We’re now into April, and the trees and hedgerows are springing into life. There is blossom on the trees, and although it is not exactly warm, it’s not freezing cold and it’s been beautifully sunny.
I really wanted to make something, and I hit on the idea of crocheted cherry blossom. I’ve made crocheted flowers before, a long time ago, and I still had the yarn from the granny squares I made last year. So after a little bit of experimenting, I came up with a pattern (more about that in a minute!) for crocheted cherry blossom.
A quick google will throw up dozens of different patterns for granny squares, including flower ones So I decided to turn my crocheted cherry blossoms into granny squares. If I ever get to a point where I decide I want to make something from the spring granny squares I made last year, I can use the flower ones as well.
The tricky thing is that the cherry blossoms only have 6 petals (I actually think real cherry blossoms only have 5, but I thought 6 petals would be easier from a crochet point of view!). It’s much easier to turn things into squares if they are divisible by 4,t if my little cherry blossoms had 8 petals, they would not look like cherry blossom. I can get away with 6, but not 8.
I do like a puzzle, so the question was: how to make a square from something that is not divisible by 4?
The most obvious answer is to try to make it divisible by 4. 6 isn’t, but 12 is, so by treating each petal as 2 half petals, I could make it into a square.
Here are the patterns. I’ve used British crocheting terms. American terms are in brackets.
Cherry Blossom Granny Square 1
Make a magic ring OR 4 chains and join with a ss.
Round 1: Crochet 4 chains, then dc (sc) into the ring. Then work 3 ch and 1 dc (3 ch and 1 sc) into the ring 5 times. Join with a ss.
If you are using a different colour for the petals, break off the thread and join the second colour.
Round 2: 3 ch, then 3 tr 1 dc (3 dc 1 sc) into the first chain space. Then 1 dc 3 tr 1 dc (1 sc 3 dc 1 sc) into each of the next chain spaces. Join with a ss.
Round 3: 3rd colour! Starting in between 2 petals, join the third colour and make 4 chains. Dc (sc) into the next petal. Then 3 ch, 1 tr (1 dc) between the next 2 petals. Keep going like this: 3 chains each time, with a dc (sc) into the top of each petal, and 3 ch 1 tr (1 dc) in between the petals.
Round 4: For some of the squares I used the same colour as for round 3, and for others I used a different colour.
Every 3rd chain space will become a corner. So 3 ch 1 tr (1 dc) 1 ch into chain space, 1 chain, then 3 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch ( 3 dc, 3 ch, 3 dc, 1 ch) into next space to make a corner. Then 2 tr (2 dc) 1 ch into next space, and 2 tr (2 dc) 1 ch into the next space. Keep going until you get back to where you started. Each corner will need 2 lots of 3 trebles joined by 3 chains, and the side spaces will have 2 trebles each in them.
Round 5: In your 4th colour, do this round as you would an ordinary granny square. So 2 lots of trebles joined by 3 chains in each corner, and 3 trebles in each of the spaces at the sides, all joined by 1 chain each time.
So far I’ve only made 4, which gives me 10 squares in total. It’s enough to make something, but I’ll think I’ll keep going, at least until summer arrives.
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