CROCHET STARS

Yay, another crochet project! Today I have been playing around with crocheting five pointed stars and thought I'd share the pattern I've ended up with. These are super quick to make, and perfect for the season. They'd look great as a Christmas ornament hanging on your tree, or as a garland, or as my friend just pointed out on my instagram, as a mobile! Or could you imagine how cute it'd be with a bunch of these all joined up as a giant starry blanket? Clearly, the possibilities are more or less endless. Get crocheting!

Directions: I used a size 3.5 mm needle for this, but I'm sure pretty much any size would work. Start off with six chains to form a foundation ring. On this ring, chain three, and then add fourteen treble crochet stitches to form the inner circle of the star. Then for each of the five star points, follow the steps below.


Step 1: Chain eight stitches, and double crochet a stitch into the sixth stitch from the circle (i.e. two from the hook). Try to make your eight chains a bit loose, so that you wont end up with squinty star points because one side is tighter and shorter than the other. Step 2: Do a half treble crochet stitch into the fifth stitch on the chain from the circle. Step 3: Do two treble crochet stitches in the fourth and third stitch from the circle. Step 4: Do two double treble crochet stitches in the second and first stitches in the chain from the circle.

And that's your star point done! Attach it three stitches from where you started it, and repeat for the remaining four star points. Secure your thread and you're done!

FOUR YEARS

 

Who would have thought?

WHAT I'M WORKING ON - CHRISTMAS CARDS

And I really need to get these guys finished if anyone's going to get their Christmas card in time!

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW! AND SOME EDIBLE CHRISTMAS IDEAS

It started snowing yesterday! I've been in a super Christmassy mood ever since. Snow makes me so excited. Jumping-in-front-of-the-window and staring-with-my-mouth-open excited! I'm not sure I'll ever grow out of it. And since it's now finally the December, I've been told it is officially socially acceptable to have your Christmas decorations up. This also makes me very excited. I'm not gonna lie though, mine have already been up for a couple of days. I'm pretty sure I try to wait til the 1st of December every year, and I'm pretty sure I fail every year. This year, since I'm at my parents' house, I used the excuse that since it's a lot bigger than what I'm used to I'd probably be better off starting early.

I have also started with the Christmas presents. I'm not as intense as some people who were finished with all their Christmas shopping already halfway through November (seriously Kerry, how organized are you!), but seeing as I'm trying to make as many of my presents as possible this year, I needed a somewhat early start. I've pretty much been getting lost in all the different gift guides out there, like the ones on Everything Etsy, or Meet me at Mike's, or all the ideas floating around Pinterest. I've been knitting up a storm too, after being inspired by ideas from Pickles and the Purl bee, to name a few.

I'm also planning on giving out edible gifts this year though, so thought I'd be an idea to do a round up of those. I'm a fan of giving edible gifts to people who might usually be a bit difficult to get gifts for, and I like recipes for things that keep a while, and can be cut into bite-size pieces and stored in a jar. Fudge, caramels, truffles, even sauces--what's not to love? These are a few I've got bookmarked and plan on testing out:


Soft, chewy caramels from The Kitchn
Sweet and spicy peanut brittle from A Beautiful Mess
Chocolate nutella and sea salt fudge from Tasty Kitchen
Apple cider caramels from Smitten Kitchen
Chocolate mint truffles from BBC Good Food
Dark chocolate Earl Grey fudge sauce from Hummingbird On High
Salted caramel sauce from Brown Eyed Baker
Hokey Pokey (Honeycomb) from Nigella
Hazelnut and dark chocolate meringues from Posted Cake Crumbs
Chocolate hazelnut spread from Bon Appetit
Almond date truffles from Sprouted Kitchen
Peanut butter fudge from Sophie Dalh on BBC Food

...and that's probably a good place to stop before I start drooling everywhere. To the kitchen!

DIY CROCHET JAR LANTERNS

This is actually a project I finished off right before I left Glasgow, but couldn't find the time to blog about. Seeing as it pretty much starts to get dark around three in the afternoon now, I've been lighting candles to make the place feel a bit cozier. I'm one of these people who really like candles, but I always forget to burn them. So I decided to get into my candles a bit more by making these crochet jar lanterns. I love the cozy vibe they give, and how they look almost like little igloos for your candles. Did you ever make snow lanterns out of snowballs as a kid? These are a bit like the crochet version of that. Not to mention it's a super easy beginner's crochet project and can easily be finished while watching TV. Hello winter coziness!

Instructions for the pattern on the larger jar:

Steps 1: Using a size 5 needle, make a foundation chain of five stitches. Step 2: Work a slip stitch into the first chain to create a loop. Step 3: Work a chain of three stitches to act as your first treble, and then add two more trebles to form a cluster. Step 4: Work a chain of three stitches between each cluster all around your foundation loop. As my jars were quite narrow, I started out with three clusters, but if your jar is of the thicker variety then feel free to add another cluster.

Step 5: Start the next row by making a chain of three stitches to form your first treble. Step 6: Add two more trebles to the cluster, work a chain of three slip stitches, and then another cluster of three trebles. Step 7: Continue around the circle adding two clusters of three trebles into each space, and separating each cluster with three slip stitches. The result should roughly be able to cover the bottom of your jar. Step 8: Crochet the next rounds by adding a cluster of three trebles in each space, and separating with three slip stitches. Repeat this until your cover is long enough to fit your whole jar. My jar was quite tall, and I ended up doing thirteen rows like this. Once you're done, loop off, pull it on the jar and tighten.

Instructions for the pattern on the smaller jar:

Step 1: Start off in the same way as the first jar (steps 1 and 2) to form a foundation loop of five foundation chains. Work a chain of four stitches. Step 2: Work a treble into the foundation loop. Step 3: Continue the round by adding trebles to the foundation loop and separating them with a single slip stitch. In other words: treble, slip stitch, treble, slip stitch, etc. Again as my jar was quite narrow I did a round of six trebles. If your jar is a bit larger you might want to add another two. Step 4: Do the next row by doubling the amount of trebles. Work two trebles separated by a slip stitch into each space, so that you end up with twelve trebles in total, all separated by a slip stitch (or sixteen if you started out with eight trebles for your first row). This should roughly be the size of the bottom of your jar. Continue the rest of the lantern by crocheting a treble in each space and separating each treble by a slip stitch until it's long enough to cover your jar. Once you're done, loop off, pull it on the jar and tighten!

Now light some tea lights and pop 'em in!