Motif of the Month September 2014 Fall Leaf Crochet Tutorial

Hey everyone, it's Deja from crocheteverafter.com. We have our newest motif of the month, and this is for September 2014, and this is a leaf motif. So this leaf is a popular motif that was used in Irish crochet lace back in the day, so it's a very old motif. But I have kind of revamped it by putting it in some bulky yarn. So instead of using the crochet thread to make the tiny little leaf that you normally would, I have decided to go big with it. So we created this really large leaf and at the end of the video I'm going to go over different things that you can do with this. But in the meantime, grab some bulky yarn and a six millimeter USJ hook and we'll get started. Oh also you can download the pattern right below in that link. All right, let's start our fall leaf pattern. So we're going to start with a slip knot on our hook. This is a good pattern to teach you how to work in the back loop of foundation chains. So the first thing we're going to do is chain 16. So as always we yarn over from back to front to grab my tail to pull through and turn your hook down towards your stitch to pull it through easily. Yarn over and pull And keep going until you get to 16 chains. Okay, I have my 16 chains. Now we're ready to start the pattern. So we're going to turn our work, and we're going to skip that first chain next to our hook, and we're going to work into the second chain. Remember, we don't count the loop on our hook. That's just our working loop. So I'm going to do single crochet in my next 14 stitches. So basically, I'm skipping this first chain, and I'm working all the way down. until I get to the second to last chain. I'm putting single crochets in each of them. When I pick where I'm working, I'm picking this back loop on purpose. So this is my second chain I'm working into. I'm picking this back loop on purpose because at the end of this we're going to work on the back side of the chain. So if I pick one loop, I can choose one loop on the other side. So I can work into technically this back loop. All the way across this side and then I can work into the front loop all the way back. So it makes it a little bit easier to work into everything. If I picked up two loops then I would have just this one loop and it would kind of create a big hole in the middle of my leaf. If you want kind of a holey leaf in the middle, then you can do that, but if I don't pick up the bottom bump, it creates kind of a line in the middle of my leaf, so I don't have a hole. So if you want a hole, catch your back loop and bottom bump. If you don't want a hole, grab your back loop. So that's what I want. I don't want a hole, so I'm just grabbing the back loop, I yarn over and pull through. This is all single crochets. We're going to work into different loops, but it's all just single crochet. So, into the back loop only, I am, lay over my yarn, pull up my loop, yarn over, pull through, both of them. If you have a pattern where you have to work into the other side of your foundation chain, that is a tip for if you want a hole in the middle or no hole in the middle. There's the 14th single crochet. Now I have one chain left all the way at the end. And this is how I'm going to make the turn so that I can start working into the opposite side. So I'm going to do three single crochets in this last chain. So I'm going to go in, kind of one on this side, then this is going to be the point, so one in the middle. And then I'm just going to push my tail kind of out of the way behind me and go back in there again. And then this is going to be... A stitch for the opposite side so now as we work you'll see kind of this loop coming over the top That's the front loop from your foundation chain. So just pick that up So let me show you because you can technically if you only used your back loop on the first side You can grab both loops. So this is my bottom bump in my front loop So if I grab both of those to work through you'll see that I'm making that hole that I was talking about So you'll have this hole running all the way down the center of your work. If you don't want that hole, then just grab the loop that's coming over the top here. So just go into that one loop and do your single crochet, and then you'll have that bottom bump running through the center. So again, see that top loop right here? You just want to go into that loop only. And there's 14 of these top loops going backwards. Keep going through, then that bottom bump kind of criss-crosses. See how you get that kind of criss-cross in the middle? So it's a less noticeable hole than if you were to work into both loops. So keep going. You're doing 14 single crochets down this side, and then we'll stop right at the end. Okay, so down at the end it gets a little confusing looking because you have where you turned your chain. Just make sure that you're only working into 14 single crochets and you will hit the right amount. So you'll see once I put that in it lines up very well. You can go back to those three stitches in one if you forgot to count and then count how many stitches you have after that and you should have 14. So now we're going to turn our work and we're going to start making kind of the first I don't even know what to call it. Pointy part of the leaf, or the rounded part in this case. So we're going to chain one. And so on this row, we're working in only the front loop of our stitches because we're going to create a raised front on our leaf. So this is technically the right side and we're going to start creating these ridges by only working in our front loop. So when you look at your stitch it's actually kind of easy to see because it's this first one and it's kind of raised up compared to the back loop which is kind of tilted downwards right now. So it's easy to catch, you just kind of go, and I always use my finger to kind of help push through the center, I catch that loop and push up instead of straight back to catch catch both loops. So push up through the