Bring in the holiday spirit!

Christmas is only a week away. Time to bring in the holiday spirit!
I tried to do as much DIY as possible and I had a great time creating my own tree, decorations, wrapping labels and christmas cards.

Since I don't have that much space for a real tree, I went with a tree haning on the wall. I collected sticks from the woods. Picked out the ones with different sizes. Then i let them dry overnight and brushed off as much dirt as possible.
Tie them together with a piece of string and my lille tree was ready for a nice dress up. I tied together some bells with ribbon as main decoration. 

And for the evening christmas boost, I added lights. I misread the description on the package. So, instead of warm white lights, I was surprised to look up at a rainbow lit tree when I switched the lights on.
Well, why not!

These little crochet christmas stars are so easy to make:

1. Chain 6, slip stich together to form a circle.

2. Chain 2, 2 Double Crochet, *3picot (chain3 slip stich in first, 3x), 3 double crochet*, repeat the part between the *..* until you got five points.

3. slip stich in the second chain from the beginning and finish off.

One of my new year's targets is to bringback the fun of sending postcards. Hand drawn postcards to be more precise. Christmas was the most perfect (early) kick off! Since I had to make a batch of them, I went with less is more. Writing christmascards turned out to be the most perfect excuse to ask my friends and family's addressess!

I hope you have some great holidays coming up yourselves.  Love, laugh and light up the sky!

Summer Cactus crochet pattern

Heatwave. It's official today. We're not used to this kind of weather. The houses are not made for it. So, I spent this Summer weekend outside and in the shadow most of the time. It felt like camping at home in our own garden. Crochet, read and writes. I even wrote my very first amigurumi crochet pattern, to share with you down below.

I love all the green in our garden en the pops of pink, blue and purple. I think my parents are so much better at keeping their garden alive and kicking. I have to admit, that my fingers aren't so keen on keeping the green. Green plastics are my best friends. Now I can add a crochet cactus to my options. 

There are more cactus patterns out there (any similarities are a coincidence), but I thought I'd design my own. Making it up as I went along. And I'd like to share it with you, so here's the pattern! I hope to design some new Cacti patterns in time. 

Summer Cactus

You need:

• Green yarn (I used acrylic)
• Brown yarn (I used cotton..)
• White yarn (I used acrylic, but for the pot you can use any colour you'd like).
• Small amount of another green shade colour yarn
• Small amout of pink yarn
• 3.5 mm or 4 mm crochet hook
• Needle to put your cactus together
• Stuffing ( I used polyfill and added some marbles for the weight)
• Stichmarker (I used a slightly bend paperclip)

Notes:

• The pattern is made in continuous rounds (unless otherwise stated)
• I used USA crochet terms:
  CH = Chain
  SC = Single Crochet
  HDC = Half Double Crochet
  DC = Double Crochet
  SS = Slip stitch
  ST = Stitch
  
  * = Repeat the part between the stars to the end of the round
  () = Amount of stitches per round

• This is my very first pattern and I probably do not use the correct terms all over. I try my best, but correct me if I'm wrong.
• You are free to use this pattern for personal use. But please don't sell or post as your own.
  You're free to use the items made from this pattern for commercial use. 

Starting with the Catctus (three parts in green yarn)

Part one (big cactus)

1. ch 2

2. 6sc in the second ch (6)

3. 2sc in each st (12)

4. *1sc in the next st, 2sc in next st* (18)

5. *1sc in the next 2st., 2 sc in next st.*  (24)

6. *1sc in the next 3st., 2 sc in next st.*  (30)

7-15. 1 sc in each st. (30)

16. *1 sc in the next 3 st., sc 2st. together*. (24)

17.  sc around (24)

Fasten off and leave a long thread for sewing.

Part two (small bun of the big cactus on which the flower is attatched).

1. ch 2

2. 6sc in the second ch (6)

3. 2sc in each st (12)

4. *1sc in the next st, 2sc in next st*  (18)

5-6. sc around (18)
7. *1sc in the next st., sc 2st. together* (12)

Fasten off and leave a long thread for sewing.

Fill up with stuffing and sew the bun to the big cactus.

Part 3 (small cactus)  

1. ch 2

2. 6sc in the second ch (6)

3. 2sc in each st (12)

4. *1sc in the next st, 2sc in next st* (18)

5. *1sc in the next 2st., 2 sc in next st.*  (24)

6-10. sc around (24)

11. *1sc in next 2 st, sc 2st together* (18)

12. sc around (18)

Fasten off and leave a long thread for sewing.

Now, you can cross stitch some X-s. I worked three rows, starting at the top, working down.

For the dirt circle (brown yarn)1. ch 2

2. 6sc in the second ch (6)

3. 2sc in each st (12)

4. *1sc in the next st, 2sc in next st* (18)

5. *1sc in the next 2st., 2 sc in next st.*  (24)

6. *1sc in the next 3st., 2 sc in next st.*  (30)

7. *1 sc in the next 4st., 2sc in next st.* (36)

8. *1 sc in the next 5st., 2 sc in next st.* (42)

9. * 1 sc in the next 6st., 2sc in next st.* (48)

10. *1 sc in the next 7st. 2sc in next st.* (54)

Fasten off and sew in the end.

Jar (white (or any colour you'd like (think about stripes!))

1. ch 2

2. 6sc in the second ch (6)

3. 2sc in each st (12)

4. *1sc in the next st, 2sc in next st* (18)

5. *1sc in the next 2st., 2 sc in next st.*  (24)

6. *1sc in the next 3st., 2 sc in next st.*  (30)

7. *1 sc in the next 4st., 2sc in next st.* (36)

8. *1 sc in the next 5st., 2 sc in next st.* (42)

9. * 1 sc in the next 6st., 2sc in next st.* (48)

10. *1 sc in the next 7st. 2sc in next st.* (54)

11. Sc around in the backloops (54)

12 -15. sc around (54)

16. ch dc around (this is just a round for fun and a tiny bit of texture. You could replace this round by two rounds of sc). (54)

17-20. sc around (54)

21.  Now, grab your dirt and join this round to the Jar. insert your hook into a stitch of the dirt circle PLUS a stitch from your jar, yarn over and pull through all loops on the hook.

Don't forget to fill your jar with stuffing and marbles along the way.

22. I added a fancy edge: *ch3, skip one st., 3sc,*

Join and fasten off.

Fill up the two Cacti and sew on your filled jar. Make sure you fill up the low part a little extra so that the stand pride and tall.

Flower (for a pop of colour!)

1. Ch 4, join with a ss

2. Sc 12 in the loop you created

3. *Hdc, dc, hdc in next st, slide stitch*, (creacting 3 pedals)

I hope you like! Please send me a picture of your cactus if you make one. I would love to see your creativity!

Lots of sunshine and keep your cool!