Curious and Crafty Readers

Please join us in making a Fern leaf for February’s Crochet-Along!

Readers have adopted the Fern leaf (on pages 110-111) as one of their favorite patterns in Crochet Bouquet. (The other favorite is the Plain Pansy.)

The Fern is one of my favorites, too. Once you figure out how it works, the Fern is fairly easy to make. You can add leaflets or picots to alter its size and shape, as I did for this Christmas Tree Mat.

The Fern is a bunch of crocheted bumps or picots, separated by chain stitches or slip stitches. You begin at the base of the leaf, then

Following the pattern, work a series of chains and picots. When you have three picots right next to each other, you’ll know you are at the tip of the first leaflet (see inside the black box in Photo 1).

Work back along the chain you just made, slip stitching in each chain st, and making a picot across from each previous picot. Don’t sl st all the way to the end, because that’s part of the main stem. (Photo 2)

Continue making leaflets in this way. The fourth leaflet is one picot pair shorter than the first three. Now you have essentially worked “up” one side of the fern, as in Photo 3..

The top of the fern is three very short leaflets all clustered together as you see inside the pink box in Photo 4.

For the second half of the fern, you crochet the leaflets as you did before, but instead of chaining between the leaflets, you slip stitch down the center stem. (Photo 5)

When you’re done, you will have worked down the other side, and ended back at the base of the leaf.

There are many ways to make a picot (proinounce it PEEKoh). For our Fern, make a picot like this: ch 3, sl st into the third chain from the hook. When the pattern says “ch 3, sl st picot” that means you “chain 3, chain 3, slip stitch into third chain from hook.”

The pattern has lots of information to help you figure out where you are on the leaf. However, if you find this information distracting, copy out the instructions on a piece of paper, leaving out the extra words. See this post for a more details on copying out patterns.

For Rounds 4 and 5 of the Poppy in Crochet Bouquet (pp. 65-66), switch to your petal color yarn. I’m using Opus 1 (with aloe and jojoba) by Zitron, and distributed in the US by Skacel.

In Round 4, your challenge is to correctly identify the second sl st of each petal. I orient myself with the long sc (from Rnd 3) between the petals. Once I find that, I know the next st is the first sl st of the petal, and voila! I insert the hook into the next st (the second sl st) for each petal of Round 4.

The photo shows Round 4 completed, and the blue arrow shows where to insert the hook for the first st of Rnd 5 (it is the second sl st of Rnd 4).

Before you begin Round 5, you need padding/gathering cords. The pattern says to cut six 6-inch lengths of yarn, but don’t do that!

Instead, cut six 12-inch (30cm) lengths of yarn. Fold each piece of yarn in half.

Follow the instructions until you get to the part that says, “begin working over one 6-inch length of yarn.”

Instead, insert your hook into the next stitch, in preparation for the sc. AND insert your hook into the fold of one 12-inch length of yarn. (Shown in photo.)

Finish the sc, catching the padding yarn in the stitch. (Shown in next photo.)

Continue crocheting as per the instructions, working over this double strand of yarn as you go. Stop crocheting over it after the last sc of the petal. For the next petal, pick up a new folded strand of yarn.

Now why, oh why, do we need this padding yarn? Here is a photo of the first completed petal of Round 5. It’s flat. But poppies aren’t flat. So pull the ends of the padding yarn to gather the petal (the blue arrow in the photo).

And guess what?! The petal isn’t flat anymore! Here you see the first petal from above and from the side.

I recommend that you finish crocheting all the petals first. Then tighten the padding threads. Once you are satisfied with the shape of the poppy, tie together the two ends of each padding thread in a square knot. In the photo, the light blue circle surrounds athe knot of padding cord ends.

Arrange the petals as described in the instructions: three petals to the front and three to the back. Use the ends to tack the petals in place. Probably you will feel you are having to overlap them quite a bit to get the desired effect. Finally, weave in the cut ends.

Watch for the next post, where we’ll finish the poppy center.

A member of the Crochet Bouquet Along group on Ravelry writes:

…i saw a wonderful crocheted flower and had to ask where it was from, turns out to be a pattern of yours and i would love to join this group and make one myself(with help!) x (the flower was a oriental poppy and looked quite hard to do?)

The Poppy on pp. 65-66 of Crochet Bouquet is more involved than many of the other flowers in the book, but if you break it into small steps, it’s definitely achievable.

