I’m hunkered down through yet another day of downpour and thunder, which I don’t mind at all because it’s generally preferable to a drought and rain helps everything stay nice and green. Such as leaves.
And speaking of leaves (as if I didn’t purposefully steer the first paragraph to this subject), I’ve been tinkering with versions of crochet leaf motifs around the internet in search of something simple and fuss-free that would also let me crochet said motifs into long chains.
What I eventually came up with was this slightly off-kilter little leaf which combines double crochet and half doubles with a picot working into a single chain. I like it because a) it’s quick and dirty and b) it has potential as more than just a leaf – but more on that later.
UPDATE 12/2020: There’s now a video tutorial for this little motif on my YouTube channel!
Here’s how to work it, with any yarn and hook combo you prefer:
1.Ch 5 or more – the last 2 ch sts count as the beg chain. 4 dc into the 3rd ch from the hook.
2. Work a ch-2 picot. 3 hdc into the same ch st as the first 4 dc.
3. Rotate your leaf. You will now work the remaining stitches into the same ch stitch, but on the other side of the beginning stitches.
4. 2 hdc into the space indicated.
5. Sl st into the 2nd ch of beg ch-2.
6. Sl st into the 2nd ch st from the motif on your original chain, anchoring the back of your leaf.
6. Repeat! You can make these little guys as close together or far apart as you like, as long as you have a minimum of 5 ch sts on which to work them.
I like how they lean a little, a bit like a paisley. The first time I worked these it was on a leafy halter top:
But soon I realized they also had potential to be little raindrops, which is entirely appropriate for a rainy day like today:
Or how about a nice free hat pattern using these little guys?
-MF
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Hi! First off, love your patterns! 🙂 I’m currently trying to make your Leafy Tam. But I’m a bit confused with steps 5 and 6 on how to make the leaf motifs :(. Do you, by any chance, have a video tutorial on how to make the leaf motif? I’ve just started crocheting and would really like to make your Leafy Tam :).
Hi Lorraine! Unfortunately I don’t have a video (but I will put that on my to-do list!). Are you having trouble figuring out where to slip stitch? The slip stitch for step 5 should be worked into the beginning chain, or the last two chain stitches you made to start the leaf (it may be a little tight) and the slip stitch for step 6 should be in the first part of the chain, to the back of your leaf (the one the leaf is coming off of)
Hi Regina! Thank you for replying :). Yes, I’m confused where I should be doing the slip stitches :(. In step 5, the beg ch-2 refers to the 2 chains left hanging after I work on the leaf on the 3rd chain of the 5 chain stitches, right? So i should slip stitch on the chain stitch just before the 3rd chain where i basically made my leaf. Did I get that right? Or should i do a slip stitch on each remaining chain? 🙂
So, the slip stitch for Step 5 will go into the 2 chains that you made last in the initial chain 5 – in step 1, this is referred to as the beginning chain (see Step 1 tutorial photo – the 2 chain stitches you are looking for are the ones that butt right up against your first hdc stitches. They will look very similar to the hdc stitches because they stand in as your first hdc.) The 2nd chain is the one you are looking for – it is the opposite edge of the leaf, not the chain hanging down from the leaf.
For Step 6, you will slip stitch into the chain hanging down from the leaf to secure it. 🙂 I hope that makes sense!
Yes, it does make sense! Hahaha, thank you! And thank you for being patient with me :). Now, time to frog my work hehe. Also, i Used Caron Simply Soft #4 but it turned out to be smaller than the one in your photos. I’m thinking I could just add some stitches to make it bigger.
Absolutely no problem! 🙂 🙂 And yep, you can definitely add more stitches to make it larger if it’s coming out too small – I sometimes like to vary the amount of stitches to make the leaves look different.
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Did you take the video for the leaf down? The link no longer works and google is giving me nothing. For the life of me I cannot figure out the written pattern. I just finished the hedge witch hat and want to put the ivy crown on it. Thank you for all your awesome patterns!
No, it should still be up, here’s the link! It’s probably just a broken link, but let me know if this one doesn’t work for some reason 🙂 Thanks so much for letting me know!!
https://youtu.be/DQz-8oCzlrQ
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