These star frames are a twist on the Mary Go Round crochet flowers by Lola Nova. I've been making the flower frames for a couple of years to frame Little Golden Book pictures. I've recently come up with a version of my own just in time for Christmas, the perfect handmade ornament for the tree! Use them to frame photos of family members or treasured Christmas pictures, or just leave it empty and let it hang amongst the lights!
Here's how to make them...
You will need to raid your daughters/friends
dress up box or jewelry stash for a cheap thin(but rigid) metal bracelet as
shown in the picture. You can also
pick them up at $2 shops, opp(thrift) shops or chain stores like Diva.
I’ve used 8 ply wool or acrylic yarn for
all of my stars, and a 4mm hook. You can experiment with finer yarn or a larger
hook if you like.
Stitches used:
* Slip Stitch (sl st)
* Chain Stitch (ch)
* Single Crochet Stitch (sc)
* Double Crochet Stitch (dc)
* Picot stitch
After attaching yarn to hook with a slip knot, attach your yarn to your bracelet with a
slip stitch
(I usually use finer bracelets, you know the tacky silver, gold or metallic coloured ones? This one is a touch smaller in circle size but thicker to crochet around. Just see what you can find)
Chain 1, work a SC into the bracelet.
Continue to work SC’s into the bracelet all the way around so that you cover
all of the metal, but not so that it is bunched up (if that makes sense). Join to the first chain with a sl st.
(If you do too many stitches around you will end up with too many star points and they won't sit nice and flat)
You can keep count if you like and you will finish with 49
stitches (including first chain) which makes things easier later, but I never
do and always manage to finish with even ‘petals/points’ by adjusting the point
width which I’ll explain later.
Chain 1, work a SC into the same stitch and each following stitch all the way around and join with a sl st.
*Skip 2 stitches and work a DC into the
next stitch (the third stitch from the hook). Then do two more DC into the same
stitch.
Picot stitch: From here, chain 3, sl st into the first of these 3 chain stitches.
Then do 3 more DC’s into the same stitch as the first 3. Skip 2 stitches and sl
st into the next stitch.*
You will end up with your first star point with your 6 DC's and a picot st in between.
(for a full tutorial on how to do a picot stitch click here)
Repeat from * to * around the bracelet and pull through to finish.
Use a needle to weave the starting end through to meet the finished end so that you can tie them together to hang on your tree or garland.
Note: You can see if you look closely that my points are slightly uneven and the last three points are slightly wider than the first four. This is because I'm lazy and don't count my stitches!! Quite often I get it right anyway but I usually count my remaining stitches when I'm close to the end and modify the last few or even just one so that I use all the stitches. I don't think it matters in the end but thats just me and my love of imperfect creations :) To modify you either (or both) skip and extra stitch before the first three DC's or after the last three. Or you your could skip three stitches all the way around if you'd like less points in your star.
I hope I've made some sense in my first ever tutorial! AND I hope I've encouraged you to have yourself a handmade Christmas (one handmade ornament counts!!). If you can't crochet then enjoy making these mini paper lanterns I made with my daughters.....
