Crochet Flowers

I wanted to learn how to make crochet flowers.  I started with YouTube and whilst it got me started, my first two attempts were hilarious.  The first one looks nothing like a flower - in fact, it's square in shape.  The second one had more of a flower shape, but some pretty strange petals.  I thought about my grandmother, who was fantastic at crochet when she was alive and wished I had developed an interest 15-20 years ago when she perhaps could have shown me the art.  I still have some of her pieces in my linen cupboard and one in the studio (that I use to make impressions onto clay).  Anyway, I persevered on my own.  The third one wasn't too bad for a beginner and the 4th one even had a second layer of petals.  After that, I had my lovely friend (and design team member) Glenna show me how she makes hers (after she stopped laughing at my first two flowers).  Although she uses wool and a larger hook, the principle is the same and so after a couple of fairly OK flowers, I got the hang of it.  As you will see below, I'm well into the swing of it now and have made over 40 of them, hoping to have a good little stock of them to sell at Craft Out West in July.

 Once I had been making those for a few days, it was time to try something else.  First was the heart, but I haven't quite got the top middle of the heart right yet, so might have to practice a bit more on that.

 Then came the rose - which is relatively easy.  Just like making a large open flower, then rolling it up. Then onto leaves.  I haven't quite got the shape right yet, so might have to look for some sort of pattern, but loving the possibilities and ability to experiment to create new things.  No doubt one of my upcoming scrapbook layouts will feature some crochet embellishments.

My aunt Pat recently told me she has some of my grandmother's old crochet hooks.  I think I might see if I can borrow one of the hooks and try some real fine work.  How awesome will that be to be crocheting with the same hook my grandmother used to use years ago?