I
considered knitting the stars, but I’m not a big fan of knitting small
fiddly things, especially when you have to make several of them; as far
as I’m concerned, projects like these are what crochet is made for.
After browsing many, many patterns (both for stars and snowflakes) on
Ravelry, I stumbled across One Dog Woof’s crocheted star ornament pattern via Instagram, where someone had crocheted individual stars to
put on Christmas cards (a lovely idea, and one I would consider copying
if I ever have time!).
The pattern is nice and
straightforward, and I worked up the first star pretty quickly
(definitely under half an hour). I even managed to work a magic loop for
the first time (I have tried before, but it has always eluded me).
Within a couple of hours I had quite a pile of stars. I’m not going to
claim they are all perfect, they are absolutely not - I kept misreading
the pattern, or not quite putting the hook in the right place, but once
they’re all displayed en masse, you really can’t tell. After about
seven, I had memorised the pattern, and I’m sure that a proficient
crocheter could memorise the pattern much faster! I ended up with 13
stars, which I threaded onto thin silver ribbon, looping the ribbon back
on itself at the joins between the stars so they didn’t slip.
What
yarn did I use? Paintbox Yarns Metallic DK in the colourway Martini.*
Paintbox Yarns launched this yarn at the end of the summer/early autumn,
and it immediately made me think of Christmas decorations, even though
it’s marketed as a summer yarn. The yarn has a chainette construction, which is
lovely and smooth, and half the yarn is metallic and the other half
plain (white in the Martini colourway). The yarn has a shimmer to it
rather than a full-on sparkle, but I really liked that. I held the yarn
double for my stars, and while it crocheted smoothly, I did have to use
quite a lot of moisturiser on my hands otherwise the dry bits of my
skin would catch on the plies within the chains. Overall I was pleased
with the yarn, and holding it double gave a subtly marled effect that is
festive without being too blingy.
I finished
my garland of stars in plenty of time for Christmas, but what with one
thing and another I never quite got round to hanging them properly, so
instead they were laid across the front of the sideboard for the whole
of Christmas. I’ve put them away now, along with the hooks I bought to
hang them (then mislaid repeatedly...), so hopefully the stars will
occupy their proper position next year!
*Supplied for review purposes. Affiliate link.
**Ravelry link. May cause issues for people with photosensitivity.
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