May Flowers: Thursday

May Flowers: Wednesday

May Flowers: Tuesday

A Week of May Flowers: Monday

I always think it's amazing how the garden leaps into life in spring, especially in May.

Violas

I thought it would be fun to make a short string of simple small flowers to use as a spring decoration. I had in mind something small-scale and understated, in soft spring colours.
I used the crocheted Viola pattern from 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet and made a dozen, joining the flowers together as I went, making the join at the point of finishing off each flower. This flower is a bit fiddly to make, but after the first few I found I was getting through them quite quickly.
Some leaves at either end enhance the flowers, and serve as a connection between the garland and the chain ends.

I intended it to hang swag-style from a shelf, but when it was finished I thought something like this could also be used as an edging for something, a runner for example. Click on the photos to see the detail.

I used all 4 ply weight yarns of various brands and a 2.50mm hook.

Hope you're enjoying the spring!

Quick Chicks

I just had time to knit some Easter chicks from this pattern by the very clever Barbara Prime. These are so quick to make. Go and knit yourself a spring chick!

More Flowers

This is my version of the popular round crocheted cushion that's been seen on several blogs recently. I used the pattern from the Complete Guide to Knitting and Crochet, but changed the edging and found a different flower pattern to adorn the centre. The leaves are my own improvisation.
I've found that circular cushion pads are difficult to find, at least where I live (a cultural desert!), so I modified a square one instead.
I used Rowan Pure Wool Aran for the cushion and scraps of dk for the flowers.

Talking of flowers, I must mention this book.

I don't know when I've been so excited to get a new book as I was when this one arrived. I knew last year that it was going to be published, and had it pre-ordered. What would we do without Amazon?
There are patterns for both knitted and crocheted flowers in the book, which is nice if you do both these crafts. The ones I've tried here are all crocheted, in either dk or 4 ply.

All the patterns I've tried turned out well, although some are more complicated than others, and do require some concentration!

Some of them are quite ingenious in the way they are made. The forget-me-nots are a case in point (the bunch of 3). If you try them you'll see what I mean. The other blue one is amazingly simple but very effective. The pansy was definitely complicated.

The butterfly is one of 3 different ones from the book, of which I thought this was the nicest one.

I'm not sure what I'll do with them all, but it's quite nice to have a few flowers put aside for attaching to different things as and when. The main thing is it's fun to try them out!

Another time I'll show you some of the knitted flowers from the book.