The “worst” bit of doing classes at The Wool Haven is seeing all the new yarn coming into the shop. The levels of self-control I have to muster to control my purchases is incredible.
One range that appeared around Christmas was the West Yorkshire Spinners Florist Collection. I was doing well at resisting temptation until I was shown The Perfect Bouquet pattern book that went with it.
I’m not sure why but I have a thing for crocheting flowers, I think I like the maths of the shape making (no don’t yawn). It also helps that these are each small projects which I can use to break up bigger pieces of work.
Over the last few months I’ve bought most of the colour range, excluding Lisianthus & English Rose which are respectively too orange and pink for my taste.
I’ve pottered my way through the book working on flowers in no particular order. Obviously I’m not going to write out the patterns here but instead comment on how easy/difficult each flower was.
English Rose
Worked in Honeysuckle (not English Rose) & Hydrangea.
I did these first as it was a similar design to flowers I’ve made previously. I think they would also look nice in Sweet Pea, Foxglove, Honeysuckle & Peony.
Dusty Miller
Worked in Dusty Miller.
This was not a plant I had heard of previously. The pattern itself is simple, lots of doubling back on chains, however it’s layout within the pattern book is confusing as it is one big block of text. I found it easier to work once I had written it out in sections allowing me to keep track of where I was.
Forget-me-not
Worked in Forget-Me-Not & Gypsophila
The first cluster flower I tried out of the book, probably takes as long sewing it together as crocheting the parts. I plan to try these with Cornflower too.
Honeysuckle
Worked in Honeysuckle, Foxglove & Hydrangea.
I think it could be interesting to see how these looks with groups of flowers minus the leaves.
Violet
Worked in Delphinium, Violet & Hydrangea
Again could be nice to see clusters of flowers with leaves. This pattern has a very nice leaf style.
Cornflower
Worked in Cornflower, Dusty Miller & Gypsophila
A really easy flower to make, the stamen worked quite effectively. I’m going to try these with Forget-me-not for the main flower with Cornflower stamen
Delphinium
Worked with Delphinium, Honeysuckle (instead of Sweet Pea) & Hydrangea
I swapped to Honeysuckle as I thought it would make a more striking contrast. This is another flower I want to replicate in spikes, in a variety of colours.
Again I loved how these leaves were formed.
Foxglove
Worked in Foxglove, Honeysuckle and Hydrangea
Probably one of the fiddliest makes but I am so happy with it.
Sweat Pea
Worked with Sweet Pea, Peony & Hydrangea
This is the make that stops Foxglove being the most fiddly with two 3 stitch i-cords. I’m not sure it captures the delicacy of a Sweet Pea but I still think it’s pretty. I may try again with Violet & Delphinium and also Forget-me-not & Cornflower.
Peony
Worked in Peony, Sweet Pea & Hydrangea.
Not one of my favourite flowers but I think an effective pattern. I might try it with Violet & Delphinium and Foxglove & Honeysuckle
Lisanthius
Worked in Violet (replacing Lisiamnthus & Dusty Miller) & Gypsophila
Going to try this in Honeysuckle & Foxglove and Sweet Pea & Peony
Hydrangea
Worked in Peony, Sweet Pea & Gypsophila. Another cluster flower, I think I may stuff it slightly next time to get more of the ball shape.
The stem pattern calls for double crochet around folded craft wire, as I plan to use these as embellishments I didn’t want to use wire. Instead I crocheted a chain using a double thickness of yarn to the right length and double crocheted around that securing each end with a double crochet in the chain end.
Gypsophila
Worked in Gypsophila and Dusty Miller.
I replaced the craft wire with a double thickness chain same as for Hydrangea.
Now I’ve finished writing these up, I appear to have a to do list twice as long as the one I started with. It’s a good job I really enjoy doing these.
