Knitted Flower Tutorial

You can crank up the cuteness factor of a simple baby hat in minutes with this quick and easy to make knitted flower. I added one to a hat I made for a friend recently and she said she was forever getting stopped by people asking where she got such a cute hat!
I've used it on several of my patterns over on Etsy and they are always good sellers. But you don't need to stop at hats.... add them to cardies, blankets, bags, purses, scarves, mittens... the possibilities are endless.

 

So, let's get started!  - you need oddments of double knit (light worsted in US, 8 ply in Australia) yarn and size 4mm (US size 6) needles.
Cast on 51sts and starting with a knit row, work 4 rows stocking stitch (stockinette)

5th Row: Knit 1, [cast off (that's bind off in US)  9sts] five times. You should have 6sts on your needle and your work should look like this!!

Cut the yarn, leaving a good length and thread it through the remaining stitches. Pull the yarn tight to draw them together and fasten yarn securely.

Still with me? Now we've got to make the centre of the flower. This is a fiddly little bit to make, but it only takes seconds and really makes that flower POP!
Using a contrasting yarn, cast on 2 stitches.
1st Row: Increase in both those stitches to make 4 stitches - this is where you start cursing if you've cast on too tight!
2nd, 3rd and 4th Rows - just plain knit every row.
5th Row: [K2together] twice ....... just 2 stitches left on your needle now, and almost done!
6th Row: K2together and fasten off.

See what I mean... its a teeny, weeny, fiddly little thing that you'll lose down the side of the sofa if you're not careful, but it's gonna make that flower look good!

Now, go back to the main bit of the flower and use one of those dangling ends to sew the two little ends so that the flower is circular (I hadn't done that yet in the last photo of the flower, I just placed the ends close together ... cheat!)

Now, unless you want a very open flower (and that's just fine if you do!) use that same yarn that's still on you needle (oops, do I hear you say you've cut it already...) and thread it across from one petal to the next, pulling them all in close together - still don't cut that yarn!!!

 Turn the flower over, 'cos that picture above is the wrong side of the flower and sew on the centre - you can just actually thread those green yarn ends to the back of the flower and tie them in a secure knot.

Now you are going to see why I wouldn't let you cut those yarn ends.... They're what you use to sew the flower to your hat/blanket/bag/or whatever!

If you're wondering why the yarn kept changing from white to cream, it's because I already have some photos for this tute on my laptop and couldn't be bothered to re-do them all.... lazeeeey!

If you want to make a larger flower for grown up size hats, super large totes etc, you've got two choices:
1. Use chunky yarn and very large needles.
2. Cast on extra stitches in multiples of 5, and then cast of one extra stitch, for each extra 5 that you added. So,... if you cast on 56, you'll K1, [cast of 10sts] 5 times...... if you cast on 61, you'll K1,[cast off 11sts] 5 times, and so on.
So, now I've been super kind and shared this with you, I'd like you to do something for me!! Post photos of the flowers you've made, and all the great things you've added them to on my Facebook page please!!! Thank you.