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Oval Center Rose Tutorial

Sunday, August 14th, 2011

(This was originally published at Suzann’s Textilefusion, back when Curious and Crafty Readers washaving technical difficulties. It really belongs here, so here it is!)

My cousin Phyllis was paging through Crochet Bouquet, when she saw the Oval Center Rose on pages28-29. “Is this photographed at an angle, or does it really look like that?” she asked.

Yes, it does! It is photographed straight-on, and it really is oval, like so many of the stylized roses I seeon china, tin boxes, and other decorative objects.

The Oval Center Rose is our crochet along project for May. It starts with a round of single crochet(Photo 1). The lovely pink yarn is Universal Yarns Cotton Supreme.



The Rose starts going oval in Round 2 (Photo2), with graduated stitch heights. To give the flower alighter appearance, this round has ch-spaces between the stitches.

Photo 3 shows the last round of the oval center. The graduated stitch heights make the oval even longer.

Round 4 (Photo 4) sets up the petals of Round 5. The sc-sts between the ch-loops serve as anchor sts forRound 6.



In Photo 5, you see Round 5 finished, except for the final joining ch-st. It is worked around the first scof Rnd 4 (an anchor st). To do this, take the hook behind your work, insert it under the petal you justfinished. Now take the hook in front of the anchor sc, and back to the back under the next petal. Yarnover and draw the loop around the stitch and through the original loop on your hook.

Round 6 is where you add the final ruffly finish, worked in the back loops only. That’s what creates thesubtle outline around the stitches of Rnd 5. The first petal is different than the others, so check theinstructions.

To keep the petals from melding together on this last round, you ch 2, sl st around the anchor stitch, ch2, between the petals. Sometimes it’s easier to fold the flower at the anchor stitch, and sl st around itfrom the back, as in Photo 6. The plum circle surrounds the 2nd petal, and the hook is under the anchorstitch, to which the yellow arrow points.



At the end of Rnd 6, turn the flower to the back. Find the very first anchor stitch with the sl st around it.Insert your hook under the loops of this sl st, yoh, and complete another sl st. In Photo 7, you’re lookingat the back of the rose, and the hook is under the loops of the sl st around the first anchor st. All that’sleft to do is finish the final sl st, end off, and weave in the ends.

Tags: center, Crochet, Crochet Bouquet, crocheted, oval, rose, tutorialPosted in Crochet | Comments Off

Ray Flower Crochet-Along for November

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Four years ago this month, we visited beautiful Alpine, Texas. My husband drove and I sat in thepassenger seat, designing the Ray Flower (pages 31-32 of Crochet Bouquet). Next week, I’ll be goingto Alpine again. This time, it’s for a crochet and knitting afternoon and book-signing at theincomparable, independent Front Street Books.



It seems right to feature the Ray Flower in this month’s crochet along.

In the Ray Flower, you always work with only one yarn at a time, even though one row looks like itmay have two yarns going at once. These step-by-step photos show you how it’s done.

Colors alternate for four rounds of single crochet, in the center of the flower. Instead of cutting the colorafter each round, end it off but do not cut. Photo 1 shows Round 2, all finished and joined with a sl st. Iopened the last loop enough to slip the skein of yarn through it. Now it’s ready for the next round.

Photo 2 shows how it looks from the back after ending off, but not cutting for two rounds.



Photo 3 is the Ray Flower, with Round 5 completed.

For Round 6 (Photo 4), you fold Round 5 out of the way, so you can stitch in the skipped stitches ofRound 4.

Then you bring Round 5 back up and sc in the tops of its dc-sts, as in Photo 5.

Photo 6 shows Round 7 finished, except for the needle join. I love the needle-join, because you can’tsee where the round begins or endsÃ¢â‚¬â€very slick!



As you can see, I cut the yarn and pulled the last loop straight out of the top of the sc. The instructionssay to “needle-join to first st of rnd.” The first st of the round is a ch-st, indicated by the orange arrow.The yellow arrow shows where to insert the tapestry needle, after you have threaded the yarn end in it.

