a pansy

This is National Crochet Month and also the month for St. Patrick's Day. Here's a very easy Irish crochet flower, a pansy.

I've been talking about a "rule of thumb" of increasing 6 sts around for each equivalent sc round. This flower, however, has the equivalent of 25 sts around at the end of the first round (instead of the 12 sts that would produce a circle at a dc height).

The flower begins essentially like the previous hotpads – with a chain loop. It also has chain spaces (in Round 1) to give the open look characteristic of Irish crochet.

Since there are only 2 rounds of crocheting, extra height for the petals is made through use of triple crochet sts (described in the last post). The first two petals are rounded with a progression from sc to hdc to dc to tr and then back. The other three petals are squarer with mostly triple crochets (or the equivalent).

The first picture shows the 5 spokes at the center of the flower plus 2 petals. The last sc of the second petal isn't finished for reasons that will become apparent -- with the second picture and the note at the end of the post.

The second picture shows the second petal finished (with blue) and one stitch in the new color to start the third petal.

Here's the pattern:

Pansy

I used a size 5 or F (3.75 mm) crochet hook and leftovers from a couple of balls of Peaches & Creme cotton yarn – worsted weight -- in yellow and blue. Yellow is the color for the center and the first 2 petals.

The flower is about 3 ½ " in diameter.

Instructions:
Ch 4. Join to form ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 7, * dc 1, ch 4 * 4x, join with slip stitch to 3rd st of ch 7. (5 spokes and 5 chain spaces)

Rnd 2: In each of the first 2 chain spaces work "sc 1, hdc 1, dc 1, tr 3, dc 1, hdc 1, sc 1". If desired, change color. In each of the remaining 3 chain spaces work "sc 1, ch 3, tr 2, dc 1, tr 2, ch 3, sc 1".

That's all there is to the pattern -- except for fastening off and weaving in the ends.

There are several ways to change colors. One way is to fasten off the old color and then start with the new. However, for the pansy, I changed colors by just starting to crochet with the new color.

For that method, for the last sc of the second petal, don't draw a loop of yellow through to complete the sc. Instead draw a loop of blue through. (The loop created when finishing a st is the top of the next st. This is shown in the second picture.) That is all there is to it. (One, of course, needs to weave in the ends. But, whatever technique you use, you'd need to do that.)

Note also: Just as the ch 3 (the first part of the ch 7 at the beginning of round 1) is a substitute for dc 1, "sc 1, ch 3" and "ch 3, sc 1" are substitutes for tr 1 (in the blue petals of round 2).