I wanted to make a garland that would brighten up our dining room and keep Spring alive a little longer; by combining some elements from different places and a little bit of changing things to suit my needs, I managed to make something I as really pleased with. It’s looking like becoming a permanent addition to our decoration as it really personalises the room beautifully.
You will need :-
- 4mm & 4.5mmhook (I did 4.5mm for the daffs but they could have done with being firmer).
- Rowan Handknit Cotton or similar in assorted yellows (one of mine is discontinued) some oranges, ecru, 2 blues and green. I needed more than 1 ball of each main colour but not as much as 2.
- Issue 13 of Simply Crochet (downloadable). The pattern itself is a star by Tanya Kalyan but I can’t find it free online anywhere. I might try to create my own pattern.
- The mini heart pattern from Attic 24.
- Crochet Garden book for the forget-me-not. (Note: this book doesn’t have the daff pattern pictured on the front in it, you have to buy Crochet Bouquet for that.)
- Spray starch (do as I say, not as I did; I need to take it down and do this!)
My garland ended up being about 12 metres long, long enough to go round 3 sides of our dining room which felt right. I think if it was 4 sides it might feel a bit twee.
- I made 16 daffodil/star shapes, 4 in each of my cream/yellow colours. To make the trumpets I did the following. I caught orange yarn through one of the central spokes and then did a series of chain stitches in a circle with each stitch going around a spoke, joining at the beginning with another chain into the top of the first stitch. I then did a round in a variety of ways, either 2 half trebles in a chain followed by 2 double crochets in the next chain, or 2 trebles followed by 2 half trebles. This method products the ones with the colour of the main daff showing in the centre still. For the solid trumpets I used the hook to go from a spoke space to through the central hole and then back out repeatedly. To be honest, this was fiddly and would be just as easy to stitch the ‘star’ of threads that make the base and then crochet the chain rim to that afterwards. (Here is a free alternative crochet daffodil by the author of the books I’ve linked to.)
- I made 15 forget-me-nots. I do genuinely recommend the book as it is packed full of lovely ideas (as is her website at Lark Crafts) but here is a free and simpler alternative.
- 30 little hearts followed. They look like leaves and have the added advantage of signifying love, important as this was a memorial garland. The go on either side of each flower, expecting at the very beginning and end of the garland.
- Then I had to make a VERY long green chain…..
The forget me nots.
The chain.
The daffodils, no two quite the same.
Making it up.
I placed the daffs with fairly equal spacing along the chain, starting about 20cm in from each end. The forget me nots so in-between each of those and the hearts between each flower. Sew on using the colour of the flower itself and make sure you attach it near the top of the crochet piece or it will tip forward. This is particularly important for the hearts which are top heavy and tip easily.
What you should definitely do is spray each daffodil with starch afterwards so they don’t curl. I didn’t (but I will) but you’d need a very firm pattern to not need to do this).
There are other free patterns and crafts on my Daffodil Craft Pinterest board.
This garland was made in memory of our son Freddie who was born and died in April 2010 and should have been 4 this year. You can see other posts done in his memory in this linky.
