Springtime Decorations: Flowerpot Cover

 

Springtime Decorations: Flowerpot Cover

This quick and simple pattern will have you ready to decorate your tables for all your Springtime festivities in just a few hours. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to break out the scrap yarn and see what beautiful colors you can use to create something completely unique!

This pattern is available as a PDF download on Ravelry!

Materials: 

Yarn Amount Needed: 

Worsted Weight Scrap Yarn- approximately 3 oz overall

Yarn and colors used for sample:

Limelight (green)- Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn
Peacock (blue)- Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn
White - Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn
Orchid (purple)- Caron Simply Soft

Supplies:

Hook: #7/4.5mm hook
Large Eye Needle 
Scissors
8" plastic flower pot

Optional: 4 feet- 1/4" decorative ribbon.

Finished Motif Sizes using exact materials above-

Full African Flower Motif tip to tip- 5-1/4"
Full African Flower Motif side to side- 5"
Half African Flower Motif bottom edge- 3"

To Make Exactlly Like the Sample:

3 full size African Flower motifs
6 half size African Flower motifs

Both patterns are available free here.

If you need some help visualizing this project - CLICK HERE for a helper video on YouTube that will take you from beginning to end!

                                                 

NOTE:

Before you decide on your final hook size to make your motifs, you may want to play around with making a couple and sizing them up to the pot you want to cover. You may find that my final sizes are too big or too small. But, this design is about you and your creation. I'm giving you guidelines to make the exact pot cover in the pictures, but you are definitely not stuck doing it my way if you want to change it up! 

There is a support video available for this pattern here. 

Whipstitch your pieces together matching your stitches along each side. 

Bottom Edge Finishing:

Make sure you have 11 open stitches between corner dc's on the full motifs.

Starting in one of the corners between the full-size and the half motif, join in the last sc on the half motif with a ch1, 

**sc dec between the last stitch of the half and the first open stitch on the full motif, sc in 3, 3scdec over next 3, sc in 3, sc dec between the last stitch on the full motif and the first stitch of the half motif.

- sl st in each sc across the half motif until the last sc. Then repeat from ** around. Sl st to first dec. 

Top Edge Beading and Finished Edge:

Round 1: Join with a ch3 in the first sc of any half motif, (cts as a hdc + ch1), sk1, hdc in next, *(ch1, sk1, hdc in next) across the half motif, ch1, sk 1st, dc in next st on full motif, (ch1, sk1, dc in next) across full motif; repeat from * around. Sl st to ch2 of first ch3. Don't cut.

Round 2: Ch1, sc in each st and ch1 space around. sl st to join and cut color.

(the video gives you an alternative edge for the pot cover)

Weave your ribbon back and forth in the beading- slide onto your pot and tie a bow. 

I hope this quick project helps you stash bust some lovely creations for your Spring and Summer tables, both inside and out!

Modified African Flower Motif Pattern: Full Motif

 

Today I am presenting you a slightly modified African Flower Motif. This is a great motif to use if you are looking for something a little smaller and compact. The look is very much like a regular African Flower motif, but it has a few stitch changes that make the rows tighter giving it a smaller look. 

I discovered this particular motif while I was scrolling my Instagram feed and a Food Network star that I follow, Nancy Fuller, had a picture with a young chef that had on the CUTEST sweater made from African motifs (pictured below). I took a screenshot of the sweater because I thought "that can't be that hard to make." But, then I made the custom Flower Sweater for my cousin's daughter-in-law and got instantly burned out on designing sweaters. LOL. Not to say I will never design a sweater, but it's a process I'm not ready to jump into just yet. 

So, anyway, I had started making the motifs based on what I could see in the picture and was beginning to accumulate a pile. I initially started on a garment, but as I laid it out on the table I realized that it needed to become something else. That is a post for another day, but right now, I want to give you the pattern for the Modified African Flower Motif so you can get a head start!

Modified African Flower Motif Pattern: Full Motif

This pattern is available as an ad-free PDF on my website.

Video Tutorial available on YouTube

Materials Needed:

Yarn Used: Drops Paris 100% cotton, Worsted Weight/Aran, (50g/1.75oz, 75m)
Any WW yarn is fine- Use a DK/Light #3 to make even smaller motifs.
Only small amounts are needed for each motif because of the color changes- this is perfect for scraps.

Hook Used: F/3.75mm 
Larg Eye needle for sewing ends
Scissors

Finished Size: Tip to tip- 5", Edge to edge- 4-1/2"

US Stitch Abbreviations:

Ch- chain, MR- magic ring, sc- single crochet, hdc- half double crochet, dc- double crochet, sl st- slip stitch, sp- space, cts- counts

Special Stitch- Long sc (aka Spike Stitch) Insert the hook from the front to the back in the space indicated, yo, pull up a loop equal with where the base of the sc should be, yo, complete sc. 