center, and I'm sorry, I chained one in case you missed that. Push up through the center, yarn over, pull up, and single crochet. So we do that for our first 15 stitches, and then we'll be at the center of our leaf, and we'll have to do another turn to get back to the other side of the leaf. So keep on doing the first 15 single crochets in the front loop only. Fourteenth single crochet, now I'm at that middle of three that I did on the first round, and I'm going to do another three in here. This is going to make our curve again. I do one, go back in, pulls nice and big, two, and three, and that's going to curve around back to the other side. Now I'm not going all the way to the end this time, we're going to start making those little ridges in our leaf. So we're going to always, when we're making these, we're leaving our last three stitches unworked. So one, two, and three. So we're basically single crocheting in our next 13 stitches, or I'm sorry, the next 12 stitches, and we're leaving the last three unworked. So single crochet in your front loop only, all the way across, leave the last three stitches unworked. Okay, just finished my twelfth single crochet. You can see the last three are unworked. We're just going to leave them like that. We're going to turn our work and we're going to start our next round. So we chain one, as usual. Now for this round, instead of working in the front loop only, we're working in the back loop. Because you can see this ridge that we created is coming all the way around from working in the front loop. And we're going to replicate that now by working in the opposite, or the back loop. So the back loop, it's still kind of tilted away from you, so you've kind of got to tilt it a little bit to find that stitch. And when you do, what you can do is also turn completely sideways, find your V, stick your hook right in the center, and push down. So for the front loop, we pushed up through the center. For the back loop, we're pushing down through the center, and that way it'll catch it much easier. So yarn over and pull up, and pull through. After you get used to doing that, you don't really have to look at it, you can kind of feel it out from catching it. But we're going to go, we had 12 stitches, so we're going 13 stitches across in the back loop until we get to that middle center again, and then we're going to do three in there just like we did on the previous two rounds. All right, here's my third single crochet of three for my turn again. Now we're going to do another Single crochet in the back loop, but we're going to leave those last three stitches unworked again. So this time it's going to be 13 single crochets across. So you don't really have to count it. This is just kind of the pattern that we're doing. We're going to be alternating front loop and back loop, and then leaving the last three stitches unworked for every single round. It's not really a round, it's like a U-shape, because we don't connect these. So we just keep working across and leave those last three unworked. Okay, down at the end, I have the last three unworked. So we're gonna now work in our front loops. We're gonna chain one. So basically all the way around, we're single crocheting in each stitch in the front loop only with doing three at that center stitch to make our turn, and then stopping with three stitches to go. So for this whole round, we're just going to do that. You can get the actual stitch counts out of the pattern, and you can download that from the link below. If you understand the pattern, you don't really need it. Because it's just going in this U shape and stopping before you get to the last three stitches. So go through this whole round and then we'll meet up right at the end. Here's the last single crochet of round four. So now I'm on round five, so it's the same exact thing except now we're working in the back loop only. So we chain one and we start single crocheting back to that middle stitch. The stitch counts are in the actual pattern, but if you're wondering how to find the middle stitch of the three, it might be a little easier to go from the back side here to see these, but you can see that we have one, two, and three loops in that center hole. So we're just going for that middle one. It's right on the top, so you can see that very tip stitch, that very tip V, right there where we can easily Catch our loops and work into them. So again, we're working back loop only. You can see our ridges are starting to show up really well now. You can see them on every single round that we're making. So we're going to go all the way around again. 3 at the top, and stop 3 from the end. Keep going on round 5. Alright, now we've got 3 to the end. Make sure you're not counting your chain 1 as a stitch. It's just the 3 last stitches that you have. So you almost have. Kind of a mini stitch here out of that chain one, so don't count that. So now we are on our second to last round. This is round six. So we're doing front loop only because all of our ridges are on our back side now. So you don't even really need the pattern once you get the first row done because you're just going to be going back and forth alternating those loops to make the ridges and you always stop three stitches before the end. So after this round, we just have one more and then we can weave in our ends and block our finished leaf. Alright, I'm on my seventh and final round. You can see our leaf is getting quite large, so we're going to work into our back loop only on the final round. Same stuff all the way around, three in the middle, three unworked, and I'm done with my leaf. So I'm going to fasten off so you can get your tail through your hole, tighten that down, And now our loop's finished. It's not very cute though, right? We need to block it. No matter what yarn I've tried this pattern in before, see here's another type of yarn, that you get this twist to it. Might be just from working in the back loops or leaving these stitches unworked. But, it needs some blocking. Unless you