Winter Wreath :: Ta-dah!

I am oh-so-so-so excited to be sharing my latest hooky project with you! It feels like I've been chatting about my Winter Wreath for such a long time already, even though it's only been a couple of months since I set out on this journey of Winter celebration. I know many of you have been patiently waiting for the Big Ta-Dah moment, yes, me included. The shared anticipation has been almost palpable in Blogland/Facebook/Instagram as I've shared glimpses of my progress in recent weeks. And now I'm here to show you how it all finally came together, I really can't wait to share.

Lets start out by talking about yarn. For all of my wreaths (this is number five) I've chosen to work with wool rather than cotton or acrylic. Over the years I've gathered a pretty good stash of merino and cashmerino yarns in various weights and in many colours, and they've become my go-to yarns for small decorative projects. When I first start out on a wreath-making journey, I spend a while thinking about colours and the overall look I'm aiming for. As these are seasonal wreaths, the colours are of course directly inspired by the seasons - flowers, foliage, berries, skyscapes and landscapes, traditions and festivities. All these things have very strong colour associations and it's lots of fun to have a play with all these elements. I begin by choosing my base colours - the colours that will make up the striped cover for my polystyrene wreath form.

For my winter wreath I used six shades of Drops Merino Extra Fine DK. Those are the colours I used in the picture above, starting from the top and moving clockwise ::

Pistachio, Light Brown, Light Grey Mix, Denim Blue, Light Grey Blue, Light Greyish Green.

 

 

My wreath-making method is very simple if you fancy giving it a go. You will need a 35cm polystyrene "Half Round" ring, which is flat at the back and round on the front. I made a foundation chain of 32 stitches, then worked up some stripy rows of double crochet until the length fit easily around the circumference of the polystyrene ring. With each colour change I left dangly yarn ends which are used to stitch up the seam at the back.

 

 

Use neat stitches to draw the edges together, matching the stripes as you go.

 

 

The seam runs right around the centre of the flat back - for a while it looks as if it's not going to work out but keep going and you should find that you end up with a very neat woolly cover for your wreath base....

 

 

With my winter wreath, I made a colour distinction between land and sky, which is the first time I've done this (usually the stripe colours are random all the way round). It worked out really well, and I would definitely try this approach again (oh hello Summer Wreath with butterflies fluttering against a pale blue sky???!!!)

 

 

Once the wreath base was finished, it was time to turn my attention to the decorative making. I wanted to crochet lots of foliage using a soft palette of icy blues and soft greens (you can read more about my inspiration for the colour scheme here). I gathered a collection of colours into my bag, all oddments of merino DK yarn (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, Rico Essentials Merino and Drops Baby Merino 4ply). I'm afraid I have no colour info for these yarns at all, much of it was leftover from my workshops last year and there are oddments which I snapped up on eBay. I didn't buy any new yarn for this project.

I crocheted many little bits and pieces during the weeks of January and February, delighting in the fact that the weather here in Atticland was very wintry, snowy and icy during that time. I made lots of leaves, some little balls/berries, and some plump little pine cones. Last of all I made some hellebore flowers in soft purples and pinks, and a flurry of miniature snowflakes using fine white cotton yarn.

 

It's a really funny moment when you suddenly stop crocheting, tip out your bag of bits and wonder if you've actually, really, truly finished. Is there enough? Too many leaves? Not enough flowers? Will it all come together ok or will it just be too much, too over the top?

At this stage it's rather hard to get the measure of it, and I have to admit there is a certain amount of anxiety. Lots and lots of work has already been done, but there is a very real chance it might not actually work.

I didn't really plan the quantities of anything at all, and up until I took the following pictures I had no idea how much I'd actually made.

Would you like to see?

Here it is then, the result of two months work....

My Winter Wreath :: [ d e c o n s t r u c t e d]

Enjoy......................

ONE stripy wreath base.

 

THIRTY TWO Little Leaves (pattern from my May Roses here)

 

 

FIVE Frilly-edged Leaves (no pattern for these as they were experiments, but there are lots of brilliant crochet leaves in this lovely book)

 

 

NINE Fern Leaves (pattern here)

 

 

FOUR Little Pine Cones (pattern half way down in this post)

 

 

EIGHTEEN Weeny Balls (pattern half way down in this post)

 

 

THREE Hellebore Flowers (pattern here)

 

 

NINE Tiny Snowflakes (no pattern for these, but lots of lovely patterns in this beautiful book)

 

 

ONE cheeky little Winter Robin (pattern by Little Conkers, available to purchase/download here)

 

 

In total, 82 individual pieces of crochet make up my Winter Wreath.

 

EIGHTY TWO!

 

 

I absolutely adore the colour palette, oh those sweet, soft colours charmed me no end. I am still very much a "brights" girl at heart, but it was very refreshing to come out of my rainbow comfort zone and fall completely in love with something different.

 

 

No doubt about it, wreath making on this scale is a bit of a labour of love. You do need to have a pretty clear vision and a certain determination to see the project through to completion. It's a journey to be taken in stages - the crocheting is really only half the work with the Final Stages being the hardest of all.......welcome to The Pinning & Stitching....................

