Oh Christmas Tree

Apologies for not posting anything over the last month or so. My Mum was in an accident in October and life in my already quite chaotic home has been topsy turvy dealing with Mum's injuries. She has ultimately had to come and live with us as she's slotted into that quite uncomfortable state, of not being sick enough to stay in hospital, but not being well enough to go home. So my Miss Molly corner of the world needed to packed away so my daughter could move into it, and my Mum into my daughters room. Miss Molly is now in a corner of my own bedroom..... a corner now filled with boxes stacked almost to the roof, a desk and a set of draws. But in the end you really have to think what is more important.... and definitely, for me, family comes first.

So as Christmas is fast approaching, I am now reminded that no matter what path you think you may be on, you really have very little control. All you do have is the love and commitment of family and friends.... because I guess that is the only real truth in this world, all the rest is really just illusion.

This morning was my first opportunity to really pick up the crochet needle and do some work. Although I do have a bear I am working on, but given that is a very very tiny bear.... using a 2 ply baby angora thread, I am tending to only work on her in bits and bobs because my eyes ache if I work for to long. I have true admiration for tiny thread bear artists, or working in any kind of miniature.... oh my such talent! Anyway, back to this mornings creation.

As the Christmas tree is now overtaking our already quite small lounge room.... I felt a real sense of Christmas inspiration. I mean, you would think that given the amount of people living in my shoebox of a house, I would have scaled the tree to the room. But no, I have the biggest tree I can find, because I figure the bigger the tree the more people can enjoy trimming it! So this morning I set out to create a little vintage Christmas tree decoration, because at the end of the day, you can never have a tree to big... and you can NEVER have enough decorations!!!

This little tree is the simplest of projects... VERY easy!!! I thought I would share with you all how to make it, just in case you share the same belief as me, that you can never have enough Christmas decorations.


Miss Molly's Christmas Tree

I began this tree using some vintage DMC crochet cotton in size 5. But really you can make it out of anything you fancy or have on hand, just adjust your hook size. For the DMC 5 I used 1.75 mm hook.

Chain 18.

Turn, and single crochet in the last stitch, through to the beginning of your original first chain. 

Single crochet back and forth till you only have 1 stitch left.

(Now because you aren't doing a single crochet chain at the beginning of each row, the piece will gradually slope inward from both outside edges.)

Chain 1.

Inserting your hook into the outside stitches, single crochet along the outside, picking up the stitch at the beginning/end of each row. Continue in this fashion until you have gone all the way round you tree and you are back to the top with a single stitch remaining. A single crochet chain around the edge of your tree will finish it nicely as well as providing some stability so it doesn't roll in on itself.

Chain 18. Slip stitch into the back of the stitch at the top of the tree. This will give you a little loop to hang it.

I used some Rococo silk trim to finish one of my trees. I did make another which was slightly bigger and finished it with buttons and a hand stitched crochet chain garland. For the stump I used a piece of antique lace, rolled in and stitched down. For the star I used a vintage millinery flower.

You can make these trees as big or as small as you like, depending on how many chains you start with. The bigger one is begun with a chain of 24.

You can also have a huge amount of fun going through your ribbon & button stash to come up with all manner of tree trimmings.

Enjoy your tree decorating!!!

Mel xx