What does it feel like to be caressed every morning by soft petals? Or to plop down on the sofa after an exhausting day and, instead of calling the cat to sit on you so you can have your one-on-one session (which will never happen, either because you don’t have a cat or because cats couldn’t ever be bothered to answer to any human call, unless it’s for food), you just relax and pass your tired fingers along the never-ending rows of petals…
I shouldn’t know, I just finished it last night and still need to add buttons and to wash it first. I will find out in a few days, after it’s all dried and ready for cuddling.
Thank you, Rebecca from Littlemonkeyscrochet, for this lovely pattern. It’s really easy to follow and to continue for as many rows as necessary.
As for the pillowcase itself, I used three types of yarn in two weights: a heavier cotton for the middle – Schoeller Stahl Record 210; a bit of lighter purple microfiber – Feria Contessa 866; and an ivory merino blend – Ice Yarns Caramel Merino. I noticed that, due to the layering of this design, it’s not necessary to use the same yarn weight for different rows, so you could try it out with whatever you have in your stash.
I wanted to use the leftover yarn that I had from my previous project (a Kindle case; I do hope that I will manage to write a pattern for it in the following weeks), but I fell in love with this pattern after finishing the yarn, that I went to the store and bought it every color they had (and then some more, when I found it in another shop), thinking to make a flower-covered blanket. That would be really nice.
As I see it now, the flower is quite small for this pillow, but it’s finished, so I will use that wisdom for the next one.
Since I did six rows of petals in total, I couldn’t follow the directions for the square (which has only four rows of petals),
I created my own circle-to-square design, using single crochet (sc), half-double crochet (hdc), double crochet (dc) and triple crochet (tr) for the first two rows, then I continued for several rows with dc all around, using the corner increase from the pattern (2dc, ch 2, 2 dc in each corner).
I will try to write down the circle-to-square pattern, unless you can find one already written (I didn’t look for one until now, but here is one for a circle with 7 rows, different from what I used, but with the same result).
The back is a simple granny square with dc all around and the same corner increase. The two sides are not identical regarding the number of stitches, but they did grow to the same size (the same number of rows), so when I made the seam (on the inside with sc all around) I just crocheted two together on one side instead of one, every few stitches.
For closing the pillowcase, I left an opening on one side and added a little flap (two rows of dc and a row of sc) so the two sides overlap a bit and I can add buttons on the inside.
I hope my little project inspires you to start your own journey into the wildflower garden. Oh, and I just discovered that Rebecca also wrote a similar pattern for a never-ending zinnia flower. I wonder if she minds if I take a spin off her pattern and make a chrysanthemum, with longer petals…
Hugs,
Andrea