Advent Garland Day 1

Surprise! I made something that’s not a hat. Last night I finished Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) a winner. That means I wrote over 50,000 words on my novel in the month of November. I got very close to actually finishing the novel too, but it’s not done. I do want to finish it, hopefully soon while I still have the momentum.

But not today! Today is the first day of Advent–the countdown to Christmas, and for Jay’s  birthday, which was on Saturday (he’s five!)

Jay's Birthday Party

Jay received a Lego Advent calendar, so I know he’s going to have a good time counting down the days. I looked everywhere for something fun for Selma, but all I could find were cheap chocolate advent calendars, and that’s not really what I was looking for.

So, sometime last month, I tweeted, “Contemplating making a mini crocheted ornament for each day of Advent, am I crazy? Or do you want to join me?”

I thought this would make a nice keepsake advent calendar for Selma. I kept thinking about the idea, then the other day, while I was still novel-ing and not crocheting, I went looking for yarn for the project, and found this:

P1020044

Jaimeson’s has a great color palate, and I chose traditional red and green, plus white, and a nice icey blue. It’s two-ply fingering weight, so my ornanments will be petite. I originally had thought about using crocheted thread, but decided wooly ornaments would be more fun. Becca was with me when I was choosing yarn and she decided that she’d make the ornaments too. She chose a more heathery palate that I think is also beautiful. I’ll try and get some photos of her ornaments too.

I’m going to be hunting for ornaments or motifs online and in books, and I’ll post the sources here on the blog so you can crochet along with me. I’m open to suggestions to!

Today’s little tree was inspired by the lovely Royal Sisters blog. Michelle created a pretty tree based on a triangular “granny.”

I wanted a granny tree too, but a tiny one, so here’s what I did:

Using a 2.5 mm crochet hook. Ch 4, sl st to form a ring.

Round 1: Ch 3, working into the center of the ring, 2 dc, [ch 3, 3 dc] two times, ch 3, sl st to top of initial ch-3 to join. Do not turn.

Round 2: Sl st to nearest ch-sp. Ch 3, [2dc, ch 2, 3 dc] into ch-sp, [ch 3, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch sp] two times, ch 3, sl st to top of initial ch-3 to join. Do not turn.

Round 3: Sl st to nearest ch-sp. Ch 3, [2dc, ch 2, 3 dc] into ch-sp, [ch 3, 3dc in next ch-sp, ch 3, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch sp] two times, ch 3, 3 dc in next ch sp, ch 3, sl st to top of initial ch-3 to join. Fasten off.

TRUNK
Pick one side of the triangle to be the bottom. Join yarn to right side of center 3 dc with sl st.

Row 1: Ch 3 dc in ea. of next 2 dc, turn.
Row 2: work as for row one, fasten off.

SNOW: Change to white yarn, join with sl st at bottom edge of trunk, sl st across 3 sts. Fasten off.

With RS of tree facing, and trunk at the bottom, join white yarn in 2nd ch-sp on right side (see picture). [ch 3, sl st to next st,] five times (or six, if you want symmetrical snow), to make the snow on the top of the tree. Fasten off.

Hanger: with green yarn, join to back of tree, ch 30, sl st into 5th ch from hook to form button loop. Sew a 1/4 inch shank button to the back of the ornament at the top of the tree. fix loop over button to secure around garland.

Weave in all ends. Wet block and shape as desired. Lay flat or hang to dry.

I made a garland using a 5.5 mm hook and chaining with all four colors of the Jaimeson Spindrift held together. Mine is about 70″ long.

A Christmas Ornament Crochet-along (Free Pattern)