Craft Lovers ♥ Have fun and play with De Estraperlo and their amusing Christmas amigurumis Cris Tree & Bet Star

30 November, 2016

Party! If Christmas signifies time for you to enjoy creating things, have your crochet hook on hand. MariaDe Estraperlo- and her Christmas amigurumis Cris Tree & Bet Star have arrived from Amsterdam. In this new Craft Lovers installment Maria is sharing the crochet pattern to make this amusing and inseparable pair made up of a fir tree and a Christmas star. You´re at the best time in the year to rescue the girl or boy inside you with these adorable Christmas amigurumis. Have fun and play with De Estraperlo!

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I´m Maria from De Estraperlo. I´ve been doing crochet all my life, but since 2008 De Estraperlo is my personal fun fair, my playground where I experiment and make sense of everything that happens around me. During these years I´ve done a little bit of everything, but designing amigurumis combines many of my hobbies. Dolls, illustration, fairytales, photography, crochet, miniatures… and above all, to play and to do whatever I want. This is how the adventures of my amigurumis Minus and Mijn Grote Familie (My big family) came into being.

My other passions are crochet blankets. My mission in this world is for the whole world to have a crochet blanket… and I´ll accomplish this thanks to Blanket project 2.0. My main objective is to have fun and play and if you happen to be having fun and want to play with me, all the better.

Cris Tree & Bet Star by De Estraperlo for Katia

Level. Intermediate

Materials

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Stitches & techniques. Magic ring, chain st, slip st, single crochet, half double crochet, increase and decrease, work in the front and back of the loop, work in the round, changing colour, spike st, French knot. ▶️ Basic Crochet Videos

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How is the spike st worked? This is achieved by working a single crochet inserting the crochet hook – in this case – a row below the one that is being worked. Insert the crochet hook, draw up a loop and pull it out until it is at the same height as the row that is being worked.

Abbreviations

  • inc > increase
  • bl > in back of loop
  • ch > chain st
  • dec > decrease
  • fl > in front of loop
  • sc > single crochet
  • hdc > half double crochet
  • ss > slip st
  • st > st
  • x > repetitions

How to read the pattern. First the piece and colour employed are indicated. Then the row number + the number of sts to be worked in this row + the total number of sts in the row between parenthesis ( ). Repeat the instructions between brackets [ ] as many times as indicated by the X.

The pattern. This is always worked in the round, chose if you prefer to work in spiral or in closed rows.

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Cris Tree

Body

R1. Using beige, 5 sc in a magic ring.

R2. 5 inc (10 sc)

R3. [1 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (15 sc)

R4. [2 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (20 sc)

R5 – R6. 20 sc

R7. [3 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (25 sc)

R8 – R9. 25 sc

R10. 2 sc, 1 inc, [4 sc, 1 inc] x4, 2 sc (30 sc)

(You must insert the eyes here later on).

R11 – R12. 30 sc

R13. [5 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (35 sc)

R14 – R15. 35 sc

R16. Change to green, 35 sc

R17. 35 sc in spike st

R18. In bl, 3 sc, 1 inc, [6 sc, 1 inc] x4, 3 sc (40 sc)

R19 – R20. 40 sc

R21. [7 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (45 sc)

R22 & R23. 45 sc

R24. 4 sc, 1 inc, [8 sc, 1 inc] x4, 4 sc ( 50 sc)

R25 – R26. 50 sc

R27. [9 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (55 sc)

R28 – R29. 55 sc

R30. 5 sc, 1 inc, [10 sc, 1 inc] x4, 5 sc (60 sc)

R31 – R32. 60 sc

R33. [11 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (65 sc)

R34 – R35. 65 sc

R36. 6 sc, 1 inc, [12 sc, 1 inc] x4, 6 sc (70 sc)

R37 – R38. 70 sc

R39. [13 sc, 1 inc] x 5 (75 sc)

R40 – R41. 75 sc

R42. Change to brown, 75 sc in bl

R43. 7 sc, 1 inc, [14 sc, 1 inc] x4, 7 sc (80 sc)

R44. 80 sc

Place eyes between rows 10 & 11, with 9 sc separation between them. Place a marker at row 80, coinciding approximately with the centre of the eyes. Start to count from the marker until where the crochet hook is (in this case = 27 sc), work the sc which remain to arrive at 40, (in this case = 13 sc) and join with one ss with the st in front, where the marker is. Now the two legs are separated.

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Each leg has 40 sc, work each one in the following manner:

R1. [9 sc, 1 inc] x 4 (44 sc)

R2 – R5. 44 sc

R6. 22 dec (22 sc)

R7. 11 dec (11 sc)

Fill the toy whilst working the legs. Work decreases until closing. Finish filling before closing the last leg. Cut the yarn and fasten off. Embroider French knots in turquoise, blue, yellow and beige over the whole jumper.

Arm

R1. Using beige, 5 sc in a magic ring.

R2. 5 inc (10 sc)

R3 – R5. 10 sc

R6. Change to green, 10 sc

R7. 10 sc in bl

R8 – R24. 10 sc

Cut the yarn leaving a longish length to sew the body with later.

