Welcome to Week 2 of my Pura Vida crochet-along. I’m so excited for this part which is all about the butterflies! 🦋🦋🦋
Yes… we have 10 butterflies to crochet!
The Blue Morpho butterfly is native to Costa Rica and is simply stunning. Nature at its very finest in terms of beauty… 🦋
My son saw them in the wild when he was in Costa Rica but never quite managed a photo… I can imagine they would be difficult to capture as they flutter by in a flash! 😃
I visited the Sussex Butterfly Gardens which is a little closer to home than Costa Rica and got the chance to see some in real life. It was incredible to see these beautiful creatures up close…
Creating butterflies in crochet is a lot of fun and we’re making 10 butterflies for our Pura Vida Blankets.
But you can always make more and attach them onto all kinds of things! 🦋
And here’s a little round-up of photos shared this week over in my Coastal Crochet Facebook Group and also on Instagram and Ravelry too…
Thank you all for sharing! It’s great to see people’s progress… 😍
As well as the butterflies this week, we have some shell stitches resembling the colours from a toucan, plus many rows of relaxing trebles (US double crochets) to create a background for our butterflies… enjoy! 💚💛💚💛
So let’s get started with our crochet!
For those of you who have purchased the pattern on Ravelry it has now been updated to include Week 2:
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pura-vida-blanket
The free pattern is below.
To Work
Please see Week 1 for all the abbreviations and introductory information about this blanket.
Is that a flash of yellow from a toucan we can see? And let’s set the scene for some butterfly spotting later…
Row 32 (RS) 3ch, 1tr in next st and each st to end, join with Yarn E at end of final st, turn.
Row 33 (WS) 1ch (does not count as st), 1dc in first st, *miss 2 sts, 5tr in next st, miss 2 sts, 1dc in next st, repeat from * to end, join with Yarn G at end of final st, turn. [24 shells]
Row 34 3ch, 1tr in blo of next st, 1htr in blo of next st, 1dc in blo of next st, 1htr in blo of next st, 1tr in blo of next st, *miss next st instead working 1dtr into same st it is worked into 2 rows below, 1tr in blo of next st, 1htr in blo of next st, 1dc in blo of next st, 1htr in blo of next st, 1tr in blo of next st, repeat from * until final st, 1tr in final st, turn. [145 sts]
Row 35 3ch, 1tr in next st and each st to end, join with Yarn J at end of final st, turn.
Row 36 3ch, 1tr in next st and each st to end, join with Yarn F at end of final st (do not cut Yarn J, leave it attached ready to be re-joined later), turn. [145 sts]
Row 37 No turning chain, 1ss in first st, (1tr in next st, 1ss in next st) to end, fasten off Yarn F, do not turn.
Row 38 (WS) Go back to beginning of Row 37, insert hook into first ss and pick up Yarn J, 3ch, 1tr in next st and each st to end, turn. [145 sts]
Row 39 (RS) 3ch, 1tr in next st and each st to end, turn.
Rows 40 – 49 Repeat Row 39 ten times joining with Yarn F at end of Row 49 (do not cut Yarn J, leave it attached ready to be re-joined later), turn. [145 sts]
Row 50 No turning chain, 1ss in first st, (1tr in next st, 1ss in next st) to end, fasten off Yarn F, do not turn.
Row 51 (WS) Go back to beginning of Row 50, insert hook into first ss and pick up Yarn J, 3ch, 1tr in next st and each st to end, join with Yarn A at end of final st, turn. [145 sts] Remove hook from loop and insert a stitch marker to secure it whilst working on the Butterflies.
The Blue Morpho Butterfly! Such a stunning butterfly seen fluttering through the forest…
Butterfly (Make 10)
Central body of butterfly (thorax)
Using Yarn C make 11ch, 1htr in second ch from hook and in each of next 9 ch to end, fasten off by bringing the ball of yarn through the final loop and leave it attached ready to be re-joined later for the edging. [10 sts]
Top Left Wing
Half Treble stitches are unique in that they have 3 loops/strands at the top of the stitch. When making the left wings make sure that you are inserting your hook into just the one very back loop only which sits towards the back of the work. This ensures that two loops remain to the front of the work to give the butterfly a neat centre.
