Christmas Crafts – Bead Yarn & Spatula

I started this project way back in January. I actually posted a little about it in my Elusive Magic Ring post. By the way, I still cannot do a magic ring, but, I am not letting it hold me back. I am sticking with my chain 6 and join with a slip stitch method to get around it. So, why did it take me so long for me to complete it? Well, while I easily found enough skeins of red & gray yarn in the same dye lot I was having trouble doing the same for the green I wanted to use. After a while I just gave up looking. But then September rolled around and I knew that if I wanted to finish my tree skirt for Christmas this year I would have to find it. And so, luckily one day at my local Michael’s I came across three skeins in the same dye lot and I picked up a fourth one that looked similar just in case. I crocheted 12 green hexagons and I finally had the 36 I needed to make my Christmas Tree Skirt.

I began by laying out all of the hexagons on top of my old Christmas tree skirt to ensure that the 36 hexagons would be enough. It ended up being a little smaller than my old one, but not by much. I also wanted to make sure that I laid the hexagons out in a pattern that I liked. I basically placed them haphazardly but also made sure that there weren’t too many of one color in one area. I probably switched the hexagons around once or twice before finally settling on the design.

And once I did I began stitching the hexagons together to create columns.

And then I stitched those columns together to form the tree skirt. As you can see, my new skirt isn’t that much smaller than my old one. I was initially think of adding 2 hexagons to each column (one on top and one of the bottom) but I decided against it because I felt that the skirt would be too big and it may take away from the overall design. Also, if I did that I would then need to add another column on each end consisting of 5 hexagons each to balance it out, and I just didn’t have enough yarn to do that. I only had 1 skein of each color left over and that would give me another 12 hexagons and with the added hexagons I was thinking of I would have needed an additional 24 hexagons… Eeek!

And to make sure I can easily place this around my Christmas tree I left two columns unstitched. Choosing one near the center just made the most sense.

I think it looks perfect under my tree…

Hexagon Christmas Tree Skirt

Yarn: Bernat Chunky Yarn (3 skeins each of Berry Red, Dark Green & Gray Heather – you should get 4 hexagons from each skein)

Crochet Hook: L / 8.0 MM

Hexagon Pattern:

Round 1: Ch6 and join with a slip stitch in the first chain*. Ch1 and then Ch2 more, dc in ring, ch2, *2dc, ch2* 5 times into ring. sl st to join last ch to the top of the first series of 3 ch. (You will have 6 sets of 2dc + 2ch. The 2 dc will become the sides of the hexagon and the 2 ch gaps will become the corners.

*Alternately you could start with a magic loop

Round 2: Ch3, dc in next dc stich, *[dc, ch2, dc in chain gap from previous round], dc in next 2 dc* (5 times). dc, ch2, dc in last corner gap. sl st to join last ch to the top of the first series of 3 ch. (Each hexagon side now has 4 dc stitches, separated by a ch 2 space)

Round 3: ch3, dc in next 2 dc, *[dc, ch2, dc in chain gap from previous round], dc in next 4 dc* (5 times). dc, ch2, dc in last corner gap. dc in remaining 1 dc. sl st to join last ch to the top of the first series of 3 ch. (Each hexagon side now has 6 dc stitches, separated by a 2 ch space)

Round 4: ch3, dc in next 3 dc, *[dc, ch2, dc in chain gap from previous round], dc in next 4 dc* (5 times). dc, ch2, dc in last corner gap. dc in remaining 2 dc. sl st to join last ch to the top of the first series of 3 ch. (Each hexagon side now has 8 dc stitches, separated by a 2 ch space)

sl st – slip stitch

ch – chain

dc – double crochet

Once you have all of your hexagons made lay them out in 7 rows. Your 1st and 7th row will have 4 hexagons each, your 2nd & 6th will have 5, your 3rd and 5th will have 6 each and the middle row (row 4) will also have 6, but, you will leave a space in the middle for your tree / tree stand to go through. The hexagons will be staggered so that the final skirt will somewhat look like a hexagon as well. You may have to use your imagination to see it.

Once you like the pattern, begin by stitching the hexagons together into columns.

Once you have your columns done, stitch them together to complete the skirt. When you have decided which half of your skirt will be the top and which will be bottom (or in terms of laying it down for the tree, which will be the back part and which will be the front part) be sure not to stitch one side of middle column to the adjacent column so you can easily place your skirt around your tree. You can use leftover yarn to tie the two columns together while the skirt is around your tree to prevent it from moving around.

With Christmas just a few days away I finally got my cards in the mail the other day. I was so gung-ho about making them super early this year – I took out all of my supplies for them back in late October and put it on my crafting table all ready to go, but, got sidetracked with a few other Christmas crafts I wanted to get done first.

So, while I only have one main door to hang a wreath on – as most people – I ended up making three new wreaths this year. I only planned on making a new garland wreath to replace the one I made a few years back but while searching for ideas for that one I came across a yarn ball wreath that I had many of the supplies for – mainly yarn – and then I got an email that described how to make an ornament ball wreath in perfect detail. I tried making one of these a few years ago and didn’t have much success.

Up first… the Garland Wreath. While my local craft store did have those green wreaths I could have just bought and decorated I wasn’t too fond of the way they looked – that’s actually what my original wreath is made with and I never really liked it because of it – so I opted to wrap an 18″ grapevine wreath with garland. After that was done I then decorated it with various Christmas picks. I bought and returned quite a few of them before I was happy with the layout. This is actually the wreath that made it to my front door.

Then there’s the Yarn Ball Wreath. I used different shades of green yarn I had leftover from different crocheting/knitting projects to wrap various sized Styrofoam balls. I then mapped out their placement on a wire wreath form and attached them using a hot glue gun. I then added in some red shatterproof ornaments for a pop of color and to make the wreath a bit more festive.

And finally, my favorite, the Ornament Ball Wreath. This was definitely the most time consuming, but, worth every minute. To begin I wrapped a Styrofoam ring with red ribbon tying a loop with the ribbon at one point so the wreath could be hung. I then lined the inside and outside of the ring with alternating sized shatterproof ornaments. I then filled in the flat part of the ring with various sized ornaments and finally – the part I couldn’t get too crazed with – I filled in the gaps with smaller sized ornaments. It’s very easy to go from beautiful to gaudy when adding the ornaments.

After the wreaths I moved on to making snowflake ornaments. I got the wire forms (6-inch) from Fusion Beads and then it was just a matter of decorating them with pearls, crystals and seed beads in colors that reflected the holiday season or the intended recipient’s favorite color. This was made all the more easier since I recently organized all of my jewelry supplies into storage containers.

After a few wire mishaps (thankfully I bought extra wire forms) and a couple of wire gashes all of my snowflakes were done. After taking this picture I threaded all of them with coordinating ribbon so they could be hung from a Christmas tree, in a window, or wherever.

And finally… My handmade Christmas cards. While getting started is always a daunting task, by the third card I am full speed ahead. I even got a jump on next year’s cards by making a few extra this year. We’ll see if I still like them in a year’s time or I may just have other ideas of what I want to make by then.