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Butterfly-inspired Crochet Project
Chart is also suitable for Cross stitch, Knitting, Needlepoint, Quilt Blocks


Designed by Sandi Marshall, April 1997

Items that we crochet
are often a celebration
of the life around us.

We crochet about the things that we most enjoy in life. Sometimes this includes favorite nature subjects. Butterflies are an example of creatures that leave many of us with a sense of wonder at the delicate beauty and vast variety of butterfly families.

Although many butterfly species are abundant and in no way in danger of extinction, other species are scarce and have been classified as endangered species.

Let's pay tribute to this dazzler from nature with a special project.

The following chart is the first in a series. Each will feature a different butterfly species.

Crochet along with me...

...when we're finished, we'll each have an afghan to treasure, a tribute to the world of butterflies that we so enjoy.

Zebra Swallowtail Chart

Crocheting an Afghan Square from This Chart

Materials
Worsted weight acrylic yarn: 1 oz. white, 1 oz. black,
small amounts red and royal blue

Size G crochet hook

Gauge: 4 stitches = 1 inch, 4 rows = 1 inch

Apprx. size of each finished square = 10 inches

Note: At the end of each row, you will chain 1, to turn.

Directions

(The square is worked entirely in single crochet, changing colors according to the chart.)
With white yarn, chain 41.
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in ea ch across. (40 sc)
Rows 2 & 3: sc in ea st across.
Row 4: Begin chart at first row on the chart (plain row).
Rows 5 - 37: Continue to follow chart.
After completing all rows on the chart:
Rows 38 - 40: With white yarn, sc in ea st across.
End off.

Finishing
Using a straight stitch, with black yarn or embroidery floss, embroider antennae as indicated in blue on the chart.

Butterfly chart and afghan square pattern copyright 1997 by Sandi Marshall, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Free for your own personal use only (allowing for not-for-profit, noncommercial uses of my design and finished items which include my design within the item).
Do not distribute reproduced copies of this chart or pattern (with or without charge) in any form. All rights reserved worldwide.

Note: To print out the chart and pattern only, without printing the rest of the feature, go here.

Another way is to crochet the square entirely in the background color in single crochet (or in afghan stitch) and then, with yarn, using a large-eye needle, cross-stitch the butterfly design on, following the chart, in the indicated yarn colors. This photo shows the chart done as cross stitch on a crocheted single crochet background.

Although the Dark Zebra Swallowtail is a common butterfly, the


Jamaican Kite Swallowtail
or Zebra Swallowtail,

also known as Eurytides Marcellus, which is the type we are crocheting, is classified as Vulnerable in the Red Data Book of Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World.

Artists and photographers preserve the image of the zebra swallowtail butterfly on canvas and on film.
Furman University Collection, Butterfly WebSite

We'll be preserving the image of this species with yarn and a crochet hook.

Enjoy the beginning of creating your butterfly afghan!

The 09/27/97 Feature gives links to all the charts in this butterfly series.

This feature is copyright 1997 by Sandi Marshall, licensed to About.com, Inc.

URL of this page is http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa042697.htm

Questions about copyright? See:
http://whatiscopyright.org - see section: "Copyrights and the Internet"
Copyright Info, Regarding Patterns
United States Copyright Office

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