Monday, December 7, 2009

Star Tree Topper: Finished!

Pattern: Star Tree Topper by Tonia Wagner (Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2009)


Yarn: 1.1 skeins of Nautical Cotton by Louisa Harding (100% Mercerized Cotton/ 50g/ 93 yards) [I had to break into a second skein while crocheting the two halves together. If I had left shorter tails when casting on and binding off, I may have been able to use just one skein.]
Needles: Size 4 Doublepoint
Beads: Darice TOHO Premium Beads, 6/0 4mm Round, Gold [I bought one 30g tube, used 140 and have a ton leftover.]
Stuffing: Poly-fil
Modifications: The only change I made was to add more beads to the pattern because I didn't just want them on the star points. I like how it looks with the addition of beads on the center of the star and extra ones on the points.
Thoughts: Easy pattern. My first time beading. Not hard, but a little bit of a pain--definitely made this project go more slowly. This was also my first time using single crochet to connect two halves. That also took a while since I am not a crocheter. I like the way it really gave the star a nice finished edge. The star outline was much prettier after the crochet edging. I really hate how this bulges out in the center (both to the front and back of the star).

It looks a bit boob-like. Not sure if this is my fault or the fault of the pattern. I know others have had this problem. Maybe gauge related. I didn't bother checking gauge. Not sure how to fix it. Will leave for now. Like it, but I don't LOVE it.


Will this stay on the tree for years to come? The jury's still out on that one.

2 comments:

bodoba said...

awww that's so sweet. I like all the beads on it, I'm sure it shimmers.

Sometimes if I overstuff polyfill it all lumps in the center and doesn't even out well. I vote to sit on it and that should bring some if down.

Audra said...

I really like it! I bought this pattern and I was really interested in seeing how it looked when it was finished. I want to make two for the little trees in F and M's rooms.