Irish Crochet Butterfly

Irish Crochet Butterfly

1.       When you begin, leave a long strand of thread or yarn about 6 or 8 inches long, you will be crocheting back over it.  Make a 3 ch. ring and connect with a sl. st.

2.       Make 2 picots in the ring for eyes.  Do a sl. st. or two to get between the eyes to get ready to make the feelers.

3.       8 chain for feelers, make a picot or clones knot for knob at the end of the feelers.  Sl. st. back to head.

4.       Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the other feeler. 

5.       15 sc over the thread (padding cord or PC)  to make the body and tail.  Pull the  PC so the stitches lay flat and even.

6.       Ch 1 and then sc back up the body going over the  PC and through the opposite stitches.  You will be going up the opposite side and will have sc's on both sides of the body.  Go almost up to the head, leave a stitch or two for a neck.                         Tug on the PC to make the body even.

7.        Wing:  *8 ch, TRC into body, make two more TRC into same stitch.    3 ch, 3 TRC into next st.    

   8.       Turn, 4 ch, 3 TRC into the 3 ch loop.    9ch, 3TRC into same 3 ch loop.  

        

   9.   4TRC into 8 ch loop, 10 ch, 4 TRC into same loop. 

   

  10.   Turn, 10 TRC into 10 ch loop, 3 ch, 10 TRC into same loop. 

 

  11.   Sl.st. in triangle shaped space between wings. 

 

  12   9 TRC in 9 ch space, 3 ch,  9 TRC into same space.  Sl st to top of the TRC to complete the lower wing.  Fasten off.  *

   13.   Cut off a long piece of thread for PC.  I tripled the thread for my butterfly, so I would be crocheting over three strands of thread.  Put the thread aside.   You can estimate the length by going around your half butterfly, add extra as you will be making wing tips and going around the tail. 

  14.   Repeat between * s.  

   

   15.   Add in your padding cord, I take a stitch, then I fold the thread so for 8 or 10 stitches I am going over 6 strands.   Stitch around the butterfly, giving a bit of a tug whenever you turn a corner.  Lay the butterfly on something flat to make sure its flat.  You want everything to be nice and even.

           

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16.   At each wing tip do 1 sc, 2 DC, 1 sc.   Or you can do other pointy treatments, like clones knots on top of a DC or a picot.  For the bottom wings I crocheted a few stitches over the PC, made a picot, went back down and that made a swallow tail.   I put a picot on the end of the tail.   On the upper wings I added some picots evenly spaced under the wing tip.   (about 4 sc's apart)  My upper wing has a picot on the tip.

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   When you get back to the neck, go around it and the PC neatly and carry on for the other side's wings.  You can check picot placement by folding the butterfly in half to see if they are the correct distance apart.