Skip 1 stitch, ss into next. (Skip 1 stitch, 5dc in next chain, skip 1 stitch, ss into next) to end (6x 5dc clusters). 

R2: Turn and ch1. Skip first ss. (Htr in next 5 stitches, ss into ss from previous round) to last cluster. Htr in next 5 stitches, working the final htr into the top of the ch 2 from the previous round. 

R3: Turn and ch1. Working in front loops only, (dc, 2dc in next 3 stitches, dc, ss in next stitch) to end.

Cut yarn and sew in short end. Roll and secure (using long end) to form rose (inward or outward). Leave this end attached to sew rose onto blanket later.

Small Rose (make 10):

Ch 17 leaving long end to attach onto blanket (approx. 30cm).

R1: 4dc in 3^rd ch from hook (counts as 5dc). Skip 1 stitch, ss into next. (Skip 1 stitch, 5dc in next chain, skip 1 stitch, ss into next) to end.

R2: R3: Turn and ch1. Skip first ss, then, working in front loops only, (dc, 2dc in next 3 stitches, dc, ss in next stitch) to end.

Cut yarn and darn in short end. Roll outward and secure (using long end) to form rose. Leave this end attached to sew rose onto blanket later.

Rose Leaf (make 12):

Ch 7, leaving long end to attach to blanket (approx. 25cm)

Working in top loops only, dc in 2^nd ch from hook. Htr, tr in next 2, htr, dc. Ss into same stitch.

Work back down the chain (working in back loops now). Dc, htr, tr 2, dc. Ss to top of first sc.

Cut yarn and weave in end. Leave the long end attached to sew leaf onto blanket later.

Final Thoughts

Once you’ve made 12 large roses, 10 small roses and 12 rose leaves, you’ll have all of your rose appliqué pieces ready to go! I’ll be providing detailed instructions for attaching all of these elements onto the blanket in a later post, so keep them safe until then.

I really love these roses, because they’re actually pretty straightforward to make, even though they look a little complicated. They’re also super customisable- you can use any colour of yarn you want, you can roll them up in different directions, make as many/as few as you like and vary the sizes as much as you need. I admit, crocheting DK weight yarn on a 2mm hook is a bit of a trial, but it makes for such neat, structural roses that I really do think it’s worth it. If it’s not feasible for you, absolutely just increase the hook size- a slight improvement in structure and appearance is obviously NOT worth any sort of crochet-induced insanity!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this rose embellishment tutorial! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not super experienced at writing crochet patterns, so please do let me know if you run into any problems with this and I will do my best to help you out! I’ll see you next week for Part 5!

Gemma

xxx