School is nearly over for the two daughters in my house, and they’ve already asked if we can spend some time at the beach this summer. This reminded me of palm trees, and that reminded me of the crocheted Palm Leaf on pages 112-113 of Crochet Bouquet.
Please join me in crocheting the Palm Leaf for our June 2010 Crochet Along. To help you figure it out, here is a tutorial.
Row 1 is easy enough, and you can see Row 1 completed in Photo 1.
Originally, I wrote this pattern with three rows, but my technical editor, kjhay, felt it would be easier to understand if we combined my rows 2 and 3 into a single instruction, which is Row 2 in Crochet Bouquet.
Row 2 of the Palm Leaf pattern begins at the center of the leaf, goes out to the tip of a spike, and back to the center.
Photo 2 shows the Palm Leaf after “ch 11…” on the very last line of page 112. The ch 11 is a long, long turning chain.
Now turn and work back along the chain. Photo 3 shows what the piece should look like after the “3 times;” on the second line of page 113.
The next few stitches are actually worked into the first few stitches of Row 2, bringing us back to the center of the leaf (Photo 4).
The instructions tell you to make the stitches into the back loop only. Most of the time, we catch the top two loops of any crochet stitch as we work. The front loop is the one that is closest to you as you work. The back loop is the one that is away from you as you work.
Working into the back loop each row, as we’re doing in the Palm Leaf gives a corrugated look, and it helps us gather the leaf when we’re finished crocheting the points of the palm.
Repeat Row 2 seven more times, and end with a piece that looks like the one in Photo 5.
To gather the leaf, pull up a loop in the base of each spike, except the one you just finished. It doesn’t matter where you put your hook, as long as there’s one loop for each spike. (Photo 6)
Yarn over hook and draw through all the loops on the hook. Pull the loop tight to close the gathered edge as much as possible. (Photo 7). Ch 1 to anchor the gather. Then make the stem.
Now that you can make the Palm Leaf, check out Topsy Turvy #1 (pages 40-41 of Crochet Bouquet). It works exactly the same way.