like the look of this, then it's up to you. But, we're going to go ahead and wet block this. I'm going to wet block it so you can see how to do wet blocking in case you haven't watched any of my other tutorials. But go ahead and weave in your two ends. So let me grab a yarn needle real quick so you can see how to do that. Thread your yarn needle. This one has a little bent tip that I like because it gets kind of right underneath my loops nice and easy. And you want to go back and forth, don't just go in like one straight line, you can go in a line for a little bit to get started. Turn it around and go a different direction and that'll help secure it even more, but keep it from pulling out. This is all one color so it's very easy and the stitches are very dense, so it's very easy to weave in. And you notice that even though it's the same color and everything, I'm still weaving in on the wrong side. So I'm not weaving through all of the ridges that I've made. So once you get it in there as much as you like, I try to go for like 4, 5, or 6 inches before I cut it, and so I'm happy with that, and I take my scissors and cut, pull it out just a little bit and cut it, and it'll ricochet back inside, and I give it a little tug so that it's slack in case it wants to poke back out, so I'm going to do that with the other For the other one, I'm going to get a bowl of Cool water. Don't get hot water. Especially if you're using wool yarn. This has some wool in it because it'll felt your yarn. The heat activates the wool for some reason. Good thing rain is usually that hot. Otherwise you'd probably see felted sheep everywhere. So, go grab some water, your yarn, and a drink if you need some. We'll come back in. Alright, I've got my small bowl of water for the leaf, and remember it's just all rolled up, so if you don't like the rolled up look, stick it in the water, hold it under for a little while so that it can fully absorb the water. If I just let it go right now, it kind of floats to the top, so hold it down for a little bit because it takes quite a bit. To absorb, or the wool, especially if you're working in wool, it takes quite a bit of time for the water to absorb into it. That is why it is such a good fabric for wintertime, because it's pretty water resistant. So once it's kind of soaked in as much as it can you can let it go and let it sit on its own for about 15 minutes because you still want it to soak up as much water as possible and that's going to relax the fibers so that you can pin them into place and then it's going to have a memory and it's going to stay how you pin it once it's completely dry. So I'm going to let this sit for about 15 minutes and then we'll go ahead and block it. Okay, it's been about 15 minutes and the leaf has been soaking, so when I pull it out you can tell already without even taking the water out of it that it looks more relaxed, it looks softer. So I just have a little towel here that I'm going to squish extra water out, just enough so it's not dripping as I work with it. I've got my blocking board, this one's from Knit Picks, you can get a whole set, I think I think of nine of them on their website if you need some. Now, I'm going to make sure that my ridges are pointing up or facing up because I don't want to get those all smashed, but you can see already it's laying a lot flatter than it was before I started blocking it, and then I'm just using some rust-proof sewing pins, and you'll see I still have a couple little ridges that are pointing up, so I want to push those down, and I'm going to pin this the way that I want it to look when it's completely dry. Pulling it out a little bit will get you a better result. I'm doing it kind of slack, so make sure if you want it very pointy. Each of your little leaves nice and pointy, pull them out. It doesn't take too many pins for this one since it's small, but this extra step is really going to make this look much nicer, so we'll compare this to the other one that I showed you earlier. That's not blocked once this is all dry. Make sure my point is centered within the center line. Pull that out and move it over. And now, if you want to create this little rounder you can, you can pull this out and pin this a little more. Do that a little bit. It's going to hold that shape that you pinned it in. Just don't pull it out so far that it pulls back on itself and kind of gives you these little weird ridges. It's nice and rounded here, and then we're going to let this sit until it's completely dry. Good day. So that it will be completely dry and it's going to hold that shape until you get it wet again. So if you do wash it with the suggestions of what I'm going to give you to do with this, you'll have to re-block it each time just so you know. So let's wait for this to dry and we'll check it out. Alright, my leaf is completely dry so I'm ready to unpin it and you'll see as I unpin it that my edges stay exactly where I placed them. So I don't have that curling anymore. And I'll show you the last one with the other leaf that I made that isn't blocked so you can see the difference. So if I lay it down, it lays nice and flat up here in the middle, and then if I have my other one that I made, you can see how curvy it is. So you can see that the blocking really makes a huge difference in your final product. So with this actual motif, there's a lot of different things that you can do. If you make it in this bulky yarn, one thing I was thinking about would be really pretty is to kind of layer them and sew them together and you can make a nice really, um, Pretty leaf scarf. That could be really cute. You can make it in smaller yarn, so you can go worsted or fingering, and make it as an applique. And so you can put it on to, you know, maybe a beanie with a flower. So you can do a flower and the leaf and put it together. Lots of different options, but I thought this would be a good fall motif since fall is coming up very shortly. If you have any questions, leave them below, and thank you all for watching.