Hem. Join the green yarn to any fl of the sts which have remained unworked in row 6 and work 2 chain sts that are equivalent to one hdc. Then make a hdc in each of the 9 remaining sts (= 10 hdc). Insert the pipe cleaner into the arms and sew them onto the body with one at each side just below the bl on row 18.

amigurumi-bet-star-de-estraperlo

Bet Star

Body

R1. Using navy blue make 6 sc in a magic ring.

R2. 6 inc (12 sc)

R3. [1 sc, 1 inc] x6 (18 sc)

R4. 1 sc, 1 inc, [2 sc, 1 inc] x6, 1 sc (24 sc)

R5. [3 sc, 1 inc] x6 (30 sc)

R6. 2 sc, 1 inc, [4 sc, 1 inc] x6, 2 sc (36 sc)

R7. [5 sc, 1 inc] x6 (42 sc)

R8. 3 sc, 1 inc, [6 sc, 1 inc] x6, 3 sc (48 sc)

R9. [7 sc, 1 inc] x6 (56 sc)

R10. 4 sc, 1 inc, [8 sc, 1 inc] x6, 4 sc (60 sc)

R11. [9 sc, 1 inc] x6 (66 sc)

R12. 5 sc, 1 inc, [10 sc, 1 inc] x6, 5 sc (72 sc)

R13. 8 sc, 1 dec, [16 sc, 1 dec] x3, 8 sc (68 sc)

R14. 68 sc

R15. [15 sc, 1 dec] x4 (64 sc)

R16. 64 sc

R17. 7 sc, 1 dec, [14 sc, 1 dec] x3, 7 sc (60 sc)

R18. Change to yellow, 60 sc

R19. In bl, [13 sc, 1 dec] x4 (56 sc)

R20. 56 sc

R21. 6 sc, 1 dec, [12 sc, 1 dec] x3, 6 sc (52 sc)

R22. 52 sc

R23. [11 sc, 1 dec] x4 (48 sc)

R24. 48 sc

R25. 5 sc, 1 dec, [10 sc, 1 dec] x3, 5 sc (44 sc)

R26. 44 sc

R27. [9 sc, 1 dec] x4 (40 sc)

R28. 40 sc

R29. 4 sc, 1 dec, [8 sc, 1 dec] x3, 4 sc (36 sc)

R30. 36 sc

R31. [7 sc, 1 dec] x4 (32 sc)

R32. 32 sc

R33. 3 sc, 1 dec, [6 sc, 1 dec] x3, 3 sc (28 sc)

R34. 28 sc

R35. 28 sc in spike st

R36. Change to beige, 28 sc in bl

R37. [5 sc, 1 dec] x4 (24 sc)

R38. 24 sc

You must insert the eyes here later on.

R39. 2 sc, 1 dec, [4 sc, 1 dec] x3, 2 sc (20 sc)

R40. 20 sc

R41. [3 sc, 1 dec] x4 (16 sc)

Place the eyes with a separation of 5 sc and fill

R42. 16 sc

R43. [2 sc, 1 dec] x4 (12 sc)

R44. 12 sc

R45. [1 sc, 1 dec] x4 (8 sc)

R46. 8 sc

Redistribute the filling with the help of the crochet hook.

R47. 4 dec

Redistribute the filling with the help of the crochet hook again. Cut the yarn and neaten off.

Hem. Join the ochre yarn to any fl of the sts which have remained unworked in row 17 and work 2 chain sts that are equivalent to one hdc. Then make a hdc in each of the 59 remaining sts (= 60 hdc). Cut the yarn and neaten off.

Arms (x2)

R1. Using yellow work 36 chain sts, leaving approx. 10 – 11 3/4″ (25-30 cm) of yarn at the start. Join the last chain st to the first with a sc, work a sc in each of the remaining ch sts (36 sc).

R2. [7 sc, 1 dec] x4 (32 sc)

R3. 32 sc

R4. 3 sc, 1 dec, [6 sc, 1 dec] x3, 3 sc (28 sc)

R5. 28 sc

R6. [5 sc, 1 dec] x4 (24 sc)

R7. 24 sc

R8. 2 sc, 1 dec, [4 sc, 1 dec] x3, 2 sc (20 sc)

R9. 20 sc

R10. [3 sc, 1 dec] x4 (16 sc)

R11. Using beige, 16 sc in bl

R12. [2 sc, 1 dec] x4 (12 sc)

R13. 12 sc

R14. [1 sc, 1 dec] x4 (8 sc)

R15. 8 sc

R16. 4 dec

Hem. Join the yellow yarn to any fl of the sts which have remained unworked in row 12 and work 2 chain sts that are equivalent to one hdc. Then make a hdc in each of the 15 remaining sts (= 16 hdc). Cut the yarn and neaten off.

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Legs (x2). The legs are made the same as the arms, but in navy blue, without changing colour and omitting  the bl on row 13.

  amigurumis-christmas-how-to-embroider-snow-flake
Making up. Embroider the snow flake onto Bet’s jumper as shown in the photos. Start with a red star then add the white details and finish with the turquoise French knots.

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Fill out the arms and legs a little. Sew the arms on in between rows 17 & 35 of the body. Finish filling before closing. Redistribute the filling with the help of the point of the crochet hook. Repeat the same for the legs, at the same height as the arms, almost touching row 1 of the body but without doing so.

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