Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Crochet Cactus Garden ~ Free Pattern

There are a few cute cactus patterns out there. I found Nadia's "How to Crochet a Cactus" on Flickr and became inspired to make a few cacti. I even went so far as to make a pattern for these four cacti! They are really quick and easy to make and stand about 6-8 inches tall. Share your pictures with me if you make one!



Materials:
Worsted weighted yarn in Green, Clay, Brown, Cream, and Pink
Crochet Hook G (4.00mm)
Stitch marker
Yarn Needle
Polyester Fiberfill
Finished size approx. 6-8 inches tall

Abbreviations:
ch = Chain
hdc = Half Double Crochet
FLO = Front Loops Only
sc = Single Crochet
sl = Slip Stitch
BLO = Back Loops Only
dec = Single Crochet 2 Stitches Together

Cactus #1 Body:
With Green ch 26, turn
1) Sc in 2nd chain from hook in BLO. Sc in BLO across, ch1, turn [25]
2-27) Sc across in BLO, ch1, turn [25]
28) Bring row 1 up matching row 27 to form a tube. Sc across in BLO of row 27 and in empty loops of chains from row 1. [25]
Finish off. Sew a long piece of yarn through the loops of the top opening of the cactus and pull to gather closed.
Join Brown with sc on any row on open end of cactus. Sc across the bottom of the cactus. Finish off and leave a long tail for sewing. Stuff.


Cactus #1 Arm:
With Green ch 12, turn
1) Sc in 2nd chain from hook in BLO. Sc in BLO across, ch1, turn [11]
2-17) Sc across in BLO, ch1, turn [11]
18) Bring row 1 up matching row 17 to form a tube. Sc across in BLO of row 17 and in empty loops of chains from row 1. [11]
Finish off and leave a long tail. Sew the tail through loops along the top opening and pull to gather closed. Stuff and sew Arm to side of Main cactus wherever you want or use the picture for reference.

Cactus #2 Body:
With Green ch 16, turn
1) sc in 2nd chain from hook in BLO, hdc in BLO in next 13 stitches, sc in BLO in last stitch, ch1, turn [15]
2-30) sc in BLO in first stitch, hdc in BLO in next 13 stitches, sc in BLO in last stitch, ch1, turn [15]
31) Bring row 1 up matching row 30 to form a tube. Sc, 13 hdc, and sc across in BLO of row 30 and in empty loops of chains from row 1. [15]
Finish off. Sew a long piece of yarn through the loops of the top opening of the cactus and pull to gather closed.
Join Brown with sc on any row on open end of cactus. Sc across the bottom of the cactus. Finish off and leave a long tail for sewing. Stuff.

 Cactus #3 Body:
With Green ch 21, turn
1) hdc in 2nd chain from hook in BLO. Hdc in next 12 stitches in BLO, sc in next 7 stitches in BLO, ch1, turn [20]
2) sc in next 7 stitches in BLO, hdc in next 13 stitches in BLO, ch1, turn [20]
3) hdc in next 13 stitches BLO, sc in next 7 stitches BLO, ch1, turn [20]
4-27) Repeat rows 2 and 3 [20]
28) Bring row 1 up matching row 27 to form a tube. 13 hdc then 7 sc across in BLO of row 27 and in empty loops of chains from row 1. [20]
Finish off. Sew a long piece of yarn through the loops of the top opening of the cactus (the hdc side) and pull to gather closed.
Join Brown with sc on any row on open end of cactus. Sc across the bottom of the cactus. Finish off and leave a long tail for sewing. Stuff.

Cactus #4 Body: (make 2)
With Green ch 21, turn
1) sc in 2nd chain from hook in BLO, sc in BLO across, ch1, turn [20]
2-17) sc in BLO across [20]
18) Bring row 1 up matching row 17 to form a tube. Sc across in BLO of row 17 and in empty loops of chains from row 1. [20]
Finish off and leave a long tail. Sew the tail through loops along the top opening and pull to gather closed. Hold both Bodies together with the bottoms facing you. Sew the two pieces together on the bottom where they touch.
Join Brown with sc on any row on open end of either cactus. Sc across the bottom of the joined cacti. Finish off and leave a long tail for sewing. Stuff.