Row 1 (RS) Join Yarn D into blo of first htr made in central body, 4ch (counts as first dtr), 2dtr in same place, 1dtr in blo of next st, 1tr in blo of next st, 1htr in blo of next st, 1dc in blo of next st, leave remaining sts unworked, turn. [7 sts]
Row 2 (WS) 1ch (does not count as st), 1dc in first st, 1htr in next st, 1tr in next st, 2tr in next st, 2dtr in next st, 2tr in next st, miss final st which is the top of the 4 ch, turn. [9 sts]
Row 3 2ch (does not count as st), 1htr in first st, 1htr in next st, 2htr in next st, 1htr in each of next 2 sts, 1dc in each of next 4 sts, fasten off. [10 sts]
Bottom Left Wing
Row 1 (RS) Join Yarn H into blo of 6th htr made in central body next to bottom of top left wing made, 4ch (counts as first dtr), 1dtr in same place, 1tr in blo of next st, 1htr in blo of each of next 2 sts, 1dc in blo of next st, turn. [6 sts]
Row 2 (WS) 2ch (counts as first htr), 1htr in first st, 1tr in each of next 3 sts, 2tr in next st, miss final st which is the top of the 4 ch, fasten off. [7 sts]
Bottom Right Wing
When making the wings on the right insert your hook into the starting chains made in the central body at the base of the htr sts.
Row 1 (RS) Keep RS facing and rotate butterfly so second bottom wing can be made on opposite side of centre. Join Yarn H into base of the 10th htr of the 10 htr sts made in central body, 1ch (does not count as st), 1dc in same place, 1htr in base of each of next 2 sts, 1tr in base of next st, 2dtr in base of next st, turn. [6 sts]
Row 2 (WS) 3ch (counts as first tr), 1tr in first st, 1tr in each of next 3 sts, 1htr in each of next 2 sts, fasten off. [7 sts]
Top Right Wing
Row 1 (RS) Join Yarn D into base of 5th htr of the 10 htr sts made in central body next to top of bottom right wing made, 1ch (does not count as st), 1dc in same place, 1htr in base of next st, 1tr in base of next st, 1dtr in base of next st, 3dtr in base of next st, turn. [7 sts]
Row 2 (WS) 3ch (counts as first tr), 1tr in first st, 2dtr in next st, 1tr in each of next 3 sts, 1htr in next st, 1dc in next st, turn. [9 sts]
Row 3 1ch (does not count as st), 1dc in each of first 4 sts, 1htr in each of next 2 sts, 2htr in next st, 1htr in each of next 2 sts (the final st is the top of the 3 ch made at start of Row 2), 2ch, ss in top of same 3 ch, fasten off. [10 sts]
Edging and Antennae
With RS facing insert hook into the central body of the butterfly at the bottom and re-join Yarn C. Make 1 ch, work 2 dc sts evenly across bottom of bottom right wing, make 1ch, continue with 1ss in blo of each of the 7 sts along the side of bottom right wing, work 3ss round to place on bottom wing where it meets the top right wing, 1ss in blo of each of the 10 sts along the side of top right wing, at top of wing make 2 ch, work 7 dc evenly across top of top right wing to central body, 1ss in centre of body at top, (to make the antennae make 3 ch, 1ss in 2nd ch from hook and next ch, make another 3 ch, 1ss in 2nd ch from hook and next ch, ss back into centre of body), now continue with 7 dc sts evenly across top left wing, make 2 ch at top corner of wing, 1ss in blo of each of next 10 sts going down side of top left wing, work 3ss along top edge of bottom left wing, 1ss in blo of each of next 7 sts along the side of bottom left wing, make 1ch, finish with 2 dc sts evenly across bottom of wing, ss to first ch to join, fasten off.
The butterflies will benefit from blocking. Sew 5 butterflies onto Part 3 of the blanket using Yarn C to sew them into place using photo as a guide. Save 5 butterflies for later in the blanket.
Pura Vida and Happy Crocheting… 💚
