All these stars are knitted by

following the same simple formula;

you just carry on longer for the

bigger stars.

I’ve knitted each of the nine sizes in

two colours and then stacked them

together to make a rainbow tree.

The stars are only sewn together

through the centre which means that

they can be twisted to give the tree

different looks.

Yarn and Needles

You can knit the stars in any weight yarn, using appropriate size

needles. I used Stylecraft Special DK (295 m / 100 g) for mine

and 3.25 mm / US size 3 needles. My stars range in size from 5

to 15 cm (2 - 6"), measured across the widest point. Each star is

made up of two star shapes, sewn together. To knit a tree like

mine, which is about 23 cm / 9" tall (including the star on the

top), you’ll need about 150 g of DK weight yarn all together.

Choosing Colours

I had a lot of fun deciding on colours to use for my stars. First of

all, I played around with my Stylecraft Colour pegs and came up

with two sets of nine colours, one bright and the other more

muted.

Frankie’s Knitted Stuff

Stacking Stars

Then I decided to be more

ambitious and use them all, so I

re-arranged them into one long

sequence of 18 colours.

From left to right, my colours are: Burgundy, Claret, Lipstick,

Copper, Gold, Sunshine, Kelly Green, Green, Bottle, Petrol,

Empire, Turquoise, Fuchsia Purple, Boysenberry, Lobelia and

Royal. Oh, and the star on the top is in Saffron. Not that I use

this range of yarn a lot, but I know many of these colour names

by heart.

Knitting the Stars

As I’ve said, there is a formula for knitting these stars,

dependent on the number of stitches you cast on. I’ve knitted

nine sizes with 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 stitches on my

needles. I’ll write out the instructions for the first few sizes

which should help to show what’s going on. The pictures are

from a 7 stitch star, it’s easier to see with more stitches.

4 Stitch Star

Using the long tail method, cast on four stitches.

⁂ Knit one row.

Row 1: Kf&b, K1, K2tog.

Rows 2 – 4: Knit.

Cast off purlwise, working pf&b at the start of the row, until you

have one stitch left on your needle. Increasing at the start of the

cast off row will sharpen the point of the star.

Now pick up and knit three

stitches down the side of your

knitting so that you are back to

four stitches.

Repeat from ⁂ four more times

for the remaining four points of

the star.

Cast off all the stitches after the

fifth point. Don’t worry about that

gap between the first and last

points, the knitting will stretch to

fill it.

With the right sides facing (the bumpy side of the cast off

edges), oversew / whipstitch the first and last points together

and close the hole in the middle of the star. Leave one of the

yarn tails to mark the seam.

When you’ve knitted the second star, leave a long tail and use

this to sew the two stars together. Avoid putting the two seams

next to each other; that’s why you left the tail on the first star.

5 Stitch Star

Using the long tail method, cast on five stitches.

⁂ Knit one row.

Row 1: Kf&b, K2, K2tog.

Rows 2 – 4: Knit.

Work Rows 1 – 4 once and then Rows 1 & 2 once more.

Cast off purlwise, working pf&b at the start of the row, until you

have one stitch left.

Pick up and knit four stitches down side of knitting.

Repeat from ⁂ four more times.

6 Stitch Star

Using the long tail method, cast on six stitches.

⁂ Knit one row.

Row 1: Kf&b, K3, K2tog.

Rows 2 – 4: Knit.

Work Rows 1 – 4 twice.

Cast off purlwise, working pf&b at the start of the row, until you

have one stitch left.

Pick up and knit five stitches down side of knitting.

Repeat from ⁂ four more times.

7 Stitch Star

Using the long tail method, cast on seven stitches.

⁂ Knit one row.

Row 1: Kf&b, K4, K2tog.

Rows 2 – 4: Knit.

Work Rows 1 – 4 twice and then Rows 1 & 2 once more.

Cast off purlwise, working pf&b at the start of the row, until you

have one stitch left.

Pick up and knit six stitches down side of knitting.

Repeat from ⁂ four more times.

Are you starting to see the pattern here? What you’re doing is

working two more rows for each stitch added. As two rows

make one ridge in garter stitch, you will always work one less

ridge than the number of your stitches. This means that you can

just repeat Rows 1 – 4 until you have worked the right number

of ridges.

For example: 8 sts - work 7 ridges

9 sts - work 8 ridges

10 sts - work 9 ridges and so on …

The cast off rows are the same for all sizes and you always pick

up one stitch for every ridge of knitting, taking you back to the

original stitch number.

I hope this makes sense. As there are four rows in the pattern,

you will only work complete repeats with an even number of

stitches. With an odd number, you will stop after Row 2. The

four row pattern is:

Row 1: Kf&b, K to the last 2 sts, K2tog.

Rows 2-4: Knit.

Knitting 18 stars takes longer than you might think but they are

a lot of fun to play with.

To turn the stars into a tree, sew

them together through the centre

of each star.

Use yarn to match the top star and start by securing your yarn in

the middle of the bottom star. Then take the yarn up through the

next star, pull it tight and take a stitch to secure it. Continue

adding the stars like this until they’re all in place.

It was at this point that I discovered that, because they’re only

joined in the middle, the stars can be twisted into different

arrangements.

To add a star to the top of the tree,

knit another 4 stitch star and then

either sew or pin it to the top star.

As I thought this star might get

squashed when the tree was put away

after Christmas, I pinned mine in

place with a blocking pin. That way,

I can pin it flat to the top of the tree

for storage.

Other Ideas

There are lots of other things you can do with these stars. String

them together as bunting, stuff them to make a baby’s toy

(perhaps with a squeaker inside), use them to decorate other

things … Here are just a couple of things I’ve tried.

This tiny tree was knitted with thin

4 ply yarn and 2.25 mm needles (US

size 0). I knitted the four smallest stars

and stuffed them lightly before sewing

them together. Then I added a button

star to the top and little silver beads to

each of the points. The finished tree is

about 5 cm / 2" tall.

For this tree ornament, I knitted a 7

stitch star in red DK and then one piece

of a green 5 stitch star.

I sewed the green star to one of the red

pieces and then added a button before

sewing the second red star to the back

of the ornament.

I hope you enjoy knitting these stars and I look forward to

seeing lots of colourful, starry creations.

Abbreviations

K knit

kf&b knit into the front and back of the stitch

pf&b purl into the front and back of the stitch

K2tog knit two stitches together

© Frankie Brown, 2018. My patterns are for personal use only and should not be used to knit items for sale.

Please do not use them for teaching purposes without my permission.