April Garden Motif and Doily ~ A Free Crochet Pattern

"What happens when a crocheter gets desperate for Spring? She crochets flowers, of course." (Quote from a recent post.)

Though Spring is slowly gaining a foothold here in Wisconsin, the earth is still drab and bare. Not a flower in sight except the geraniums in the dining room window (which are, admittedly, gorgeous)....

Gorgeous geraniums

But after MONTHS of cold and snow, even fuschia-coloured geraniums are Not Enough. This desperate crocheter needs a shot of rainbow colour to cheer the gloom. Just the job for Planet Penny's Cotton Club yarn:

PPCC to the rescue!

Some simple flowery motifs, a bit of lacy edging, and before we know it our desperate crocheter has an indoor April Garden to keep her going until the real flowers can bloom outside.

April Garden Flower Motif

Size: 2"

Yarn used: Planet Penny Cotton Club (and a scrap of Patons Grace - violet flower only)

Hook: D/3 (3.25mm)

Any yarn will work with an appropriate hook size.

Special Stitches Used:
Knotless Chain, optional (click here for tutorial)
Invisible Join (click here for tutorial)
Standing Single Crochet (click here for tutorial)
2-dc Cluster: (Yarn over, insert hook in indicated space, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops) twice, yarn over and pull through all loops on hook.

Motif (chart may be found below):
Work RS facing at all times.
With center colour, knotless chain 3 (OR make a magic ring and ch 2).
Round 1: Dc 11 in ring, join with invisible join to first dc = 12 sts. (Invisible join counts as a stitch.)
Round 2: With petal colour, join with standing single crochet in any stitch;
(ch 3, skip 1 stitch, sc in next stitch) 5 times,
ch 3, slip stitch in standing single crochet.
Round 3: Ch 1; make petal (sc, hdc, dc, ch 1, dc, hdc, sc) in each ch-3 space around.
Join with invisible join to first sc.

Joining (phototutorial below)
Motifs are joined at ch-1 sp of petals.
To join: Make first half of petal (sc, hdc, dc);
drop working loop from hook,
insert hook RS to WS in ch-1 petal space of other flower, then back into working loop;
pull working loop through other flower's ch-1 petal space,

ch 1 to join,

then (dc, hdc, sc) in ch-3 space to finish petal.

Tip: Flowers can easily twist/flip with this joining method. Be sure to untwist them before joining last flower to first flower. Feel free to substitute any other joining method you prefer.

April Garden Doily

Size: 7" diameter

Make 7 April Garden Flowers and join into a circle (see photo below), leaving 1 petal open between joins at inner edge of circle. (I joined the flowers first, so I could be sure I liked the colour arrangement, before adding the center motif.)

Center Motif (chart may be found below)

Start as for April Garden Flower motif, adding 3 extra dcs to Round 1 = 14 dcs total (ch 2 does not count as dc here). Slip stitch in first dc, do not turn.

Round 2: Ch 2, dc in same st (counts as first 2-dc cluster).
*Ch 4, drop working loop from hook,
insert hook front to back in inner ch-1 petal sp of any flower and back through working loop,
pull loop through flower petal ch-1 space,
ch 4 (catching flower petal with first ch);
skip 1 stitch of center circle; make 2-dc cluster in next stitch.
Repeat from * 5 times (you should now have 7 clusters),
ch 4, join to last flower as before with another ch 4,
invisible join to first ch (do not join to first dc).

Outer Edging

(See also photo below.) With edging colour, join with standing single crochet to outer center ch-1 petal space of any flower, dc in same space (counts as first 2-dc cluster);
ch 5, make 2-dc cluster in same space;
ch 7, make 2-dc cluster in side petal space,
make 2-dc cluster in NEXT flower side petal space,
ch 7.

*In next center petal space: 2-dc cluster, ch 5, 2-dc cluster,
ch 7, make 2-dc cluster in side petal space,
make 2-dc cluster in NEXT flower side petal space,
ch 7.

Repeat from * around doily. Join with invisible join to first dc (join will sit on top of standing sc).

Charts and Photos for the Visual Learner

Motif Joining Phototutorial

After making first half of petal (sc, hdc, dc)...

...drop working loop from hook, then insert hook front to back in ch-1 petal space of other flower...

...then back into working loop. Pull loop through ch-1 space:

And ch 1 to join:

Now (dc, hdc, sc) to finish petal:

Outer Edging:

Some other ways to join the April Garden motifs:

Turn your 7 motifs into a solid flower doily like this:

(You can make it one row or strip at a time; the coloured symbols show suggested joining order.)

Or make longer rows for a table runner or flowery scarf:

You could even join single flowers into a long strand for a cheery April Garden bunting.

In another post, I'll show you an April Garden Cowl I've made using worsted weight yarn and a size H hook. (You can see a glimpse of it in the joining phototutorial above.)

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Have fun stitching an April Garden of your own! You may do whatever you like with the items you make from this pattern, but you may not sell the pattern or reproduce the text without permission. (Links to this post are welcome.)

If you have any questions about this pattern, feel free to ask away in the comments box below, or contact me in Ravelry.

Thanks for viewing, and happy crocheting!

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