Notes: Always attach new colors with the right side facing you. You will not be turning your work.

Pattern:

Round 1: (RS) MR, ch3, dc, (ch2, 2dc in ring) 5x, ch2, join with ch3. (12 dc, 6 ch-2 sp) cut color

Round 2: In any ch-2 sp, join w/ch3, (dc, ch2, 2dc) in ch-2 sp, [ch1, (2dc, ch2, 2dc) in next ch-2 sp] 5x, ch1, join w/ch3, do not cut. (24 dc, 12 ch-2 sp)

Round 3: sl st to ch2, ch3, 6dc in ch-2 sp, (sl st in next ch-1 sp, 7dc in ch-2 sp) 5x, sl st in last ch-1 sp, join to ch3. (42 dc, 6 sl st) cut color.

Round 4: In first dc of any 7dc group, join w/ch1, sc in join and next 2, (3sc in next, sc in 3, long sc-*see special stitches* over next sl st, sc in 3) 5x, 3sc in next, sc in 3, long sc around the next sl st, join with first sc. (54 sc, 6 long sc) cut color.

Round 5: In the center sc of any 3sc group, join w/ch3 (cts as hdc + ch1), hdc in same sp, [hdc in 9, (hdc, ch1, hdc) in the next st] 5x, hdc in the last 9 st. (66 hdc, 6 ch-1 sp) cut color. 

Leave a long end for sewing motifs together.

I hope you find this pattern useful, and I'll see you on the next project!

Regular African Flower Motif Pattern: Full and Half Motifs

Full-size African Flower Motifs

Material: 1 oz scrap yarn in various colors (sample uses worsted weight)

Hook size:
J for large (6" tip to tip or 5-3/4" side to side)
#7/4.5mm for medium (5-1/2" tip to tip or 5" side to side)
F/3.75mm for small (5" tip to tip or 4.25" side to side)

Large eye needle for weaving ends and scissors

Pattern:

R1: ch5, join to make a circle, ch3 (counts as a dc), dc in the circle, ch1, (2dc, ch1) in the circle 5 more times, sl st to first dc to join. (6 ch1 sp, 12 dc) cut color.

R2: join with next color in a ch1 sp, ch3, (dc, ch1, 2dc) in same ch1 sp, (2dc, ch1, 2dc) in each ch1 sp around, join with a sl st to the first dc. (6 ch1 sp, 24 dc) do not cut color.

R3: sl st to the next ch1 sp, ch3 (cts as dc), put 6 more dc in the same ch1 sp,  7 dc in the remaining ch1 spaces, join with sl st to first dc. (6 "petals) cut color.

R4: Using the first color, join with a sl st to the first dc of a petal, ch1, sc in join sp and next 6dc, in the space between petals make a long dc around the "bridges" created by the skips in rows 2 and 3, repeat this pattern around. (42 sc, 6 long dc) cut color.

R5: With a border color, join with a sl st to the center sc on a petal, ch3, 2dc in the same space, (dc in 7, 3 dc in next) repeat until you reach the last 7 stitches, dc in the last 7, join with a sl st to the first dc. cut color.

I usually leave a long end for whipstitching my pieces together. 

Half-size African Flower Motifs

Materials: Approx an ounce of scrap yarn in various colors. (sample uses worsted weight)

Hook:

To maintain consistency, use the same size hook for your half motifs as your full motifs.

Pattern:

R1- (RS) ch4, join to make a circle, ch4 (cts as dc + ch1), [2dc, ch1] 3x in the circle, dc in the circle. (8dc, 4 ch-1 sp) cut color

R2- (RS) in the 3rd ch of the ch4 from R1, join new color with a ch4, 2dc in the first ch-1 sp, [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next 2 ch-1 sp, [2dc, ch1] in the last ch-1 sp, dc in the last dc, turn, do not cut.

R3- (WS) ch3, 3dc in ch-1 sp, 7dc in next ch-1 sp twice, 3dc in last ch-1 sp, dc in last dc. (22dc) Cut color.

R4- (RS) join in the last dc of R3, ch1, sc in join & next 3, [long dc over the bridges from R2 and R3, sc in 7] 2 times, long dc, sc in last 4. (22sc, 4 long dc) Cut color.

R5- (RS) join in the first sc from R4, ch3, dc in in join & next 7, [3dc, dc in 7] 2 times, 2dc in last. do not cut- ch1, turn motif 90 degrees to work in the row ends. Put 2 sc per dc row end, 1 sc per sc row end, and 1 sc in the center circle. (28 dc, 19 sc)

Cut color.