Using Embroidery to Decorate the Entrelec Easter Egg

I haven't had a lot of time to work on my projects, as I'm still in the middle of knitting my first-ever baby sweater for my nephew and his wife's soon-expected little one ... BUT I tried to hurry up and decorate one of the entrelac Easter eggs to show some of the simple stitches that can make these eggs as beautiful as Faberge eggs!

I used DMC perle cotton (number 5) in a chain stitch for the border; a bullion rose for the center; and two lazy-daisy stitches for the leaves. Easy peasy!

The eggs make great little canvases for testing out new stitches, too. Try a different stitch for every triangle's border ... or choose the diamond-shapes, instead, to outline. There are loads of great things you could put in the centers ... from crosses and doves ... to spring-time favorites like lady bugs and butterflies.

The Entrelac Easter Egg Experiment!

Entrelac Easter eggs with closed tops.

Entrelac Easter egg with open top

If you've ever wanted to experiment with knitting entrelac in the round -- and decreasing as you go -- then this easy knitted/felted entrelac Easter egg is just for you! And this is how it all started ...

You see, I thought it would be fun to experiment with knitting entrelac in the round. So, I gathered my materials and headed to the internet and my book shelves for a few entrelac instructions. No, believe it or not, I'd never tried to do it before. Oh, there were lots and lots of videos and websites and sections in my knitting books regarding the technique of knitting entrelac ... but most were knitted flat. There were a few references that stated it was, indeed, possible to knit entrelac in the round, but then there really weren't sufficient directions to do so. The first couple of times I tried it, I must have picked up stitches in the wrong way, because I came up with cute, little concave pieces that resembled little hoods. (I wrote these wrong directions down for myself to make note of; however, as they could come in handy when making a little doll's hood later!) The best description I found was by Eunny Lang on the Interweave Knitting Daily website and you can download it for free. Even this, though, did not answer all my questions ... in particular, how to decrease as I went along.

All of the patterns and directions reminded me of my great-grandmother's recipe collection. My father confided that if anyone ever asked my great-grandmother for one of her delicious recipes, she'd purposely leave something out so that it could never be prepared just like hers! WELL, each of the entrelac "recipes" left something out so that the technique seemed much more difficult than it really is.

It's my hope that this little egg will get you well on your way to loving entrelac -- and don't worry about any gaps or little mistakes -- they'll melt away in the wash! One of the best parts? From start to finish, this little egg takes less than two hours!

There are two ways to finish the top ... either with live stitches left after finishing the entrelac section, or binding it off as you finish for an open top (perfect for stuffing with a little Easter grass and jelly beans). Visit The Pattern Box for the free pdf download!

Getting ready to pick up the first set of stitches from the base triangles. Be sure to use the right-hand needle and pick up from tip to base.

Continuing with the first rectangle round.

Before Felting