If Valentine’s Day is stirring up warm and fuzzy feelings, this week’s project offers a way of presenting your heart and a pretty pendant to a loved one.
Our ruffled hearts are crocheted over a brass form, using a simple pattern that works well for a wide variety of yarns and pendant choices.
We’ll tell you where to find the yarns used to make our samples below, and you can use keepsake pendants with sentimental attachments or find unusual new ones online or in bead and craft stores.
We found our heart forms at Michael’s in Everett, but if you have trouble finding the brass forms, you can also use a plastic or tin cookie cutter as a form.
Basic instructions
Using a larger crochet hook (we used a K), single crochet around the heart form to cover it, but don’t pack the stitches too tightly together. A little bit of metal showing is preferable to having too many stitches, as subsequent rounds will not be smooth.
Join the final single crochet to the first with a slip stitch, then chain 2 and single crochet in the next and each single crochet around to form round 2.
Join the final single crochet to the first chain 2 with a slip stitch, then chain 3 and double crochet between 2 and 4 times in the next and each single crochet around for the ruffle round. End by joining the last double crochet to the first chain 3 and tie off.
The number of double crochets used is up to you, based upon how frilly a ruffle you want. Your decision should also take into account the yarn used: think thick for more ruffle, thin for less. We found that 3 worked best for our samples.
Use a length of the base yarn and a large needle to sew around the point of the metal form to cover it, but it’s not imperative to cover the tip completely unless it really bothers you. Add a bead or other embellishment glued in place on each side if desired. If you use a cookie cutter, this shouldn’t be an issue, as the center point is likely to be more rounded and covered by the base round.
This is the pattern we used for all of our samples except the one with the elephant pendant, in which we used half-double crochets in place of the singles for round 2, and added a row of double crochet between round 2 and the ruffle round. The ruffle instructions are the same.
To add the pendant, attach it to the center point of the heart with clear beading thread or fishing line by running the thread up through the yarn, back down, then up again and tying a knot. If you use the same thread for the hanger, run it up through the top of the heart after tying the knot and make a loop long enough to serve as a hanger.
Our samples
To make our green-centered heart with the round, multifaceted crystal, we used a combination of green banana silk yarn for the base rounds and multicolored recycled silk for the ruffle.
Banana silk, a soft yarn made from recycled banana fibers, is available online. To find a source, just do a search on “banana silk” and you should come up with a number of options. You might be able to find it at specialty yarn shops near you, or they may be able to order it for you.
For the ruffle, we used recycled silk, which is very nice to work with and works up into interesting color patterns. We were able to find the silk yarn at Country Yarns in Snohomish, Main Street Yarns in Mill Creek and Great Yarns in Everett, but it’s also available online by doing a search on “recycled silk.”
We particularly liked the Mango Moon brand (which we found at Country Yarns), but as the company doesn’t sell directly to consumers, you’ll have to go through a shop to get it.
A bonus for using the recycled silk is that several of the sources donate proceeds from the sale of the yarn to women’s programs in the countries where it is produced. You can read about Mango Moon’s program online at www.mangomoonyarns.com.
For our red and gold heart with the small, red teardrop, we used some sparkle yarn left over from Christmas crafts red for the base rounds and gold for the ruffle. This yarn, or something similar, is available at craft and fabric shops that have yarn departments.
Our yellow heart with the little glass dog pendant is a combination of regular wool yarn (the yellow) and a recycled silk ruffle.
The fuzzy pink heart with the elephant pendant is a combination of regular wool yarn and a sparkly, nubby novelty yarn, both available in most craft and fabric yarn departments.
Contact Jonetta Coffin at jrocoffin@aol.com.
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