Off the Hooks: Garland for the Holidays

Holidays have been hard for me. The pressure to do more, be more, have more can be so intense that I usually ignore the onslaught of commercials and ads and all things jolly until I feel a monumental guilt that I need to get n=my but in gear and then I rush out to do something that is not what I really wanted to do in an effort to say that I “did something”. This year I made an intentional decision to have a holiday that I could handle: something that I would be able to enjoy and celebrate without allowing myself to go over the edge.

I started with decorations. Decorations are not my thing. They are a pain to put up, no one wants to help take them down and there just never seem to be any that seem quite Rachee enough. Each year I tell myself that I am going to make some kind of yarn thing to decorate my space and each year flies by with neither hook nor yarn capturing the thing I want to create. After many false starts I finally created a simple garland which can be used to decorate different spaces throughout my home.

Materials:

• Red Heart Super Saver in Cherry Red. (You could also use other colors. I went with red in an attempt to coordinate decorations my mom has loaned me).
• Crochet hook I used an “H”
• Scissors
• Buttons

Round 1:
Using the magic circle method to create a circle.

Chain three and then double crochet into circle 11 times.

Draw circle tight and slip stitch last double crochet to chain three. (12 stitches 11 double crochet + 1 chain)

Round 2
Chain three. Double crochet in same space. Double crochet 2 times in each chain space. Slip stitch to chain 3. (24 stitches. 23 double crochets and 1 chain)

Stop here for smaller circle, leaving a long tail.

Round 2
Chain three. Double crochet in same space. Double crochet 2 times in each chain space. Slip stitch to chain 3. (24 stitches. 23 double crochets and 1 chain)

Stop here for smaller circle, leaving a long tail.

To create a larger circle add Round 3.

Round 3:
Chain three. Double crochet in same space. In next stitch two double crochets. In next stitch one double crochet. Repeat to last stitch, slip stitching into beginning chain. Fasten off and cut yarn, leaving a long tail. (36 stitches total, 35 double crochets + one double crochet)

Then using buttons string together to create a garland.

Voila!

Is Garland NOT your thing? Make petty little coasters instead!

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