Crochet flower pattern

I needed to make some flowers, and having done a few knitted ones that took ages decided it was time to get my crochet on!

I learnt to crochet first, but I think I am much better at knitting, I am never totally sure where to poke the hook. I also forget what each instruction means. 

Having decided to do the flowers crochet style I tried to find a pattern, but couldn't find one I liked/could follow and in the end just made it up as I went along. Then I thought I would share it with you lovely folks, so here it is, apologies for any writing up/terminology errors, this is the first crochet pattern I have attempted.

You will need:
Yarn, I used DK and 4 ply held double but any size you have. This a great project for using up scraps and ends of balls. Colours for the petals, green for the leaf.
Hook, size to suit your yarn, I used a 3.5mm for the DK yarn
4mm knitting needles for leaves if making
Button or felt circle for the centre
Brooch back (optional)

I have not counted the chain on each round as a stitch and they worked out nicely, I think this may relate to my previously mentioned issue of not knowing where to poke the hook. If your hook pokage is rockstar feel free to count the chain as a stitch.

UK crochet terms are used

Large flower:
Chain 6 and join to form a ring
Chain 2, 12 tr into ring, ss into chain to join
Chain 2, 2 tr into each stitch of previous round, ss into chain to join
Chain 2, 1 tr into 1st stitch of round below, two into second stitch. Repeat this around. ss into chain to join
1sc, 1tr, 2dtr into one stitch twice, 1tr, 1sc. Repeat 6 times around, ss to join and finish off by pulling yarn through and sewing in ends.


Small flower:

Chain 6 and join to form a ring

Chain 2, 12 tr into ring, ss into chain to join

Chain 2, 2 tr into each stitch of previous round, ss into chain to join 

1 sc, 1 tr and 1 dtr into one stitch, 1dtr and 1tr into one stitch, sc. Repeat 6 times around, ss to join and finish of by pulling yarn through and sewing in ends.

Leaf:
To make the leaves I used the L e a v e s pattern given by RobinHill here. Make the leaf big enough to poke out from behind the flowers (for the DK flowers I did about 5 increase rows).

Block flowers if desired (I didn't) and sew small flower onto large flower. sew leaf to back and use yarn tail to fix button or felt circle to centre. Sew on brooch back if using.

If you spot any mistakes, would like any more info or find this completely unintelligible please let me know and I will attempt to fix it.

FO Friday- My favourite finished object ever

This is going to be a longish post, with many photos. The FO for today is, as the title says, my favourite FO ever. It is my Niece's Christmas present, and has been a long time in the making.
s
I wanted to make her a doll, but a normal looking playmate, not a fancy doll with curly hair and a frilly dress. I started with the pattern Maggie Beans & Friends by Nancy Anderson, it is a great pattern, but I made a few changes (of course). After the neck I worked the body with raglan shaping, it gave a better body shape than going round in circles and meant that I could knit the arms on, rather than knitting arms tubes and sewing them on. This makes the doll a bit more robust, she is for playing with, not looking at!
s
The raglan shaping meant there was a row of holes along the increase lines, because of this I put the body stuffing and the plastic tube for the neck inside the foot part of a stocking before it went into the body.
s
I was going to knit the legs on from the body, but couldn't get that to work, so I grafted the body closed. Then used a tapestry needle to work loops of skin colour going through the body and over a knitting needle. The legs were worked from these stitches, so they are firmly attached too. (there is a slightly blurry photo of this on my Ravelry project page). I am pleased with the end result of this. Not only are they firmly attached they swing nicely from the join, means she can sit easily and looks like she is moving rather than being all stiff (that is hard to describe, hopefully you know what I mean).
s
For the hair I used slightly larger needles and brown yarn and followed the instructions for the head. At fringe level I cast off enough for the fringe and worked back and forth across the stitches to make the rest of the hair for the back of the head. Originally this was going to be a base for looping strands of hair, but I like it as it was and hopefully this will limit the chances of dolly (she is unnamed as yet) getting a haircut! Strands could still be added at a later date.
s
Yarn wise she is a scrap and bargain bin wonder. The flesh colour came from a bargain bin, not sure what it is, Rowan of some sort I think, it may even have a little cashmere in it, it is very soft. One 50g ball was enough to make the head arms and legs. The body is made with some Patons smoothie. I am not keen on this yarn, it is very splitty. Hair and all her clothing were made from leftover scraps of yarn and fabric from other projects.
s
Here she is:
s
s
With some clothes:
s

s

She has a fairly extensive wardrobe already, hence the large number of photos.

s

Red beanie using leftovers from a cardigan
s

s
Garter stitch scarf from literally the tiniest scraps of my charity knitting yarn

s

s
Dress, this maxed out my sewing skills. It is more or less reversible, so technically two dresses for the price of one (the inside is navy blue).
s

s
Woolly jumper, already shared as a scrap down this week, appropriately made from leftovers from a raglan jumper knitted this time last year.
s

s
Very simple t shirt. Jersey fabric is good as it doesn't need hemming and the extra stretch should make it easier to put on.

She also now has some underwear made from the same fabric as it was the only jersey I had and attempts to use white cotton failed miserably. I was not going to make underwear as I thought the white body counts as knickers/pants/panties and a T-shirt, but it seems underwear is the current in thing in the land of the two year old. I had already taken all the photos by the time I made them though.
s

s
Simplest skirt in the world- rectangle with funky selvage, sewn into a tube and a hem at the top to hold a length of elastic
s

s
Trousers made from a fabric scrap, these gave me a little trouble as my first attempt just using two rectangles sewn at the sides and a v of stitching part way up the centre didn't work. I ended up with two rectangles with a smaller rectangle cut out from the middle top. These were sewn into tubes then the two tubes fixed together along the crotch. More elastic and a waistband to make sure they stay on.

s

s
Itty bitty socks, just using a usual sock pattern worked over 30sts and about 20 rows for the leg and foot parts. Very fast to make (compared to a normal adult sock).
s

s
And finally tiny shoes. I used a 4 ply sock yarn and followed the smallest size of Saartje's Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn. By sheer coincidence they fit perfectly. Only one strap instead of two and a popper to fix it, making the smallest mary jane shoes ever! I did try to find some welly boots online, but no joy
s

s
Only one set of hat decreases and the Christmas knitting is finished! Just waiting on the bought items to be delivered now, surely that is the wrong way round, isn't the point of buying rather than knitting that it is faster?!

Scrap down Saturday

I am doing an experiment with Blogger posting in advance and setting the time and dates for it to appear when I want it to. So if this works, hello from yesterday morning!

s

Thought I would share my latest attempt to use up leftover ball ends (snort, that sounds rude!). This little chap is leftovers from the Super alpaca flip top mittens shown yesterday as a FO. The pattern is Knitted bunny by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer; it is like magic, you make a square, and turn it into a bunny body, add ears and a tail and you have this:

s