The secrets of the Poppy’s success are:

• The padding threads introduced in Round 5, which we use to gather the petals, and
• The finishing touches for the Poppy center.

First, be sure the yarns you use for the center and the petals are the same weight. The center of an Oriental Poppy is usually dark or black. The petals are normally orange, pink, white, or red. You can use whatever colors you want!

So let’s start with the Poppy center. In the dark color, you make a chain loop. Round 1 is formed simply with single crochets into the chain loop as per the instructions.

In Round 2, you sc into the sts of Round 1, including six chain-3 spaces placed evenly around. In this photo you see Rounds 1 and 2 all done. The bumps are chain-3 spaces.

In Round 3, each chain-3 space from Round 2 has 12 stitches in it. It can get very crowded in that little chain-3 space, but just keep pushing the stitches back until you have room for all of them. These lobes are the beginning of the petals.

Between each lobe, make a single crochet stitch all the way down into the original ring.

The second photo shows Round 3 all finished. It ends with a needle join. Once you learn the needle join (shown on page 14 of Crochet Bouquet), you will want to use it all the time! It makes a lovely, bump-less join for any round of crochet.

I used a double strand of Cedifra’s Angora Merino (25g = 118m) with a size H (US) crochet hook for this Poppy center. Check back in a day or two for Rounds 4 and 5 of the Poppy.

This simple crocheted poppy is none other than the large “Fancy Five” on page 24 of Crochet Bouquet. While not exactly botanically correct, it gets the idea across.

If you want a more realistic poppy, try the one on pages 65-66 of Crochet Bouquet. The pattern is more involved, but well worth the time.

You will need

• Crochet Bouquet
• Pattern corrections (here)
• scraps of red and black yarn of the same weight
• a crochet hook appropriate for the size of yarn you are using (see pages 9-10 for guidance)
• a yard of metallic gold thread
• a round, black button for the flower center
• tapestry needle, thread to sew on button

1. With black yarn, crochet Rnd 1 of Large Fancy Five. Cut thread after the end of the round.
2. Join red yarn and work Rnd 2 (check corrections first!).
3. Darn in ends.
4. With metallic yarn, make three long stitches from the flower center toward the edge of each black “petal” as shown in photo.
5. Sew button at center of flower.

Stephanie Hatfield designed, knitted, and crocheted the garment that became the Grand Champion ribbon winner in the Taos Wool Festival Garment Competition.

The jacket, called “Reverie” after a poem by Emily Dickinson, glowed with the soft colors of bison wool yarn. The crocheted and knitted details keep the eye of the beholder coming back for more.

I am pleased and proud to tell you that the yoke of Stephanie’s jacket was covered with flowers and leaves from Crochet Bouquet. What a thrill it was to see the familiar Plain Pansy, Columbine, and Round Compound Leaves as embellishment on this masterwork.

Congratulations, Stephanie! And congratulations again! (She won the Reserve Grand Champion ribbon, too.)

Being a fan of flower fabric, I was happy to find this vintage pattern book, Doily Bouquet (Star Book No. 71, by American Thread Company).

The doily at the top right is made of flowers crocheted separately at first, and apparently joined as they are made.

For my own flower fabric, like the Roses Poncho (close-up below), I crochet all the flowers separately, pin them to a template, and sew them together with sewing thread.

I chuckled when I read the doily instructions. The designer obviously assumed some intelligence on the part of the crocheter, which is not so common nowadays:

“Work a 2nd daisy same as 1st daisy, joining it to 1st daisy as illustrated.”

Illustrated where? The only illustrations in the book are photos of the doilies. You’re on your own to figure out how to join the flowers.

I think it’s good for crocheters and other crafters to figure things out on their own. You have to think. You have to try various options to find the best one. The more you are forced to figure things out on your own, the more you improve as a crocheter.

That’s how crochet designers, teachers, and writers are made. Hurray!

What do you do, when you’re visiting Austin, Texas, and you’ve already had breakfast and it’s hours too early to shop or go to the library?

You visit the Texas Capitol, of course! It’s open early and late (hours here).

When your money is limited, the Capitol is a great place to go with friends or a date. If you go at night, you don’t even have to pay for parking, but I have to say that parking the Capitol Visitors’ parking garage is a bargain.

