Crochet Tea Light Holder

We’ve been enjoying working with cotton yarn recently; must be the weather!

Lexie and I had some fancy chocolate puddings from one of those German stores, and when we had finished them, I noticed that the pot was simply too nice to put in the recycling. But it’s a tiny, shallow dish, big enough for a fancy chocolate dessert! So, of course, my mind flowed over to tea light holders, and if you promise to use a battery operated one, I will share my pattern.

DO NOT USE A NAKED FLAME WITH THESE TEALIGHT HOLDERS

What you will need:

Cotton yarn in three colours. I used King Cole Recycled Aran Cotton

4.5mm hook

Tapestry needle for sewing in ends

Special Stitches:

Standing dc – standing stitches can be a bit tricky until you have practiced them a bit, but the standing dc is perfectly simple for everyone. Attach your yarn to your hook with a slip knot as usual, insert hook into stitch indicated, yarn over, draw back through the stitch, 2 loops on hook, yarn over and complete the stitch as usual. It’s literally just making the dc “from nothing”. You do the others the same way (i.e you wrap the yarn first, and make the stitch as normal), but it is a knack, and there is no shame in making a chain instead.

Abbreviations:

Ch – chain

Sl st – slip stitch

St – stitch

Dc – Double crochet

Htr – half treble

Dtr – Double treble

Tr – treble

FO – fasten off

This pattern is worked in UK terms

Glass pot (mine measures about 7cm by 4cm)

1. In colour A: Ch2, 6 dc in 2nd ch from hook. Join with a sl st to first dc.
2. Ch1, 2htr in next st and each st around. Join with a sl st to first Htr (12htr)
3. Ch4 (counts as tr and ch2). *Tr in next st, ch2* to end, sl st into first ch 4 sp. FO. (12 tr, 12 ch2 sps)
4. In colour B: Make a standing dtr in any ch2 sp. (Or Join colour B to any ch2 sp and ch3)., dtr in same sp. Tr in next st (top of tr from previous round), *2dtr in next ch2 sp, dtr in next st* to end. Join with a sl st to top of first dtr, (or ch3, depending on what you did). FO (36 dtr)
5. In colour C: Make a standing dc in any stitch, and dc in each st around. Join with a sl st to first dc, FO (36dc)
6. In colour A: Repeat round 5
7. In colour B: This is a round of V stitches – 2 trs in the same st, with ch2 between. Work as follows: Make a standing tr (or ch2), then ch2, and tr in the same sp as first tr (or base of ch2) *skip a st, tr, ch2, tr in same st* to end. Join to top of standing tr, or ch2, whichever you did. FO. (18 V stitches). It will probably be a bit wavy at this point, but the next rounds will sort it all out.
8. Join colour C in any ch2 sp and ch 2 (counts as a tr), or make a standing tr. Tr in same sp. *2tr in each ch 2 sp* to the end. Join with a sl st to top of your ch2, or standing tr. FO (36tr)
9. Join colour A in the 2nd tr of any pair of trs from round 8, with a standing dc. *Dc in the gap between the two sets of 2 trs. Miss next st. Dc in 2nd of the two trs.* to end, finishing with a dc into the gap. Join with a sl st to first dc. (If I haven’t explained myself adequately, or if you prefer, just dc around, it won’t matter in the great scheme of things.) FO and sew all ends in. (36 dc)
10. If you can’t resist a little fun, like me, then cut 6 lengths of each colour, about 13cm long. Starting with one colour, fold in half, put hook through any dc, from front to back, grab the yarn and bring the loop end through the work. Pull the loop until you can bring the other ends through with your hook, and pull tight to make a small tassel. Miss 5 sts, and insert your hook in the 6th to add the next one. With the next colour, miss a st, and add your tassel. Move to the next tassel in the first colour, so a st, and attach the next. Finally, DK next st, and attach the tassels of the third colour, working around as before. You can trim them short, or leave them long. Try with your BATTERY OPERATED TEA LIGHT to see if it affects the shadows in any way.

You are welcome to make as many of these as you like, and sell them (I think they might go down quite well as teacher gifts or maybe on a Christmas craft stall), but please don’t sell my pattern, or use my photos. Just link to here please and thank you.

If you do sell these, please, please stress that they are decorations, and should only be used with battery operated tea lights.

©️ Kate Dell-Smith 2019