 

 

Pinning everything in place is not easy. My top tip is to go slowly and take as much care as you can with the placement of your bits. For this wreath I started with the flowers first, followed by the pine cones and berries (which I grouped in clusters of 3). The leaves came next, filling in the gaps and balancing everything out. You should aim for balance, but not necessarily symmetry ie each side has roughly the same spread of things (flowers, leaves, berries, cones etc) but they are not a mirror image of each other.

 

 

After the Pinning comes the Stitching. Oh boy, this is easily my least favourite part of the whole journey. My top tip here is to use one colour yarn and work methodically around the wreath in sections. And don't over-stitch - your leaves and flowers need to be securely attached without being flattened. Allow the petals to curl and the leaves to waft a little!

 

 

Once everything is stitched in place, it's time to add a  little bit of sparkle. I used some sparkly pom-poms, mini snowflake buttons, diamanté pins and delicate wired bead stems (more details in this post).

 

 

Adding in those extra sparkly bits gave such a beautiful finishing touch to the wreath, I just love the way that worked out.

 

 

My cheeky Winter Robin sits snugly in his pretty nest and I think his bold flash of red breast looks amazing. I am so pleased with him and the character he adds to the wreath is magical (read more about the making of him in this post)

 

So my friends, I think you know what's coming now.

 

I think now might be the time....

 

....to step back a little and take it all in.

 

Ready?

 

Here is it then.............................................

 

 

my Winter Wreath :: Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I absolutely love what I have created. It is so very much like the vision that appeared in my Creative Mind and turned out exactly as I had imagined it. Actually, maybe it turned out just a little bit better than I had imagined.

This is a pretty special bit of crochet, and already I treasure it.

 

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I hope you've enjoyed journeying along with me, here are some links....

 

♥Winter Wreath Inspiration

♥Winter Wreath Beginning

♥Winter Wreath Progress

 

and some links to my other Wreaths....

 

♥Easter Wreath

♥Christmas Wreath

♥Autumn Wreath

♥Wreath Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Marilyn Hunter]

Lucy what size of hook for a wreath pattern in double knitting

[Louise Fisher]

hi again Lucy !

For your info
Color Compiments ~ Lorraine has a .com and an etsy.
Have a happy night, happy dreams

~ x ~

[Liz Hasler]

Your wreath is simply gorgeous. I'm anxious to make one and hope that mine turns out even half as pretty as yours. Thank you again for sharing your talent with o

[Jennifer Linton]

Oh, my goodness! This is beautiful! I came to your site just looking for inspiration for a crocheted garland. Your wreaths are definitely inspiring!

[Anne McDonagh]

The pattern is beautiful. I was wondering approx what length crochet strip goes around the white half round ring? Please
Thank you Anne

[Geraldine MORGAN]

Thank you for taking the time to write and photograph all your patterns. I am a compnewbie to crotchet but you have really helped me. Love your creations.

[Anne McDonagh]

I am doing the winter wreath it's beautiful, I have a lot of yarn from hydrangea blanket and Dunne blanket.
What from these would you recommend for the top of the ring I know it's denim blue and what other colour please?
Also would you recommend what other colours from stylecraft would you recommend please Anne

[laura]

Que Hermosa!!

[Pamela Monroe]

Hon what size crochet hook would you use for the wreath pattern? Can it be made in sc too?

[Gillian Fury]

Loving your work. Can you please tell me what DK Weight yarn is. I've never heard of the term, from a novice crocheter in Australia.

[Laura Zamperini]

This is so lovely! You have given me some visual inspiration for ideas I have had rattling around in my head. Thank you!

[Irene Magalhães]

Linda,obrigada por partilhar!Bjo!

[Nanske Panske]

Hi Lucy,
Your winter wreath is just gorgeous
I like to translate some parts of it and use them to make a Cal on a Dutch group on FB
Can I have your permission?
Off course I'll put the link to your blog on each translation and give you all the credit
I'll ask everybody who joins the Cal to share their work on your FB page or blog if you like

[Muriell Vitt]

Oh this is absolutely beautiful! You are so amazing. Thanks for sharing the how to photos! I love the wreath!

[Mariia]

I love your work 😘😘😘😘😘👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you for giving us a great inspiration

[Norma Spokes]

I think it is inspirational. I am going to have a go, but I am only a knitter and I do very very basic crocheting.

[Jennie Craig]

Thank you so so much for this tutorial and blogpost. I made a Christmas wreath for my sister inspired by this and delivered it today as a birthday present to be ready for December. I love it and so did she.

[Sue Feichter]

Lucy I love this. I have made it and really enjoyed it thank you so much.! You

[j]

stunning love colors

[Berni Seiler]

Dear Lucy

Thank you for your guidance of magical winter - wreath. I crochet him and he like it very much. Here on my blog you can read it.
A coffee I have donated and continue to wish you a great idea and a lot of time to crochet them!

Berni

[martine]

Thank you very much for your tuto ! I hope to succeed crochet the same. I started on my blog.
Congratulations for all your créations very beautiful, I really like !

[Veronica Bradley]

Just found yr blog, lovely read and super projrct, just have to learn to crochet.

[Sarah Danks]

What FUN!

Great idea, and charmingly executed.
Thanks so much for sharing.

[mariekafer]

quelle merveille !
bravo

[Olivia]

Luliana, Lucy uses the UK terms so UK double crochet = US single crochet. Hope this helps!