Flowers R US....

Crocheted Daisy Pin

Materials: Any weight yarn and a crochet hook to match (I used Filatura di Crosa Brilla from my stash—it has a great shine to it—and a D hook)Base ring: 6 ch, join with sl st.1st round: 1ch, 15 sc into ring, sl st to first sc.2nd round: 1ch, 1 sc into same place as last sl st, *[2dc, 1tr, 2dc] into next sc, 1 sc into each of next 2 sc; rep from * 4 more times skipping 1 sc at end of rep, sl st to first sc. Fasten off.Attach a pin back using the tail and end of your yarn (or sew in the ends and attach the pin back using a needle and thread).

Clear as mud for those of you who don't crochet, right? Well, let me take you through it (with links to our technique glossary, too!).You're going to work in rounds, so you need to start by creating a ring, called the "base ring." For this pattern, you make a slip knot and then chain (ch) 6. You then join the 6 stitches into a ring by making a slip stitch (sl st). Base ring? Done!In your first round, you're going to make one chain stitch and then single crochet (sc) 15 times into the base ring. If you think you can't fit all 15 single crochets into the ring, you can—just use your fingers to scootch the existing single crochets along the base ring to free up some space to crochet into. Finish your first round by working another sl st into the first single crochet in your set of 15 (which is where you'll end up after you sc all around the base ring).Round two is where it gets interesting! You're going to do a combination of double crochets and treble crochets to make the petals of the flower.

The petals are made up of two double crochets on either side of one treble crochet; trebles are taller than doubles, to the trebles are what give each petal its slight point. So, our instructions tell us to work on chain, and then 1 single crochet into the same place as the last slip stitch, which is the next place you can place a stitch after you do your slip stitch. No problem. Then you're supposed to work 2 double crochets, 1 treble crochet, and 2 double crochets into the next single crochet. (By "the next single crochet," the pattern is instructing you to work all of those stitches into single crochets on the base ring.) Seem impossible? It's not—they really will fit. Thank goodness for the stretchiness of yarn, right? Even my cotton blend had enough give to make this work fairly easily.

After your double-treble combo is done, you do one single crochet into each of the next two single crochets on the base ring. And that's your pattern. You do that until you get to the last single crochet on the base ring, which you pass over, and then you finish by working a single crochet in the first single crochet you did in the second round. Cut the yarn and draw it through that last single crochet, and you're done. Congratulations!Now find a bag or jacket that needs a little pick-me-up, and pin on some springtime. And while you're waiting for actual spring to come, try out Interweave Crochet—you'll find lots of fun embellishments to welcome the sun
~Love Barbara~