Pattern: Amigurumi Christmas tree

Crochet Christmas tree with real lights (electroamigurumi)

Light up the cold winter nights with this amigurumi Christmas tree with real LED lights. Amaze your family and friends and show up your geekiest side with this electrotextile.

Aquí debajo puedes ver el abeto en acción. Divertido, ¿verdad? Pues es mucho más sencillo de lo que parece, así que sigue leyendo para descubrir cómo lograr que las luces funcionen de verdad.

Ah, and if you want to create a 100% Christmas scene, what about making these amigurumi elves?

Pattern: Amigurumi Christmas tree

Abbreviations

Ch: chain Sc: single crochet Sl st: slip stitch Inc: increase Dec: decrease Rd: round Bl: back loops (crochet through the back loops only) Fl: front loops (crochet through the front loops only) *…*: repeat till the end of the round (…): stitches at the end of the round

Materials

• 3mm crochet hok
• Green and brown yarn
• Yellow felt
• Fiberfill
• 10 mini LEDs  (white, blue and green).
• Red and blue nail polish (for the ends of the LEDs)
• Nail polish in different colors or glass paint (to paint the white LEDs)
• Conductive thread
• Resistance
• 3V battery
• Battery compartment
• Pliers
• Metallic snaps
• Sewing thread

Preparing the LEDs:

• – LEDs have a positive end (the long one) and a negative one (the short one). Paint the tip of the positive end with red nail polish and the other one with blue.

• – Paint the white LEDs with nail polish or glass paint. For this design you can’t use red, yellow or orange LEDs (they are not compatible with the others that we are using), so if you want these or other colors on your tree, you will have to paint them.

• – Curl the LEDs ends using pliers. Do the same thing with the resistor.

General instructions:

• – Every time we put the legs on the tree, we will sew them to it using sewing thread. Later on we will connect them with conductive thread.
• – We will hide the led ends in the fabric, so we will only see the top of the LED between the stitches.
• – We will place the positive ends upwards and the negative ones downwards, and when we connect them, first we will connect one pole and then the other one, so we avoid confusions.
• – The negative and positive threads can never cross. If they did, the circuit wouldn’t work. If at some point you see that they are going to cross, stick a piece of felt between them to stop them from touching.
• – If you prefer to make a conventional amigurumi, without LEDs, replace them by colorful beads, crochet embellishments, etc. – Follow the sketch attached to know how to connect the circuit.
• Follow the diagram to know how to connect the circuit. You’ll have to connect it as you crochet the amigurumi Christmas tree

Amigurumi Christmas tree

Top of the tree and lights

Rd 1: With green yarn, 5sc in magic ring (5) Rd 2: 5sc (5) Rd 3: *inc* (10) Rd 4: 10sc (10) Rd 5: *1sc, inc* (15) Rd 6: 15sc (15) Rd 7: *2sc, inc* (20) Rd 8: 20sc (20) Rd 9: bl *2sc, dec* (15) Rd 10: *1sc, dec* (10) Stuff Rd 11: fl *1sc,inc* (15) Rd 12: *2sc, inc* (20) Rd 13: *3sc, inc* (25) Rd 14: 25sc (25) Rd 15: *4sc, inc* (30) Rd 16: 30sc (30) Rd 17: *5sc, inc* (35) Rd 18: 35sc (35) Rd 19: bl *5sc, dec* (30)

Place the LEDs on the floor 2 and connect them between them with conductive thread. From LED 1’s positive end, leave a long tail of conductive thread, which later on we will connect to the star.

From LED 5, leave a long tail of conductive thread from both poles, which later will be connected to floor 3.

Sew the male snap to the floor 1 and sew a very long tail of conductive thread to it that we will be guiding down our work until the base of the tree. Make sure it doesn’t cross with the other threads.

Rd 20: *4sc, dec* (25) Rd 21: fl *4sc, inc* (30) Rd 22: *5sc, inc* (35) Rd 23: *6sc, inc* (40) Rd 24: 40sc (40) Rd 25: *7sc, inc* (45) Rd 26: 45sc (45) Rd 27: *8sc, inc* (50) Rd 28: 50sc (50) Rd 29: bl *8sc, dec* (45)

Place the LEDs on floor 3 and connect them between them and to the one on floor 2, using the threads we left hanging. Keep guiding downwards the thread that comes from the snap on floor 1.

Leave a long tail of conductive thread from LED 10’s negative pole.

Rd 30: *7sc, dec* (40) Rd 31: *6sc, dec* (35) Rd 32: *5sc, dec* (30) Rd 33: *4sc, dec* (25) Rd 34: With brown yarn, fl 25sc (25) Rd 35: bl *3sc, dec* (20) Rd 36: *2sc, dec* (15) Rd 37: *1sc, dec* (10) Rd 38: *dec* (5) Sl st and fasten off

Trunk

Rd 1: Put the tree upside down and attach brown yarn to the external loop on Rd 35 with a sl st. Make 1sc on the same spot and make 24sc more. (25) Rd 2: 25sc (25) Sl St and fasten off. Sew the resistor on the inside of the trunk and connect the end of conductive thread that comes from the snap on floor 1 to one of its sides. Attach some conductive thread to the other side. We will later connect it to the battery holder. Sew the battery holder on the base of the trunk and connect the positive pole to the thread that comes from the resistor. Connect the thread that comes from LED 10 to the negative pole of the battery holder.

Star

Cut out two yellow felt stars and sew one female snap to one of them. Sew the stars together, stuffing them with some fiberfill. Corta dos estrellas de fieltro amarillo y cósele a una de ellas el corchete hembra. Now, connect the conductive thread from LED 1 to the female snap, leaving enough thread between the two elements to be able to move the star easily and to attach it to the tree.

And your crochet Christmas tree is ready. Did you enjoy your experience with electroamigurumi. Let me know on the comment section!

Remember that there are many more Christmas amigurumi pattenrs available both in the “free patterns”  section del blog and the shop Merry Christmas!

PD: Thanks to Cristina J. Batista de Oh!villo! for helping me out with my first electroamigurumi!

Please, visit her blog to find more tutorials about e-textiles. They are amazing!

Pattern: Christmas tree by Jennifer Martínez-O. Schmiedl is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional License.