In the last week, I have become fascinated with knitting flowers. I have a pinterest board devoted to knitted flower patterns:  Knitted Flowers

Here is what first inspired me:

I am fascinated by that giant bouquet of knitted flowers!

So I also bought a knitted flower pattern book this weekend.  Well actually, I got two of them, but I really like this one:  Noni Designs Noni Flowers.  She is very detailed and has included 40 flower patterns.  Her results are so realistic looking.  My results?  Well I need practice.  One of the best things I have learned from this book so far though is how to wire the petals.

I love the stockinette look on flowers, but stockinette likes to curl.  So when I first finished this flower it looked like this:

It looks like a starfish doesn’t it?  I also filled in the center with french knots.  (I am a work in progress as a knitter of flowers.)  But then the Noni book describes how to wire the flowers.  It’s amazing!  She recommends using beading wire.  I need to make a trip to Yakima for some supplies, but in the meantime, the Dollar Tree had floral wire, which I think works just fine.

This picture is so darn blurry, but I think you can see the wire running around the edge of the flower.

I just threaded about a 12 inch piece of wire.  I run it under those purl bumps on the wrong side.  Once you have the wire running through the first few stitches, it will want to kink up on you when you go to thread the next few stitches around.  She suggested having the wire form a U to the right side of the work.  This works pretty well.  I need more practice with it and still have had to work out a few kinks (literally!).

But I really like the end result!

Now I can bend the petals and shape them as I wish.

I made the stem with floral wire and tape (again thanks to Dollar Tree).

I have tried knitting an i-cord and threading a piece of wire through it for the stems also.  That works ok, but the yarn is so soft, it is hard for that wire to not come poking through.  I may work on that some more, so I can mix some knitted stems in as well.

So this is a lot of fun!  I have made an Arum Lily, some hyacinth, a few more flat petal flowers, and today I made a rose.  I need to make some more of the rounded “puffy” looking flowers.  They are kind of fiddly though, so I am looking for a pattern I really like.

Plus!  What a great way to use up my leftover sock yarn!