Croch-shade

When I saw these little lampshades for the bargain price of 75p each, I knew what I wanted to do with them.
It mostly involved ripping off the ghastly material and recovering them with something infinitely better.



And there's nothing better than crochet.

Fancy a go?

I'll attempt to tell you how I did it, but i'll warn you know, this is a seriously-sort-of-winging-it project;
 I frogged mine many times through its making, but it was quite cathartic. No pattern to follow, so no right or wrong. I used a basic shell stitch around the shade with some rows of double crochet (UK treble) to make the decreases in.
You'll need to reduce your number of stitches right from the start, but don't worry about counting obsessively- just do what seems right. Spare stitches at the ends of your row can always be slip stitched into, or decreased together to help fit the shape of the shade.   



You'll need an old lampshade, stripped down to its frame and yarn and hook of choice. (I used dk cotton yarn and 4mm hook)  [And for good measure, a bit of peace and quiet, some patience and a few well-seasoned swear words.]

1. Put a slip knot on your hook and single crochet around the bottom rim, heading in a clockwise direction. Make sure the stitches fit quite snugly together to cover it well.

2. Start reducing your stitches in this row:  
  Chain 3, *Double crochet in next 3 stitches, dc2tog* rep around. 

3. This is the beginning of the shell stitch
  Chain 1, sc *skip 2 stitches, 5dcs into next st, sk 2 sts, sc* rep around



4. This is the other half of the shell pattern. You may need to slip stitch around to get yourself in the right place 
  Chain 1, sc in the 3rd dc (the middle stitch of a shell), *sk 2 sts, 5dc in next st, sk 2 sts, sc in next st* (middle of next shell again) repeat around.

5. More reducing of stitches in this row. -I found that I had the best result when decreasing using plain double crochet, rather than decreasing in a shell stitch row.
 Chain 3, dc2tog around.

6 onwards. Repeat the shell stitch pattern around.
When I reached the ends of my row, I sometimes reduced a few more stitches to help it fit. 



When you've done enough, finish off by single crocheting around the top rim. You may need to put two single crochets into some of the stitches to give a nice finish and cover the rim.





See what I mean about this being a winging-it project? Be brave- have a go.



I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a really big shade to try this on next...

Enjoy your week, all
Xx