I ♥ Hearts ...

♥

 When I get near to completing a blanket I like to add one last finishing touch to personalise it, especially if it's a gift for someone, and it's usually either a little tag or a ribbon.

 I've sometimes added little crochet hearts but so far these have only been flat ones. 

As I was getting near to completing Immi's Uni blanket a couple of weeks ago,

 I decided that I wanted to try something a bit different,

so I set about looking for a pattern for a 3D heart.

This is maybe rather a grand way of putting it as it sounds as though,

in true fairy tale style,

I set off on an adventure to seek out the long forgotten crochet pattern Queen,

hidden away in a dark cave somewhere far, far away over the crystal mountains.

In reality all I actually did was Google '3D crochet heart pattern'

- and up it came !

 

 

 

Ta-dah !

So, you might think that this is the end of my tale ....

But No !

Because once you start making these teeny little shapes of 3D gorgeousness

you just won't be able to stop.

 

 

Before you know it you'll be rummaging through all those ends of balls of yarn and

hearts of all colours will appear.

Apart from adding them to crochet blankets the possibilities are endless ...

 

 

from little tiny key-rings for daughters at home,

to key-rings packed up and posted off to daughters at Uni,
 

 

 

 

and that's before you've even started on the heart bunting !

 

There's bedroom heart bunting,

 

and hall mirror heart bunting.

 

 

 And are they easy ?

Soooooo easy !

 

They're the perfect little half hour fillers when you're waiting for the

dinner to cook

or for that last crochet hit of the day.

Here's how ......

 

To start off I watched this video from YouTube

 (How to Crochet a Valentine Puffy Heart - Small Crochet Geek ).  

I watched it a couple of times and then wrote the pattern down, as I found this was

much easier to refer back to than hunting through the video for the right bit.

The pattern works up to make a small, chunky heart and whilst this is very gorgeous I added a few tweaks to the pattern to make a slightly more shaped heart that tapers down towards the bottom.

 

Here are the notes I wrote down from the video, with my very little additions:

 

 

Chain 3.

Join with a slip stitch.

Chain 1.

Work 9 DC in to the ring.

 

Round 2: 2 DC in each stitch, 18 stitches.

Round 3: DC in each stitch, 18 stitches.

Round 4: DC in each stitch, 18 stitches.

Slip stitch in to the first stitch, cast off.

 

Make a second circle.

 



 

Join the 2 circles together across 5 stitches. 

( You now have a teeny, tiny Madonna bra ! )

 

 I found I needed to watch this bit a few times on the video as it took me a

 couple of attempts to get it right as the joining stitches form a kind of seam

and this needs to be on the inside of the finished heart.

Once you get the hang of it though it all makes perfect sense,

 



 

and you should end up with a little seam of 5 stitches on the inside

 

and a neat little indent between the two circles on the outside.

That's definitely the trickiest bit out of the way - its plain sailing from

here and you'll be finished in no time now !

 

Round 5: DC all the way around the heart, with the round being completed when you get

 back to the central point where you started.

Round 6: DC all the way around, decreasing at each side.

 

 

(If you watch this bit on the video its basically just crocheting 3 stitches together.)

Round 7: DC all the way around, decreasing at each side.



 

After I've done Round 7 I find this is a good time to turn the heart inside

 out and finish off the ends.

I use the two starting ends to carefully pull up and close any little gap that there may be

and I also thread it into a needle and do a couple of running stitches around the top

 circle of stitches and again gently pull to close up.

 



 

 

I use the finishing end from the first circle to thread through the centre of the

 5 stitch seam to make a little hanging loop.

 

Pick up the last stitch from Round 7 and continue.

 



 

Round 8, 9 and 10: DC all the way round, decreasing at the sides.

 

 

After Round 10 I stuff  each side of the heart carefully.

 

 

Round 11: DC all the way round, decreasing at each side,

AND also in the centre front and centre back.

( This is my adaptation to get a more tapering shape to the finished heart. )

 

Rounds 12 and 13: DC all the way round, continuing to decrease at the sides

and the centre front and back.

 

You will soon get to the point where you can join the last stitches together to make

 the finishing point of the heart, just remember to put the last remaining stuffing

 in before the hole gets too small.

 

 

Cast off, and using a needle thread the last end off .

Don't you love it !

 

 

Beth is very happy with her bedroom bunting

 

and I am completely in love with my hall mirror bunting,

with a little extra addition of some jingly bells.

 

Happy hearting everyone.

♥