Outside-In Crochet Sunflower Motif (Crocodile Stitch Petals)

I’ve made a few things lately using the crocodile stitch, which is really simple to do. Just looking at the pattern that this stitch makes, I thought that it was ideal for the petals of flowers. The only trouble is because of the way the stitches overlap, there’s only one way to make it look right, and that’s by starting from the outside!

The example here was made using double-knitting yarn and a 5 mm crochet hook (UK 6, USA 8/H) the finished motif is 15 cm (6-ish inches) in diameter. Using a smaller hook size will make the stitches tighter and the overall motif a little smaller. I use UK crochet terminology.

Working OUTSIDE-IN: 1st round is the largest, and then all the following rounds get smaller and smaller, ending in the very middle of the motif.

Begin:
Ch 80, join with sl st to first ch – ensure work is not twisted.

Round 1:
Ch 4, 1 tr in same st, *skip next 4 chain, (1 tr, ch 1, 1 tr) in 5th ch* repeat from * to * around, sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch 4. (16 V’s total – Fig 1.)

Fig 1. Round 1 complete, 16 V’s. The longer starting chain allows the motif to lie flat.

Round 2:
Sl st in to ch 1 sp, *working down the side of the next “V” from top to bottom, work 5 fptr (front post treble crochet) around the tr, ch 1, working up the other side of the same “V” from bottom to top, work 5 fptr around the tr, skip next V* and work from * to * around alternate V’s around, sl st to 1st fptr. (8 petals – Fig 2.)

Fig 2. Round 2 complete, by crocheting around the posts of the trebles which form the V’s, you create the petal shape. Use every other V.

Round 3:
Ch4, 1 tr in same space (around both the join between “petals” and the V of the previous round), *1 tr, ch 1, 1 tr, in the ch 1 space of the next petal, 1 tr, ch 1, 1 tr in the ch 1 space and around the join between next petal* repeat from * to * around, sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch 4. (16 V’s – Fig 3.)

Fig 3. Second row of 16 V’s, overlapping the petals and the previous row of V’s.

Round 4:
*5 fptr working down the side of the 1st V from top to bottom, ch 1, 5 fptr around the other side of the V from bottom to top, skip next V*, repeat from * to * around, sl st to 1st fptr. (8 petals, in an alternating pattern to the first round of petals)

Round 5:
Ch 1, dc in same ch 1 sp (around the join between petals and the V of the previous round), dc evenly around (approx. 2 dc between each V, and 1 dc in each of the 16 V’s around and within the petals), sl st to 1st dc. (48 dc – Fig 4.)

Fig 4. Rounds 4 & 5, showing petals in an alternating pattern and the round of dc to tidy up the edge.

Fasten off, and attach new colour for centre of flower.

Round 6:
Ch 1, htrdec (half-treble-decrease: insert hook into next st, yo, pull up loop, insert hook into next st, yo, pull up loop, yo, pull through 2 loops, yo pull through 2 loops) evenly around, sl st to join. (24 htrdec – Fig 5.)

Fig 5. Decreasing the middle of the flower. 24 htrdec evenly around.

Round 7:
Ch 1, htrdec evenly around, sl st to join. (12 htrdec)

Round 8:
Ch 1, htrdec evenly around, sl st to join. (6 htrdec – Fig 6.)

Fig 6. Decreases completed for 2 more rounds.

Finishing:
Cut the yarn, leaving enough extra length for one more stitch. Pull the working loop and end through to the back of the motif, close the hole in the centre of the flower with a dc. Trim and weave in ends (Fig 7.).

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