We walked all around the building, inside and out, enjoying the cooler morning temperatures and the light of the eastern sun on the pink granite walls.

We climbed as far as we could into the dome (only three floors) and looked down upon the terrazo floor. We marveled at the fancy architecture of this beautiful and beautifully-restored building.

In our wanderings, we came across a hallway where rows of chairs were stored against the walls. Five of them had needlepoint seats featuring Texas wildflowers. I have to share, because they’re so pretty, and it’s something you don’t normally see in the course of a visit to the Capitol.

When I was working on Crochet Bouquet, the wildflowers of Texas were a great inspiration to me. The “Fire Wheel” (pp. 83-84) is a Texas roadside flower that I always knew as “Indian Blanket.”

Have a look at the last picture of this post, and see how the needlepoint designer interpreted the Fire Wheel. Three Fire Wheels are close to the lower edge, barely to the right of center, one on top of the other–round, red flowers with yellow tips on the petals.

Decorative arts inspired me as well: embroidery, flowery chinaware, tin boxes with flowers on them, carvings, even wrapping paper. I love to see how other designers translate the essence of the flower to wood or stone, or to the flat surfaces of fabric, metal, or porcelain.

So there you have it. Inspiration may be anywhere—even, apparently, under the bottoms-of-state!

Our August Crochet Bouquet Along selection is the Crazy Eight (pp. 81-82 of Crochet Bouquet). It is a simple eight-petal flower, which is perfect to crochet in the eighth month.

The basic Crazy Eight is easy to crochet and then you can fancy it up with several options for trims and embellishments.

My favorite is the ‘Outline’ option on page 82.

First, crochet a large or small Crazy Eight. To make the outline, attach a contrasting yarn to a ch1-space of Rnd 1, as in this photo.

Now you outline each petal with sc, working up one side of the petal, over the top, and down the other side, where you find yourself at the next ch1-space of Rnd 1. When the instructions say to crochet around the dc, I find it easiest to fold the flower so that the dc is at the top. Then I crochet around the stitch itself.

When you get to the individual petal at the outside of the flower, you will be holding it sideways. You crochet around the ch4 (that means you insert your hook under the chain, not into it). Then sc into the tops of the treble stitches, sc down the ch4 at the other side of the petal, and continue toward the center of the flower, crocheting around the dc stitch or stitches.

Here’s the first petal finished and the second in progress. Crocheting around eight petals takes time, but the results are very nice!

The outlined Crazy Eights on the Flower Power Jeans (pp. 100-101 of Crochet Bouquet) are made with Aunt Lydia’s No. 10 Classic crochet cotton. I crocheted the ones pictured here with Brooks Farm Yarns’s Duet, a blend of mohair and wool.

The Gazania is a bright and interesting flower, native to South Africa. It is named after a Greek-born scholar named Theodorus of Gaza, who lived in the fifteenth century. He was a famed translator of famous Greek manuscripts into Latin. Among his translations was the work of the classical botanist Theophrastus. Plantzafrica speculates that the name may also be based on the Greek word for riches: gaza.

Let’s crochet the Gazania for our monthly crochet along. Gazanias come in many variations of yellow, orange, red, and an orange so deep it is almost brown. Choose these colors for a natural-looking Gazania, or indulge your fancy with the colors of your choice.

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The Knitting Nook in Wautauga (Fort Worth) is hosting a booksigning for Crochet Bouquet, and offering my knitted darts class twice in the next two weeks. Here are times and description:

Sweaters that fit well make people look better! Darts solve a number of fitting problems. Learn to identify fitting situations that call for darts, and how to measure and calculate for darts, and knit vertical and horizontal sample darts. Bring a sweater pattern you want to make, and we’ll discuss how to insert darts into the pattern.

Saturday, July 18, Booksigning 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Darts class 1-4 p.m.
Thursday, July 23, Booksigning 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Darts class 1-4 p.m.

The Knitting Nook
6601 Watauga Rd., Ste. 106
Watauga, TX 76148
Phone: 817-577-6305

Please visit Crochet Insider to find instructions for a bright doily made with flowers from Crochet Bouquet!

I tried several ways to put the flowers together, as you can see from the test pieces here.

I settled on the doughnut-shaped mat.

Why a doughnut shape? Because the many different types and textures of yarn make the surface of the mat uneven. The hole in the middle is so you can nestle in your vase or bowl, with no worries about it being wobbly!