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.

Stash busting- super fast cowl with fantastic buttons

I am still on a stash busting kick, most especially clearing the small quantities- part balls and one or two 50g balls. This cowl is made using the Baby Cable Rib neckwarmer pattern by Kerry Moorhouse using Sirdar hug in a blue/light grey colourway. I added an extra cable repeat to make it a little deeper.
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It was a very fast knit, I made it in the car on the way to and from a Landrover show, probably not more than two hours.
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The colour is somewhere between the two pictures in real life. It is a great pattern and fairly nice yarn- the colour is good and it is quite soft, it is a singles yarn and little underspun in places which can make sewing on buttons tricky, I added a little extra twist before I threaded it onto the needle. The whole thing used less than 50g of yarn.
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The buttons are my favourite thing about this FO, it is meant to be going in the stock gift pile but I may have to keep it just because of the buttons, or I could buy more buttons!
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