A Little Milestone

After I'd been using  Ravelry for a couple of years, I started to think how lovely it would be to design and share a pattern (and even lovelier if I could design something which I could sell!). The tutorial for Little Tinsel Trees has been written up and published on this blog and (fanfare and drum roll!) it's my first pattern published in Ravelry! Now I more or less know what I'm doing with that (and I have the ability to create a .pdf file easily, not something I had with my old computer and software!) I'm planning to get some other patterns written up and published as free patterns. I love Ravelry, I love the other designers who happily publish their patterns for free, so I'm so happy to have become one! Squee, it's even got compliments already, despite it now being past the season when everyone is furiously crafting things for the winter holidays and celebrations.

I'm counting the tutorial and the published pattern as two items. There are only a few other things which count towards the creation goal:

Three crochet squares. The sizes are only approximately the same, a couple have taken a bit of invention to size up (learning point, do 2 rounds of trebles (UK terms) rather than a round of double treble and a round of double). The first set of four seemed so quick and easy; not so much these, each one taking me an evening (with breaks and interruptions). I've learned a neater way to join in a new colour and can now do stitch clusters without wondering if I'm doing the right thing. I also feel like I can switch more easily between UK and US terms.

A pair of summer palazzo pants bought in a late summer sale last year (when it had started raining again here in Wales, although the rest of the country was still parched and sweltering). Two inches too long, now taken up and ready for summer if and when it eventually arrives. We need to get through spring first.

Another pair of old socks reduced to jersey yarn.

I've spread out a selection of sea glass and found my wire (the law of the stash - I'm missing the gauge of wire I really wanted to use for some of the pieces). Other stuff has taken over for the moment, but watch this space!

This batch of things: 7
Cumulative total: 21

Cork/Bottle Topper Little Tinsel Trees

These little trees are worked in the round from the base to the tip. They have a hole in the bottom so that they can sit on corks or atop bottles. If you leave a yarn tail when finishing off, it can be used to attach a gift label, or made into a loop so that you can hang your tree on a tree. Or make a few and use them as table decorations or as part of a festive mini-forest.

I've test-knit these in both purl and knit, but think purl comes out a little 'fluffier'. If you prefer knit, just replace 'purl' with 'knit' in the instructions below.

© Dancing Moth

Yarn: King Cole Tinsel Chunky, 10 g or less; you should be able to get at least 5 trees from a 50 g ball.
Needles: I use 4 mm dpns, but this could be adapted to circulars using magic loop (no instructions here for that yet).
Gauge: Trying to count rows (and sometimes even counting stitches) with this yarn is a nightmare, thus no gauge suggestion. My tension is quite tight, because the tighter knit will stand up by itself well.
I recommend you also use a row counter and stitch marker, either a closed marker you can slip from one needle to another or a removable marker.  You may need to adjust your needle size, depending on your own tension.
Trying to tink stitches is also a problem, so this pattern needs a little concentration.



Abbreviations
sts   stitches
Kfb Increase by Knitting into the Front and Back of the stitch
P     Purl
P2tog Purl 2 stitches together

Cast on 15 sts, distributing 5 on each of 3 needles and join in the round without twisting.

R1-3:  Work 3 rounds purl. (This will form the base with a hole in the middle for a cork or bottle-top).

R4: Kfb in all stitches to increase total to 30 sts, 10 on each needle.

R5-10: Work 6 rounds purl.

R11: *P1, P2tog, P4, P2tog, P1*, repeat on each needle (=24 sts).

R12-16: Work 5 rounds purl.

R17: *P1, P2tog, P2, P2tog, P1*, repeat on each needle (=18 sts).

R18-21: Work 4 rounds purl.

R22: *P1, P2tog, P2tog, P1*, repeat on each needle (=12 sts).

R23-25: Work 3 rounds purl.

R26: *P1 P2tog, P1*, repeat on each needle (=9 sts).

R27-28: Work 2 rounds purl.

R29: *P1, P2tog*, repeat on each needle (=6 sts).

Be careful now to keep the stitches on the needles and keep the work from twisting! Redistribute the 6 stitches over 2 needles instead of 3.

R30: Work 1 round purl.

R31: P1, P2tog, P1, P2tog, (=4 sts).

R32: P2tog, P2tog, (=2 sts, onto the same needle).

R33: Push the remaining 2 sts to the left of the needle and pulling the yarn taught, purl these 2 sts (i.e. work a single round of icord).

Cast off purlwise.

Finish off: Cut yarn, leaving just enough to work in on the inside, or leaving a 4-5"/10-12.5 cm tail.  If you sew the very end of the tail into the inside of the tip or knot it well, you should be able to pull the rest of the tail down inside so that it doesn't show when you don't need it, or pull the loop up to attach a gift tag or hang your little tree.