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.
