Book Review: 20 to Make Flowers to Knit

Adding a knit flower to a project is a fun way to give it a little more color and style, and they are also great stash busting projects because they typically don’t use a lot of yarn.

Designer Sachiyo Ishii offers 20 pretty (and mostly pretty easy) flower patterns for knitters to use as standalone flowers or to add to other projects in her book All New 20 to Make: Flowers to Knit.

After a brief overview of tools and techniques — special skills include creating I-cord, a special bind off used on a couple of flowers, making a crochet chain, half pompoms and French knots — the book moves on to the patterns.

Each pattern takes up at least two pages, with a full-page, color photograph of the finished flowers as well as the instructions for making it. All of the projects are worked flat and she used super fine yarn, but you can use a different weight to get a larger flower.

The patterns are as follows:

Daffodil
Daisy
Crocus
Poppy
Lavender
Carnation
Pansy
Viola
Anemone
Scotch thistle
Tulip
Peony
Lily
Poinsettia
Cherry blossom
Buttercup
Cosmos
Freesia
Rose
Bluebell
Snowdrop

In addition to the flowers, there’s also a pattern for a vase you can knit to display your knit flowers in.

Many of the patterns have great details like anthers and a little leaf on the stem of the crocus, buds on the freesia and cherry blossom, and stamens and a wire-wrapped stem for the lily.

The cherry blossom is one of my favorites because it looks so realistic, and the Scottish thistle (which is mostly a pom pom) is really cute, too. I also love the peony, made of stacks of petals with a half pompom in the center. I can’t find the projects on Ravelry but you can see a few of them on the cover (the pink one at bottom right is the peony).

If you love knitting flowers or would like to start, this is a nice collection with a variety of easy flowers you can use for all sorts of purposes.

About the book: 64 pages, hardcover, 20 patterns. Published 2022 by Search Press Limited. Suggested retail price $11.95.

Next Pattern:

Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

Next Pattern:

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