A rose for St George...

Happy St George's Day!

Last night I decided I would make a token craft gesture towards St George's Day with a crochet rose in lovely bright red cotton DK.  I wanted it to look a little Tudor-ish so slightly separated the petals as I worked.  

Anyway, I thought I would pop on a quick tutorial on how I made it...

To begin with you need to make a chain of about 38 then, in the 2nd chain from the hook begin to make a row of double crochets as the base for the petals. 

Turn the work and begin to make the petals as follows:
* 2ch and 1 tr in first dc
* 2 dtr in next dc
*1tr plus 1 htr in next dc.

That's the first 'rose petal'.  After that make a ss to next dc, ss to next dc and begin to make the next petal in it.  

Continue all the way to the last couple of dc which will give only you a 'half petal' but put add extra 2 x tr in the last one for the centre. 

Finish off leaving a long end for sewing the rose up.

Working from the end 'half petal', begin to roll the rose up...

Wrap all the way around to form a small rose..

Once you have the basic shape, use the long end to sew up underneath...

The last thing you need to do is stretch the petals slightly to space the stitches out (this is what I think gave it the more 'Tudor' rose look...)

Now you can simply add a pin to the back !

I am quite happy with the result and it's a good size to wear pinned to a lapel which is apparently a bit of a lost tradition.

Happy St George's Day!

xxx