Cactus Pot:
Use this pot for all Cactus styles with the variation of dirt indicated as below. Pot is worked in rounds, do not join or turn at the end of rounds. Use a stitch marker to keep track of rounds.
With Clay make a ring
1) 8 sc in ring [8]
2) *2sc in same stitch* around [16]
3) *sc, 2sc in same stitch* around [24]
4) *sc 2, 2sc in same stitch* around [32]
5) *sc 3, 2sc in same stitch* around [40]
6) sc around in BLO [40]
7-14) sc around [40]
15) sc around in FLO [40]
16) sc around [40]
Finish off. Leave a long tail. Turn down the last 2 rows of the pot to make the outside rim. Use the long tail to sew the rim down to the pot.
Join Brown with sc to any free loop of Round 15.
For all Cacti, sc around the free loops of Round 15 [40].
For Cacti 1 & 4 continue to make a second round of dirt by *sc 2, dec* around. [30]
Finish off and stuff. Using the long tail of the dirt round from the Cactus Body, sew the dirt round of the Body to the last dirt round of the Pot. Finish off and weave in all ends.

Flowers:
These flowers can be adjusted to make the number and length of petals you desire.
Make 1 for Cacti 2 & 3; make 2 for Cacti 1 & 4.
With Cream make a ring; 8 sc in ring, finish off. [8]
With Pink join with sl in any sc. *Ch 6, sl in same stitch, sl in next stitch* around, finish off. [8 petals]
Sew flower to the top of the Cactus Body or arm.

26 comments:

hattalahutta said...

These are great! Going to make some when I can find suitable pots to put them in :D

catherine said...

These are so cute. I'm going to make one for my desk at work, when I get the time. Thanks for posting them.

elf ♥ dwarf said...

Thanks! I had a lot of fun making them. ♥

RedFlame said...

These are so cute, I love all your work! are you on ravelry or twitter?

Ferngulley said...

OH! Thank you thank you thank you.
I have been wanting to do some cactus just too lazy to work it out myself.
These are just perfect.

elf ♥ dwarf said...

RedFlame ~ Thank you! I am not on twitter or ravelry. I do have a flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elfluvsdwarf/ It's mostly more pictures of what I make.

ferngulley ~ I'm glad you like them! ♥

SUADDA said...

Yeah! So cool cactis! =)
I have also made some from this pattern! I Love it!

Unknown said...

These are sooo CUTE!I am deffinately going to make some (and gonna try to figure a way to put a few thorns on them).My entire house is decorated in western and southwest these would make perfect accemts.
TY so much elf.
BTW I also live in Texas.
I know I may not pose to ask this but I'm gonna any way.Is there any way possiable that we may can become e-pals?

Linda

elf ♥ dwarf said...

Linda, sure! Send me an email to elfluvsdwarf@gmail.com :)

paula*p said...

I love the little cactus! Will be making some for my home and some to give as gifts.
Thank you for sharing your pattern.

j said...

I love these and want to make some, but I can't get the pdf to work. Can you email the pattern to me?
verna@groger.net

elf ♥ dwarf said...

Gigi, my husband shut off the server he was hosting my pdf's on. I have written out the instructions in this post. :)

Red de rOuge said...

Fantastic! Thank you for explications!

lillicroche said...

My garden has grown !Thanks a lot for your great pattern.

Witchy Lizard said...

These are lovely! I'm new to crochet and looking forward to giving these a try :-) Thanks for sharing!

Michele said...

Thanks! Awesome pattern!! I made some for my boyfriend who was wishing he had a cactus collection like his dad. Lol! I figured that they're cactuses that his dad won't have. ;)

Anna Hulsey said...

I made one today! It's cute and I love it! I posted pic on my blog-- I feel very accomplished.

http://annabanana1986.blogspot.com/

Nessa Xavier said...

Thanks so much for the patterns :) Cacti aren't a natural inhabitant in Ireland but we can make (&) do.

Lavinia said...

Thanks so much for sharing the pattern, it´s lovely!

Rikki Holley said...

I just made #1 cactus and it turned out soooo cute :0)
Thanks for posting this great tutorial.

T zero said...

My first cactus: http://www.tzerodojoao.blogspot.pt/2012/05/o-cacto.html
Thanks for sharing such easy and cute patters. I'll be visiting you quite often.
;)

Tash said...

these are AWESOME! I am making them right now for my lil sis who has a crazy love for cacti ^.^

Montse said...

Hello from Spain! Lovely cactus. But, how do you SC BLO in the chain? I don't understand very well what you mean by "turn" once you've chained 12. Could you help me, please? Thanks a lot.

natalia said...

How wonderful ! Thank you

Unknown said...

Thanks for the pattern, you can find my cactus at arrosambmango.blogspot.com I tried to put altogether in a pot, and i think i could manage quite fine!

stampingnails said...

Thanks for the great patterns! You're awesome for sharing them. I've made one of your cactus. Please check out the pictures I've posted on my blog! Thanks again!!

http://allmyfuncrafts.blogspot.com/2013/01/crochet-cactus-flowers-and-succulents.html

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