With a needle-join, you are following the path of the top loop of the stitch you are joining to. So youinsert the tapestry needle from the front, following the loop to the back, and then you insert the needleinto the top of the stitch you just finished crocheting. (Photo 7)



For sc, dc, and treble, you should catch two threads in the back, before you weave in the end in thedirection of the yellow arrow in Photo 8.

For a ch st, there’s only one loop to catch before you weave in; for a hdc you need to catch threethreads.

Look closely at Photo 8 to see the two threads the needle join catches.

For this sample of the Ray Flower, I used Lion Brand Yarns, LB Collection Cotton Bamboo. It’s softwith an attractive sheen.

Tags: CrochetBouquet, ray flower, tutorialPosted in Crochet | Comments Off

Ferns in February

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010



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 CrochetBouquet. (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 beginat the base of the leaf, then

Following the pattern, work a series of chains and picots. When you have three picots right next to eachother, 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 fromeach 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. Nowyou 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 inPhoto 4.



For the second half of the fern, you crochet the leaflets as you did before, but instead of chainingbetween 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: ch3, 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 youfind this information distracting, copy out the instructions on a piece of paper, leaving out the extrawords. See this post for a more details on copying out patterns.

Tags: Crochet, fern, tutorialPosted in Crochet | 2 Comments »

An Improvement to the Poppy Pattern

Monday, November 9th, 2009

For Rounds 4 and 5 of the Poppy in Crochet Bouquet (pp. 65-66), switch to your petal color yarn. I’musing 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 thelong 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 stof 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 lengthsof 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 ofyarn.”

Instead, insert your hook into the next stitch, in preparation for the sc. AND insert yourhook 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. Stopcrocheting 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 Round5. It’s flat. But poppies aren’t flat. So pull the ends of the padding yarn to gather the petal (the bluearrow in the photo).

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

I recommend that you finish crocheting all the petals first. Then tighten the padding threads. Once youare 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 theends to tack the petals in place. Probably you will feel you are having to overlap them quite a bit to getthe desired effect. Finally, weave in the cut ends.

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

Tags: Crochet, oriental, poppy, tutorialPosted in Crochet | 1 Comment »

Corrugated Leaf Tutorial

Friday, October 17th, 2008

The Corrugated Leaf in Crochet Bouquet is a variation on a leaf that was used in Irish Crochet lace. It’sa little tricky at first, so here are some diagrams to help you figure it out. Once you understand how itworks, you’ll be able to crank out these leaves without a second thought.

Stitch numbers and details are on pages 109-110 of Crochet Bouquet.



Start with a chain, which I’m going to call the ‘foundation chain.’

For the first row, begin by working across the foundation chain as you normally would. At the end ofthe foundation chain, chain 2, but DO NOT TURN.

Instead, rotate your work, so that your next stitches will be worked into the remaining loops of thefoundation chain. You’ll stop short of the end, which creates the tip of the leaf. The diagram aboveshows all these words in a picture. The dot is the beginning of the foundation chain.

For the second row, chain 2, and this time turn your work so that you will be working back across thestitches you just finished. This part of the row is shown on top, Steps 1 and 2 of the diagram below.

Once you’re back at the base of the leaf, chain 2 and rotate (Step 3 of diagram). Work the rest of therow on the other side of the leaf (Step 4 of diagram). The instructions have you stopping before youreach the end of the row, and this forms the points on each side of the leaf.

Repeat the second row until the leaf is just the size you want it. Each row goes on both sides of the leaf.

Leaves come in many colors, so don’t limit yourself to green. I love this red and green leaf, which didn’tmake it into the book. It is made with Judi & Co.Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Hand-Dyed Moonlight (100% Rayon,100yd/91m per spool).



Tags: corrugated, Crochet, CrochetBouquet, leaf, tutorialPosted in Crochet | Comments Off

Hello from Suzann

Welcome to Curious and Crafty Readers!

Please ask questions, make comments, and let us know about the projects you have made frommy books, Crochet Bouquet and Polymer Clay for Everyone, or any of the other designs I'vepublished through the years. And soon there will be a new book, Crochet Garden! Watch for it inMay 2012.

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