You guys! Remember this post I wrote, a mere four years ago, about how all I wanted to do was make a wreath for the holidays?

Well, after buying a kit, a styrofoam ring, reading the pattern, and letting it all sit in my craft room for over three years, I finally pulled it all back out again over the summer and was determined to have a wreath before Christmas came and went.

Unbelievably*, I made it happen. (Thanks, past Zoe, for starting in July; she knew Present Zoe would struggle to get this done.) I did have to force myself to stick with it, especially since I was knitting socks and finishing up other projects in between. (Let’s face it, some of those projects were direct procrastination to avoid the wreath.) I think it felt so tedious because the pattern is making a gigantically long parallelogram and doing single crochet only in the back loop, sometimes increasing, sometimes decreasing, the entire time. When you have to single out the back loop, that’s where it prevents the pattern from being totally mindless.

That said, when I finally got to the phase where I was wrapping the wreath, it was relatively easy.**

After sewing the wreath around the styrofoam form, I had to crochet all the components of the bow. There were three pieces to the bow and an additional attachment piece, making for four pieces in total. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but the design is quite good, and despite all the sewing at the end, it was worth it. It also added some necessary oomph and wow factor to an otherwise attractive wreath.

I haven’t decided where to hang the wreath yet (or perhaps save it in my gift pile?) but I am really happy I tried my hand at this. I would make another one, actually, but instead of more muted colors, I would go for a white and red peppermint/candy cane look to the wreath. I think that would look really good, maybe even with some subtle sparkle in it. If you’re interested in this pattern, you can find it on Ravelry and buy it directly from the designer. It used to only be a kit on Craftsy, which is how I ended up with mine, but now you can get it for the very reasonable price of $4.00. I did not opt to make the poinsettias, but if you’re a fan of them and want to make some by hand, you’ll have the option!

For the yarn, I used the stuff that came in the kit, and it was very decent acrylic yarn. The bow used up a leftover scrap cake of Caron Simply Soft (color: gold). It has a nice sheen to it and a bit more stiffness, so it’s not curling and it’s holding its shape, which is ideal.

Ho ho ho and all that fun stuff–if you decide to try this wreath, or perhaps you have already, please leave a comment!

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*The pandemic certainly didn’t help my motivation level.

**Easy is relative here because most people want to Crochet or Knit a Thing and be done with it, but you will always have to weave in ends and many more times, you have to seam/sew something. Little pro tip, kids: don’t get into crocheting or knitting if you abhor the thought of sewing by hand. You’ll have to do it at some point! But you do also learn new skills, so there’s that.