By Jennifer E. Ryan of Celtic Knot Crochet I love the Red Heart Boutique Sashay yarns " they come in wonderful colors with a variety of sequined and metallic versions. They work up quickly to make a pretty scarf to give as a gift or to add pizzazz to any outfit. But I also love the challenge to see how they can be used to add ruffles to other things besides scarves, such as this Christmas Ruffle Tree. Follow along so you can learn how to make one of your own to get a head start on your holiday decorating this year! 1. Gather Supplies For my tree I used a size H crochet hook and Boutique Sashay Metallic in the Malachite color " it is a teal green color with metallic threads running throughout. One ball of yarn will make about 2 trees. You may want to make your tree with one of these other Sashay colors: Aran (soft white), Midas (white with gold metallic thread), Platinum (silver), Opal (soft silver), Champagne (white with sequins), Fiji (green with sequins), or Envy (green with sequins and silver metallic thread). You will also need: 12 Styrofoam cone 1 ½ sewing pins (20 -30) Glue gun Cotton fabric to cover the cone " in contrasting or coordinating color Small circle of matching felt to glue to the bottom.(You may wish to use sewing pins with a large head on them so the ruffles are more secure, just make sure you find ones that either match the yarn or are still small enough to be hidden). 2. Preparing the Yarn Using a crochet hook make a long ruffle chain with entire ball.How to Chain Sashay Yarn Working in the 2nd row of spaces (from the top edge) insert hook from front to back. *Skip 2 spaces to the left and insert hook from front to back into next space (shown above with silver crochet hook). Catch the top edge with hook and pull through the loop on hook*. Repeat from * to * until entire ball is a ruffled chain. Here you can see the difference between the Sashay as rolled out straight from the skein (top) and how it looks once you've made it into a ruffle chain (bottom). 3. Preparing the Cone Since a naked Styrofoam shape is not that pretty, we are going to cover it with fabric.Keep the plastic wrap on your cone for now and insert 2 pins - one near the top and one near the bottom. Lay your cone on the fabric and draw a line along the edge of the cone with the 2 pins (making sure there is about ½ space between your pencil and cone.) Hold your pencil about 1 from the bottom edge and draw a line as you roll the cone across the fabric. Stop when the pins prevent you from rolling farther and draw another line along this edge as before (with ½ space). Cut out fabric along lines and wrap around cone (after removing plastic wrapping). Fold over top edge where fabric meets and pin in place. Using glue gun glue along seam and remove pins. Fold over fabric on bottom and pin in place. Fold over at top point and pin in place. Leave pins in cone " they will be hi Adden. 4. Adding Ruffles Now that all our pieces are ready to go, it's time for the fun part " adding the ruffles!First RowStarting with the end of the ruffle chain, pin at seam about 2 ½ inches up from bottom. Continue to pin every 1-2 along ruffle chain in this manner until you reach where you started. Repeat pinning process at this height so there is a double layer of ruffles. Second RowCarry ruffle chain up along cone at seam about 2 ¼ and pin in place to start next row. Make sure the bottom of the ruffles in Row 2 overlap the top edge of the ruffles of Row 1. Repeat pinning as you did for first row. Continue pinning each row in this manner until 5 rows are completed and there are about 2 inches uncovered at the top point. Top PointA Add ruffles similar to how you did for each row but pin in the very top of the cone overlapping the edges of the ruffle chain. Cut the yarn, tuck raw edge under and pin in place. 5. Adding Embellishments Get creative with your finishing touches. I chose to a Add a glittery silver star to the top of my tree but you might want to add a big red ribbon. You could also a Add small ornaments or festive pom-poms up and down the length of the tree. Just use more of the pins or a small dab of hot glue to affix your choices.For my star I found some silver canvas in the felt aisle at my local craft store. I simply cut out a star template on paper and then traced onto the back of the canvas. I hot glued 2 of these stars together with a sewing pin in the center and then just stuck it into the top. Tada! Another nice finishing touch is to add a circle of felt to the bottom of your tree " simply trace the bottom onto felt and cut out about ¼ smaller than circle drawn. Hot glue to attach.
