A knitted succulent is a great substitute for live plants especially if you have trouble keeping real plants alive!
I think I have a magical powder of killing plants. The harder I try to keep something alive, the quicker it seems to wither on me. So, plants hate me. Except for the bamboo but I want that to die so of course it will persistently stay alive.
But I do have a few plants I really wanted to keep alive. I tried for a long time, but I think they have finally given out on me. One that I was trying to keep was a succulent given to me by my brother. Succulents are easier to take care of, so I was able to keep it alive longer than I expected.
Now it’s just a dead plant in the potter and my heart doesn’t want to throw it out. So, I thought of how I could replace it. Another plant would probably end up dead. But what about a knitted succulent? I decided to take a crack at knitting the replacement to keep the look of the original, but I would have a much hard time killing this replacement.
Check out the Craft section of MCG for more fun patterns in strings and things or more unlimited ideas. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think and how the pattern works for you!
Supplies
For this project, I gathered the following items:
- Green Yarn, medium thickness
- Brown Yard, medium thickness
- (1) Pair of US Size 6 Needles
- (3) US Size 6 Double Pointed Needles (DPNs)
- Poly fiber fill
- Plant Pot
I used the green yard for knitting the plan itself and the brown yarn to create the dirt for the plant to sit on.
Process
Knitting the Base
The first step that I did for this project was to knit the base. This is because it was the easiest part to accomplish. I made a brown square. Seems simple enough. For this I cast on 25 stiches and then alternated between doing a fully knit row and a full purled row.
To avoid some of the natural curling that comes with knitting I did do a 2-stitch border that was always knit regardless of size. I wanted to make the project a perfect square, so I ended up doing 42 rows before casting off.
Creating the Leaves
The next step of the project was to make the leaves. I decided to make each leaf individually and then sew them all together at the end. I ended up making three types of leaves. One larger, one medium, and one smaller.
The core basis for the small and medium leaves are the same but the inflection points between the increase and decrease stitch change depending on the size. I like using the double pointed needled for making the leaves because I think it gives the finished knitted succulent a cleaner look. Knitting in the round is fun.
I decided to make 6 of the large leaves, 6 of the medium leaves, and 6 of the small leaves. These will all come together to make the knitted succulent during assembly.
assembly
The last step of the process is assembling all the leaves together. The brown square will act as the base to attach the knitted leaves. I started by attaching the smaller leaves in the center. Creating a circle of small leaves to represent where the seed would have started. Like a core.
Then I built up the plant by adding the medium leaves around the smaller core. And the large leaves were placed around the outside to really emulate the plant. I guess that as plants grow, the new sprouts come from the inside pushing the older leaves to the outside
I took my flowerpot and filled it with the poly fiber filling to give the plan a base to sit on. Then I just tucked the brown square into the pot and tried to hide the edges inside. The knitted succulent was placed in the center of the flowerpot.
Reflections
I’m glad I found a way to preserve the memory of the plant even if the plant is gone. I really wish I was better at taking care of plants but until then, I think a knitted succulent might be all I am capable of handling.
The project itself was enjoyable to do and relatively easy. While there was a bunch of smaller parts, they were all quick to make and I would easily make a couple every time I sat down to watch a show. It was a surprisingly pleasant way to pass the time.
Lessons
What is Knitting in the Round?
Knitting in the round is a very popular way of knitting that I think a lot of people mis up for crocheting. For this type of project, you will need double pointed needles because the yarn will be coming on one end and coming off of the other. Typically, knitting in the round requires three or more needles.
The project I did only needed the minimum of three, but I have done projects with seven needles before. That was a beast. Projects knitted in the round will only ever go in one direction and you don’t turn it onto the bad side because the project naturally wraps around on itself.
Quick Recipe
Knitted Succulent
Equipment
- 1 Pair US Size 6 Needles
- 3 US Size 6 Double Pointed Needles
Materials
- 1 Skein Green Yarn
- 1 Skein Brown Yarn
- 1 Plant Pot
- Poly Fiber Fill
Instructions
Dirt
- CO25
- Row 1 – 6: K25
- Row 7: K25
- Row 8: P2, K21, P2
- Repeat Rows 7 – 8 for 28 more rows
- Row 37 – 42: K25
- BO25
Small Leaf (6)
- CO4, divide over two needles (2 on each needle)
- Row 1: *INC1 * Repeat *-* 4 times. (8 stitches, 4 on each needle)
- Row 2: K8
- Row 3: *INC1, K1* Repeat *-* 4 times (12 stitches, 6 on each needle)
- Row 4 – 5: K12
- Row 6: *K1, K2tog, K2tog, K1*, Repeat *-* (8 stitches, 4 on each needle)
- Row 7: K8
- Row 8: *K2tog*, Repeat *-* 4 times (4 stitches, 2 on each needle)
- Pull tail through remaining stitches
Medium Leaf (6)
- CO4, divide over two needles (2 on each needle)
- Row 1: *INC1 * Repeat *-* 4 times. (8 stitches, 4 on each needle)
- Row 2: K8
- Row 3: *INC1, K1* Repeat *-* 4 times (12 stitches, 6 on each needle)
- Row 4 – 5: K12
- Row 6: *INC1, K3, INC1, K1*, Repeat *-* 2 times (16 stitches, 8 on each needle)
- Row 7 – 9: K16
- Row 10: *K1, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K1*, Repeat *-* 2 times (12 stitches, 6 on each needle)
- Row 11 – 12: K12
- Row 13: *K1, K2tog, K2tog, K1*, Repeat *-* 2 times (8 stitches, 4 on each needle)
- Row 14: K8
- Row 15: *K2tog*, Repeat *-* 4 times (4 stitches, 2 on each needle)
- Pull tail through remaining stitches
Large Leaf (6)
- CO8, divide over two needles (4 on each needle)
- Row 1: *INC1, K1* Repeat *-* 4 times. (12 stitches, 6 on each needle)
- Row 2: K12
- Row 3: *INC1, K3, INC1, K1* Repeat *-* 2 times(16 stitches, 8 on each needle)
- Row 4 – 5: K16
- Row 6: *INC1, K5, INC1, K1*, Repeat *-* 2 times (20 stitches, 10 on each needle)
- Row 7 – 9: K20
- Row 10: *K1, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K1*, Repeat *-* 2 times (16 stitches, 8 on each needle)
- Row 11 – 12: K16
- Row 13: *K1, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K1*, Repeat *-* 2 times (12 stitches, 6 on each needle)
- Row 14: K12
- Row 15: *K1, K2tog, K2tog, K1*, Repeat *-* 2 times (8 stitches, 4 on each needle)
- Row 16: *K2tog*, Repeat *-* 4 times (4 stitches, 2 on each needle)
- Pull tail through remaining stitches