A Knitted Flower (with pattern)

I joined a swap on brooch swap on ravelry and has been trying my hands on making a knitted flower. This is my first knitted pattern! 😀

Materials
DK weight yarn
3.5mm needles (straight or circular, doesn’t matter)
Sewing needle
Sewing thread (matching colour as yarn)
Beads, pearls, buttons or sequins of your preference

Optional (if you’re making it into  a brooch):
small piece of felt
Safety pin or brooch pin

Abbreviations
CO – Cast on
k – knit
p – purl
sl1k – slip 1 knit wise
sl1p – slip 1 purl wise
k2tog – knit 2 stitches together
p2tog – purl 2 stitches together
YO – Yarn Over
BO – Bind off

Pattern

Petal (make 6)
CO 8
Row 1: sl1k, k7
Row 2: sl1p, p7
Row 3: sl1k, *K1, YO* (repeat from * to * till end of row) (14 stitches)
Row 4: sl1p, P to end
Row 5: sl1k, K to end
Repeat rows 4 and 5 till the work is around 1.75 inches.

Start to reduce on a knit row as follows:
Reduce Row 1: sl1k, k2tog, k to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1
Reduce Row 2: sl1p, p2tog, p to last 3 stitches, p2tog, p1
Repeat Reduce Row 1 & 2 till you have 3 stitches left on a knit row. BO all 3 stitches, weave in ends.

Assembly
Thread your sewing needle with thread. Hold the base of the petal and sew it tight for each petal so as to create the “crease” so the petals will curl. Sew all 6 petals together.

Sew on your beads, pearls, sequins or a button to the centre of the flower.

For Brooch
To make a brooch, you may sew the flower onto a small round piece of felt that fits the underside of the knitted flower and sew on a safety pin or brooch pin onto the felt. You can also sew or hotglue this onto a hairband. 😀

Notes
With DK weight yarn (I used Sirdar Wash ‘n’ Wear double crepe DK),  my flower came to about 4 inches or so. If you are using a thicker yarn and larger needles, you can CO less stitches. I tried with Caron Simply Soft yarn and CO only 6 stitches. It works too. 😀 I find it easier to sew with sewing needle and thread rather than tapestry needle and yarn for assembly. It’s really up to your own preference. But with sewing needle and thread, you will have to make sure that the stithces sewn are very tight otherwise the petals will come loose.

I suggest using yarn that has a bit of sheen, especially if you are putting pearls in the middle. It make the flower a lot prettier!

Hope you enjoy this pattern! have fun making flowers! I did! 😀 😛