Lovely little leaves =)

I love the simplicity of crochet leaves but I've never really found a reason to make any.....  But then the girl became obsessed with Tinker Bell and wanted a Mama Sanchez dress for her.  I have to say, I made a three different iterations of knit ones and threw them all away because I just wasn't happy with any of them.  In the end I opted for a crochet dress, simply because I love the way sewing in yarn tails is so easy and tidy (in fact, I carry mine next to my work and bind them and sew in the bare minimum) and also because little loose bits are so easy to join in.  This is a pattern for the little leaves, not the dress, but that too will follow shortly.

It's probably not that clear from the photo, but there are two sizes of leaves.  The size of crochet leaves is so easy to adjust once you figure out what you're doing.  They are worked straight to build one side and then rotated, rather than turned, 180 degrees and worked along the unused third loop of the foundation chain.  I have added an optional contrast central vein and border in Twilley's goldfingering for the blingy effect I wanted for the dress but you could work them in a different shade of green or omit them altogether.


Large leaf:

You will need to know how to work the following stitches: chain, slip stitch, double crochet, treble crochet and double treble crochet.  Please see my crochet stitch summary and terminology as I write all my patterns in UK terminology.

 

1. Ch 8, starting at the second ch, work the following stitches: dc, dc, htc, tc, dtc, dtc.  Work 4 tc into the last ch, rotating the work 180 degrees as you go.  Carry the yarn tail and bind it as you work dtc, dtc, tc, htc, dc, dc [16]
2. You could stop at this point and weave in the yarn tail and have a plain teardrop shaped leaf with a central 'vein' of holes
3. If you would like a contrast vein, insert the hook near the pointed tip (I didn't start right at the tip because I wanted a gap) and draw up a loop
4. Insert the hook into the next stitch, pull up a loop and draw it through the loop on the hook thus working a slip stitch.  Slip stitch all the way to the end, working between stitches 8 and 9
5. Work one last slip stitch off the end of the leaf
6. Starting at the stitch directly next to the vein, work 7dc, 2dc into each of the next 2 stitches (each side of the pointed tip), 7dc ensuring to wrap the yarn tail as you go.  Break yarn and weave in loose ends

Small leaf:

Using the same principle as above, work the smaller leaf as follows:  ch 7, starting at the second ch, work the following stitches: dc, dc, htc, tc, tc.  Work 4 tc into the last ch, rotating the work 180 degrees as you go.  Carry the yarn tail and bind it as you work tc, tc, htc, dc, dc [14]