Join As You Go Christmas Star Garland Tutorial

Holy drunk Grannie on the Eggnog!

Look at me getting all Christmassy and stuff!

And it's still only November!

I thought yonks ago, like in August I should make something Christmassy coz all the other designer bloggy peeps of my close and general acquaintance were all super organized and were talking about how they already had their Christmas posts and patterns planned 3 years ago.

Then the whole of Spring just got BUSY AS, so I thought "Oh well, bugger that. Maybe next year."

And then last weekend I was gazing adoringly at my yarn cabinet (as I do regularly. I know I'm a freak) and the rainbow of 8 ply cottons and before I knew it I had a sweet little star in my hand. 

A few years ago I made a Star garland for my niece.  All the little stars were of about 4 or 5 rows and had beads hanging from the bottom and were strung along a chain of single crochet. It was very pretty. I can't remember where I found the pattern.

The one thing that I wasn't 100% keen on was the string part. I wanted something more, I dunno, COMPACT.

So I decided to try attaching these together in the Join As You Go style.  I quite like them this way!

What do you think?

They're super duper easy and made in just 2 rows. You can whip up a string of these in no time!

So let's get to it...

American Crochet Terms are used:

MR- Magic Ring

Sl st- Slip stitch

Ch- Chain

Sc- single crochet

Dc- Double crochet

Tr- Treble crochet

Tools of the Trade:

8 ply cotton or Cotton Blend in your favourite colours

3.5mm crochet hook

Darning Needle

Alrighty troops. Grab yer stuff and let's go.

There is a Stitch Graph at the bottom of the written tutorial and photos!!

Step 1.

Start with a Magic Ring.

Row 1: Ch 3 to start off in the MR. Then crochet 9 Dc in the ring. Join with a sl st to the top of the beginning Ch 3.

For the 1st Star:

Row 2: Ch 1. Continuing in the same direction and starting in the same stitch as the beginning Ch 1 work around as follows: *Sc in st, then in the next st (dc, tr, ch 2, sl st in 2nd ch from the hook, tr, dc) x 5 repeating from *. Once you've completed the fifth point of the star, join with a sl st to the beginning sc. Finish off.

For the next stars:

At any of the points at which you decide to join the star onto the garland of previous stars, after finishing the first treble in the cluster slip stitch into the chain point of the last star in the chain so the little arms line up like in the diagram below.  Then ch 1, then in the same st as the previous dc and tr, crochet a tr and dc. 

It will be just like the other points except you are substituting the first chain for the slip stitch to the last star in the garland.

Now check out a whole bunch of step by step photos for a bit of extra guidance...

For those of you who like to follow charts...





Join together so they look like this

It's easier to sew in your ends as you go, particularly if you make a long garland.

Looks like snow! (smells like starch :P )

And once finished, pin out your stars as if to block and spray with some fabric starch to stiffen them so they don't get all floppy.



Freshly released from their blocking pin prison



One sweet little star on his own.

I hope you like it and make your own for Chrissy. If you do, I'd love to see a photo of your finished garland!

If you did enjoy my tutorial or any others you've found on my little blog.  Many of my tutorials are free for everyone, however if you'd like to make a little donation, it would be gratefully received and contribute towards future free tutorials!