Since Maryanne suggested that it would be a good idea to have some Easter related entries for the ‘Made It’ monthly challenge, I decided to try my hand at crochet eggs.
I have realised that it is being impatient and lazy that leads me to write my own patterns.
I start out due to this laziness and impatience looking for other people’s patterns because I think that is the quicker and easier option but then if I discover that the patterns are not all the same, so I don’t know which will be best or else I find them hard to understand, I decide that actually the quickest and easiest thing to do will be to get some yarn and a hook and work up my own.
And so it was with crochet eggs.
I know lots of people would have created a beautiful co-ordinating set but my collection, I am afraid, is more eclectic.
I gathered together
1.
The scraps of yarn left from my hexagon blanket. 
2.
The cotton yarn left from my ‘flower cloth’. I especially liked using these as they gave a smooth finish with a slight sheen.
3.
An
d the ends of balls I am using for the CAL. I found these colours seemed more suitable than the ones for the blanket.
First of all I made this one.
Not too big so I could finish it quickly.
Then another couple with more of an effort to consider what the pattern was.
They were even smaller but I thought rather sweet.
Next I decided to try to incorporate the ‘Linen’ stitch that I used for my phone cover.
The purple one came out a bit miss-shapen, so I added a little flower to detract from the shape.
I tried stripey ones in different sizes. By now I had a definite pattern that could be worked in three sizes (or more).
I liked these as there was no need to keep joining in new yarn. It could just be alternated.
And of course I had to make some rainbow ones.
Only six! colours but then a rainbow is probably only said to have seven colours because people were obsessed with sevens at the time and thought of it as the ‘perfect’ number; although when mathematicians talk of ‘perfect’ numbers they mean something different.
So now I had
Five small ones,
Four medium ones
and
Three egg sized ones.
The first eggs I made and those using the linen stitch came out slightly different sizes but
The pattern is basically:
6dc (US sc) into a magic loop. [6dcs ]
Next row: 2dcs into each dc. [12dcs]
Continue increasing six times each row until you get to 18dcs (small), 24dcs (medium) or 30 (large=UK medium/large egg size with DK yarn and 3.5mm hook).
Then work 5 rows small, 6 rows medium or 7 rows large before decreasing. I hope you can see the pattern here if you want to make even bigger ones!
Decrease three times every row (eg. {7dc, 2dctog, 1dc} x3, for first decrease for large.) until only 6dc are left.
Start stuffing about halfway through the decreases. I found I normally pushed a last bit of stuffing through the final hole with the end of my crochet hook.
Draw remaining thread through stitches and fasten off.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Whether you work in rounds or a spiral I found to be a mootish point as I couldn’t make the joins for the rows invisible, so I moved onto doing them in a spiral as they both gave a sense of discontinuity when working in more than one colour but the spiral was neater.
I did work in rounds for the linen stitch ones as there I could hide the join more successfully.
And here is my Easter Tree.
I have added a few flowers and as Easter is the major Christian festival, the crosses but more of those next week.
Maybe in time (like next year) I may make more things to add.
The photograph is one I took while staying in Taizé many, many years ago. Then later I added the text to turn it into an Easter card.
Which do you think look better?
And to finish I will share with you the cake I made this Easter.
And a closer look! 
A plain and chocolate Battenberg with nine sections instead of the normal four!
