A Crocheted Garland of Christmas Trees

In addition to the icicle boy and girl ornaments I have another Christmas project to share; a garland of Christmas trees. I made my garland to hang across 2 windows but it could hang on the wall or fireplace or even on the Christmas tree itself.

This is an easy, quick project and a great way to use up left over yarn from other projects. I used typical Christmas colors, shades of reds and greens, as well as some browns and tans, but I’m thinking just about any colors could work. I can imagine a garland of trees in a little girl’s room made in pinks and purples! Wouldn’t that be fun!

I wanted each tree to be fairly stiff so I crocheted with two strands of knitting worsted weight yarn  and I used a size J/6 mm hook.

I steam blocked each tree but I didn’t feel like it was quite enough. So I also pinned each one to a foam board (left over foam insulation board) and sprayed them with spray starch. It took about a day for them to completely dry. Once dry they were just stiff enough to maintain their shape with minimal curling.

I experimented with several different triangle styles. I decided to vary the lengths of the trees for variety and also used two different colors for some of them which produced a variegated effect.

Honestly, the sky is the limit as to what you can create.

The trunks of the trees vary from three to five stitches wide and from three to five rows long. Some are solid color and some are variegated like the trees but they are all two strands of yarn held together, just like the trees.

The trees can be decorated as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. You can add buttons, sequins, pom poms, whatever. I decided I liked mine to be more simple. The variety comes with the differences in sizes and colors of each tree. No two trees are the same.

I joined the trees by crocheting a chain with 15 chains between each tree, but again, you can experiment and see what placement works best.

After I joined each tree to the garland I went back and sewed on the button “star” at the top of each one. Sewing the buttons to the top helped immensely with keeping the trees facing the right way since they have a tendency to hang kind of wonky. They wanted to face sideways instead of forward when initially crocheted together, but sewing on the button at the top worked wonders for keeping them facing forward. I sewed the button to the chain as well as to the top of the tree.

There are several ways to get a triangle shape and any triangle shape will work. That said, after experimenting with several different styles I found the basic pattern I liked the best. By varying the number of rows between the decrease rows and by varying the number of beginning chains I found I could make all kinds of different shaped trees.

 

The Basic Pattern

Beginning at the bottom of the tree (the trunk is added last) chain an even number of chains. My basic tree begins with 14 chains. The first two rows of the tree are worked as straight single crochet with no decreases. The decreasing, single crochet 2 together, (sc2tog) begins with row 3. The repeating pattern is rows 3-5 which is continued until you’re left with only 1 sc.

At the end of each row chain 1 and turn.

Tree: Chain 14 (or any even number)

1. Sc in the second chain from the hook and in each chain to the end; 13 sc.

2. Sc across; 13 sc

3. Sc2tog, then sc across; 12 sc

4. Sc2tog, then sc across; 11 sc

5. Sc across; 11 sc

Continue the pattern of rows 3-5 until you’re left with only 1 sc, ending with row 5 of the pattern.

Trunk: Find the middle 3-5 stitches at the base of the tree and attach the trunk color. Do 3-5 rows of single crochet.

You can vary the height of the tree even more by increasing the number of straight crochet rows that are worked after the two decrease rows. If you crochet 2 or even 3 rows instead of the one straight crochet row the tree will be taller and appear narrower. Experiment to see what you like the best. My trees vary from 5″ to  8″ tall and from 3″ to 5″ wide at the bottom.

Another way to vary the size is to use different sized hooks.

You can make each tree different as I did or make each tree the same. The sky’s the limit!

If anyone has any questions please don’t hesitate to ask!

Have fun!