This one always gets picked up and turned over by anyone who visits. It’s a tree made from a single spiralling ribbon of red and green, with a white pearl bead at the tip of every scallop and two little gold stars stacked on top.
The clever bit is that there’s no cone inside it. The whole tree is one long row of crochet worked into a chain. It coils into a cone shape on its own because the stitches get taller as you work along, and taller stitches force a wider curve. Short stitches at the start make the tight point at the top. Trebles at the end make the wide sweep at the bottom.
That means the whole tree body takes about an hour, and the fiddly part is sewing on the beads.
What you’ll need
Worsted or aran weight cotton in red and green. About 25 g of each is plenty, so this is a good project for leftovers from bigger makes. A small amount of mustard or gold for the stars.
A 3.5 mm hook.
Around 40 white pearl beads, 6 mm, plus one large gold bead for the bottom and a small pearl for the star. Sewing thread to match, and a beading needle if your beads have narrow holes.
You’ll also want a scrap of fibrefill for the stars, a tapestry needle, and about 60 cm of 0.8 mm florist wire, which is optional but recommended and explained below.
Finished height is about 24 cm plus the hanging cord.
Abbreviations are US terms. ch is chain, sl st is slip stitch, sc is single crochet, hdc is half double crochet, dc is double crochet, tr is treble crochet, MR is magic ring, inc is two stitches in one.
The spiral tree body
The foundation chain is made in colour blocks. Change to the new colour on the final pull through of the last chain of each block so the join stays clean.
Starting with red, ch 12. Change to green and ch 12. Keep alternating colours in blocks of 12 until you have eight blocks, which is 96 chains. Don’t work the chain tightly, and don’t let it twist while you count it.
Now work back along the chain. The stitch you use changes as you go, and matching your yarn colour to the chain colour underneath as you travel.
Into each of the first 12 chains, work 2 sc. Into each of the next 12 chains, work 2 hdc. Into each of the next 24 chains, work 2 dc. Into each of the next 24 chains, work 2 tr. Into each of the remaining 24 chains, work 3 tr.
Fasten off and weave in the ends.
It will look like a crumpled mess in your lap. Pick it up by the sc end, let it hang, and give it a shake. It will drop into a cone.
Setting the shape
Left alone, a cotton spiral this size will slowly relax and stretch under its own weight until the tree looks more like a slinky than a tree. There are two ways to deal with that.
The easy way is a light blocking. Dampen the finished spiral, arrange it on a towel with the coils spaced how you want them, and let it dry completely over a day or two. This works well with cotton and holds for a season.
The way I prefer is wire. Thread florist wire through the base of the stitches along the inner edge of the coil, following the spiral down. Fold about a centimetre over at each end and tuck it back into the stitches so nothing can poke out. The tree then holds any shape you set it to, permanently, and you can open or tighten the coils with your fingers whenever you like.
Do this before you sew the beads on, not after.
The stars
You need two, one slightly smaller than the other. Both are made in mustard, and each star is two identical pieces joined back to back.
For the larger star, make two of these.
Round 1. 10 sc in MR (10) Round 2. Inc in every stitch (20) Round 3. Inc, sc, repeated around (30)
For the points, sl st in the next stitch, then work sc, hdc, dc, ch 2, sl st in the second ch from the hook, dc, hdc, sc all into the next stitch, then sl st in the following stitch. Repeat that five more times, so you make six points from thirty stitches. If you want a five point star instead, work round 3 to 25 stitches and repeat the point sequence five times.
Hold two pieces wrong sides together and sc through both layers around, stuffing very lightly before you close.
For the smaller star, work rounds 1 and 2 only, then make the points straight into the 20 stitches, four stitches per point for five points. Join the two halves the same way.
Sew a small pearl to the centre of the smaller star.
Putting it together
Sew the small star to the top of the large star, overlapping slightly, with the small one sitting lower.
Attach the large star to the pointed tip of the spiral. Push the tail of yarn right through the top few stitches of the coil and back again a few times so it grips properly, because this joint carries the entire weight of the tree.
Make the hanging cord by chaining 40 in cream or white and slip stitching back along the chain to firm it up. Fold it into a loop and sew it to the back of the top star.
At the very bottom, sew the large gold bead to the last stitch of the spiral so it hangs like a drop.
The pearls
Every scallop on the outer edge of the coil gets one pearl. Work your way from the top down, sewing each bead onto the outer curve of the ruffle where it catches the light.
Space them about four stitches apart at the top where the coil is tight, and about six stitches apart at the bottom where the trebles have spread things out. This is not a rule you need to measure. Sit the tree in front of you, look at it, and put a bead wherever the edge looks empty.
Knot your thread and pass it through the bead twice before moving on. Beads sewn on with a single pass will work loose within a year.
Questions I get asked
Why is my tree not cone shaped? Almost always because the stitch heights are wrong somewhere. Count back along your row and check you actually changed from dc to tr where the pattern says. It’s an easy spot to lose track of.
Can I make it taller? Yes. Add another 24 chains to the foundation and work 3 tr into each of them at the end. Anything longer than that starts to sag badly and will definitely need the wire.
Can I use acrylic? You can, but it’s floppier and it won’t hold a blocked shape at all, so wire it.
What if I want more colours? Keep the blocks at 12 chains and just rotate through three or four colours instead of two. Cream, sage and rust looks lovely and completely different.
Is it safe for a tree with a cat? Nothing is safe for a tree with a cat. But the beads are the risk, so if that’s your situation, embroider white French knots instead of sewing on pearls.
Ideas
Make three in graduating sizes and hang them at different heights in a window.
Swap the pearls for tiny gold jingle bells so it makes a noise when the door opens.
Make it in white and silver as a snow covered version, and skip the stars in favour of a single snowflake at the top.