The Hookery: Yorkshire Rose Pattern

It's Yorkshire Day! Hurrah!

'What', I hear some of you say 'is Yorkshire Day?' Well, it's just a day to be happy about being Yorkshire and Yorkshire's being. And although I am many miles south of the Mother County, I have been indulging in a bit of Yorkshire-flavoured yarn fiddling...

Yes! A Yorkshire rose!

Want to know how to make one? Read on...

You will need some white yarn, some green yarn and some yellow. Probably worth raiding the scrap bag (if you keep one) for the yellow - you'll only need enough for the centre. I'm using Rico's Creative Cotton (shades 63, 80 and 40).

Start with the yellow. By the way, I'm using British crochet terms...

Either chain 5 and join with a slip stitch (sl st) to make a ring, or use the magic ring technique.

Chain (ch) 2, then work 9 half trebles (htr) into ring. Join with a sl st in the top of the ch. You should have a little yellow circle, like so...

Fasten off the yellow and join on the white. You don't need to turn your work at any point in this pattern, so keep it sunny side up!

The next round is going to be worked into the front loops only. So instead of picking up both loops on the top of the stitch, just pick up the side nearest you.

Your white round will be worked into the front loops only.

So with the white, ch 2, 4 htr into same loop, sl st into the next loop, *5 htr into next loop, sl st into next loop.

Repeat from * until the end. You should end on a sl st and have a cute little white flower like this...

The back should look like this...

Now we want a round of green. This round will be worked in the back loops of the yellow round. We're going to make the little green leaves that poke out between the petals, so join your green yarn to one of the stitches between the petals. This should be nice and easy as they're the bigger-looking stitches.

There's one tricky stitch to find - the one where you joined the yellow round to fasten off. I've marked it in red above. Take a moment to winkle it out and be careful you don't miss it - if you do, it'll throw the rest of the round out of line.

So, working in the back loops of the yellow round, starting in one of the stitches between the petals (as marked above), ch 2 then work 1 htr, 2 ch, 2 htr all in the same stitch.

Sl st in the next stitch (which should be behind a petal).

You should have a neat little point, like this...

If this looks like I'm going the wrong way round, it's because I keep the right side facing me while working in the back loops. Sorry!

...and from the front, you should see it just peeking through between the petals. If your green peak is hiding behind a petal, you're starting in the wrong stitch - pull it out and try again in the next stitch.

So, having got your first little peak in the right place, in the next stitch work *2 htr, 2 ch, 2 htr, then sl st in next stitch. Continue from * to the end. As with the white, you should end on a sl st. Fasten off the green and admire.

Front

Back

Lovely!

Now to make the outer ring of petals and the outer leaves.

Put your beautiful little white flower to one side for a minute and pick up the white yarn again.

Just like before, start with either a magic ring, or chain 5 and join with a sl st to form a ring.

Then ch 3 and work 9 tr into the ring. Join with a sl st to the 3rd ch.

Next, ch 3 and work 1 tr in to the same stitch. It may be a bit of a squeeze. I know I said we weren't going to turn our work, but if you struggle with this bit, it might be easier to do so. It makes no odds to the finished piece either way :)

You should have something that looks like this.

Next, work 2 tr into each stitch around. Join with a sl st in the 3rd stitch of the chain.

Things may start to get a bit curly. Panic not. The next round will straighten it all out.

Again, we're working into the front loops only.

Ch 1

1 dc in next stitch.

In the next stitch, work *1 htr, 1tr, 1dtr.

You should have a nice slope building up, like so...

Now ch 1.

In the next stitch, work 1 dtr, 1tr, 1htr.

1 dc in each of the next 2 stitches.

If it looks like this, you're spot on!

Repeat from * until the end. After the last petal, there should only be space for 1 dc. Join with a sl st to the first dc of the round and fasten off.

Hopefully, you are now holding what is essentially a big white star...

Now for the last round!

The back of your big white star should look like this...

Again, we want to place the green round so that it shows between the white petals. Join your green to the back loop of one of the stitches which has (as you look at it) a dtr-tr-htr set of stitches in it. You'll know you're in the right place, because a) it's easy to spot as the front stitches have pulled a little hole just there and b) the next two stitches to the left have a dc in each of them. Got it? Good!

For the next bit, it is actually easier to turn the star over so that the back loops are always facing you.

Ch 1 and then work 1 dc into the stitch I described above.

Then ch 7, like so...

Now we're going to come back along that chain, so in the second chain from the hook, work 1 dc. In the next stitch, make 1 htr. In the next stitch make 1 tr. Then work 1 dtr in each of the remaining 3 stitches. It should look like this...

...a bit like a little flag. Now we're going to attach the other end of the flag to the white star, so skipping 2 of the white stitches, make 1 dc in the back loop on the white star, like this...

This dc should be in a stitch which has a htr-tr-dtr combo in the front loop as you look at it from the wrong side. If so, you've done it right. If not, check that you've skipped the right number of white stitches, and that you're starting in the right place. From the front, it'll look like this...

Time for the next leaf, so...

*dc in the back loop of the next white stitch, ch 7.

Starting in the second chain from the hook, work 1 dc, 1 htr, 1 tr, 3 dtr.

Skip two white stitches and dc in back loop of third white stitch.

Continue from * to end. Join with sl st in top of dc. Fasten off. You might want to leave a long green tail at this point. You should have something that looks like this from the back...

And like this from the front...

You can either use that long green tail to sew the leaves of the smaller flower in place, of maybe ad a yellow button to the centre to pin the whole lot together. Either way, make sure the green points on the little flower sit in the middle of the white petals of the outer flower.