After record-breaking heat and draught this summer, our part of Texas welcomed about 5 inches of rain last month. The flowers wasted no time putting on an autumn show of color: yellow cow-pen daisies, magenta four-o’clocks, red and blue sage, and multicolor lantana.
Then, two nights ago, we came perilously close to freezing temperatures. Bloom while you can, dear flowers!
We crocheters should flower, too, whether in the last few moments before the winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, or because it is spring in the Southern Hemisphere. So for our last-minute October CAL, let’s make the Sunflower from pages 71-72 of Crochet Bouquet. Its center is Loopy, on pages 57-58.
This flower looks lush and complicated, but it isn’t! Well, it is lush, but it is not complicated. You make it in two easy pieces and sew them together.
The yellow flower begins with a double-crochet circle. Around the outside you crochet one simple petal over and over. It takes a while to crochet, but the crochet is easy.
When you’re done, the petals will probably curl. We don’t want that.
To uncurl them, hold each petal at its base, then pull the point out. Don’t be shy! They won’t break. Then grasp each petal on both sides at its widest point. Pull again.
My Sunflower is crocheted with Aunt Lydia’s No. 10 cotton thread. Here it is, above, with some of the petals pulled out by hand. Still, it needed more. I made it wet, squeezed it out, uncurled and pulled out all the petals by hand, and laid it out to dry (right).
You may want to steam block your sunflower, depending on the yarn you used. If the petals are curling stubbornly, pin them out, like Judith did here.
Center Loopy on top of the Sunflower and sew them together.