Tulips

In my part of the world, spring has just started - so just in time for it, here's a suitable little knitting pattern ... knitted tulips.

I like to experiment with short rows to achieve organic shapes (see e.g. my Pumpkin Potholders or Pear Potholders patterns). And I really like the idea of knitting flower shapes (Daisy, Seven Petals Potholders). So a tulip shape was a natural thing to try. However, it proved to be far more difficult than I  had expected ... It took me a while to a) figure out which shape I wanted and b) how to achieve it. Nine tries to be precise (see my Ravelry project page for the "failed" attempts), but now I am happy with their looks. 

These pieces make lovely presents, e.g. to accompany a home made cake. But you can also use them as potholders, coasters or general table decoration. 

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.






Materials

• about 20 to 25 grams of Worsted weight cotton yarn in two colors - called CC (contour color) and MC (main color): 7 gr CC, 18 gr MC - of course you can use other yarn weights as well
• 3 mm knitting needles - in case you use other yarn weights, use needles that are slightly smaller than the yarn calls for; that way you get a tighter fabric
• (possibly) a stitch marker
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Short rows with wrap and turn (w+t) - as shown in this YouTube video by Very Pink Knits. Since this washcloth is knit in garter stitch, you don't have to pick up your wraps - except in two rows, i.e. the rows where the wrapping color is different from the color of the wrapped stitch. These rows are indicated in the pattern. Here's a YouTube video that shows how to pick up your wraps (also by Very Pink Knits).
• Knitted Cast-On: See this Youtube-video by Very Pink Knits.
  A tutorial for the knitted cast-on that uses one of my older patterns as an example (Water Lily) has been written by Christina Garza-Brown and can be found here at knitfarious.com
• Weaving in yarn while knitting - carrying it towards the end of the row: This technique (and the next) are used to avoid a long float that runs parallel to your knitting - and to avoid cutting your yarn. When starting with the contour color yarn (lilac in the photos) before knitting a stitch you put the main coloryarn (white in the photos) over the contour color yarn (see illustration 1 below), then you knit the stitch. Before knitting the next stitch you twist the yarns again (see illustration 2). If you repeat these steps you can carry the yarn over a chosen number of stitches- so that it looks neat on WS (see illustration 3 below).
  A similar technique (to weave in ends) is shown in this YouTube video by So, I make stuff. 

• Weaving in yarn while knitting - towards the beginning of a row: This technique is similar to the one explained before and it serves the same purpose. You draw a long loop of the "new" yarn to the point where you want to knit it (picture 1). This gives you a really long float. Knit the first stitch. Before knitting the second stitch, catch the float by put the left hand needle under the float (picture 2) and then knit the stitch with your working yarn as usual. If you catch the float every second stitch, the WS will look as shown in picture 3. (This is a bit like catching floats in stranded knitting as shown in this YouTube video by Knit Purl Hunter.)

In case the last two techniques are too fiddly, you can alternatively cut the yarn of the main color after each petal and weave in the ends.


Size
Knitted in worsted weight yarn, one tulip measures about 20 cm in height and 14 cm in width (at its widest point).



Construction
These tulip are constructed in petals of short rows and contour lines in a contrast color. It is knitted sideways and consists of three petals, one right petal, a small middle one, and a left petal.

After each petal - when knitting the contour lines, you carry the MC yarn forward a bit and you bind off 9 stitches. Then you cast them on again. After doing this, you should carry the main color yarn first back to the beginning of the row.
The picture below shows how the WS of this piece looks. You can see the carried yarn at the tips of the petals.

It may be helpful to place a stitch marker after the 10th stitch. This means when binding off, you don't have to count but the 9 stitches to BO, but only have to BO up to the stitch before the marker.
I knitted the first some without a stitch marker and sometimes left track of how many stitches I had already bound off. So I used a stitch marker which worked well with regards to counting. But while knitting the petals the stitch marker got in the way, so I took it out again.

Instructions

CO48 in CC
Setup Row: k all

When knitting the petals, you slip the first two stitches (they are knitted only in CC to achieve a contour).

Right Petal

in MC
Ridge 1: (RS) sl2 k44, w+t,
    (WS) k42, w+t,
Ridge 2: (RS) k21, ssk, k7, w+t,
    (WS) k9, w+t,
Ridge 3: (RS) k4, ssk, k5, w+t,
    (WS) k12, w+t,
Ridge 4: (RS) k9, ssk, k3, w+t,
    (WS) k15, w+t,
Ridge 5: (RS) k6, ssk k9, w+t,
    (WS) k18, w+t,
Ridge 6: (RS) k20, ssk, w+t,
    (WS) k33, w+t,
Ridge 7: (RS) k27, ssk, k5, w+t,
    (WS) k24, w+t,
Ridge 8: (RS) k13, ssk, k1, w+t,
     (WS) k18, w+t,
Ridge 9: (RS) k16, w+t,
    (WS) k11, w+t,
Ridge 10: (RS) k1, ssk, k5, kfb, k8 ssk, w+t,
    (WS) k21, w+t,
Ridge 11: (RS) k6, kfb, k9, w+t,
    (WS) k12, w+t,
Ridge 12: (RS) k10, kfb, k6, ssk, w+t,
    (WS) k17, w+t,
Ridge 13: (RS) k12, w+t,
    (WS) k10, w+t,
Ridge 14: (RS) k2, kfb, k8, ssk, w+t,
    (WS) k23, w+t,
Ridge 15: (RS) k8, kfb, k9, w+t,
    (WS) k24, w+t,
Ridge 16: (RS) k17, kfb, k4, w+t,
    (WS) k10, w+t,
Ridge 17: (RS) k17, ssk, k1, w+t,
    (WS) k38, sl2

Contour

in CC
Row 1: (RS) sl1, k to end (carrying MC over 11 sts), 
Row 2: (WS) k to last st, sl1
Row 3: (RS) BO9, w+t, 
Row 4: (WS) k1, kCO9
Row 5: (RS) sl1wyib, ktbl, k7, ktbl, k1, w+t, 
Row 6: (WS) k to end

Middle Petal

in MC
Ridge 1: (RS) sl2, k16 (while carrying MC from the 11th stitch back to the 2nd stitch), w+t,
    (WS) k9, w+t,
Ridge 2: (RS) k4, w+t,
    (WS) k6, w+t,
Ridge 3: (RS) k8, w+t,
    (WS) k10, w+t,
Ridge 4: (RS) k12, w+t,
    (WS) k14, w+t,
Ridge 5: (RS) k12, w+t,
    (WS) k10, w+t,
Ridge 6: (RS) k8, w+t,
    (WS) k6, w+t,
Ridge 7: (RS) k5, w+t,
    (WS) k3, w+t,
Ridge 8: (RS) k9, w+t,
    (WS) k16, sl2

Contour

in CC
Row 1: (RS) sl1, k18 (carrying MC over 11 sts), 
Row 2: (WS) k to last st, sl1
Row 3: (RS) BO9, w+t, 
Row 4: (WS) k1, kCO9
Row 5: (RS) sl1wyib, ktbl, k7, ktbl, k1, w+t, 
Row 6: (WS) k to end

Left Petal

in MC
Ridge 1: (RS) sl2, k38 (while carrying MC from the 11th stitch back to the 2nd stitch), w+t,
    (WS) k21, w+t,
Ridge 2: (RS) k2, w+t,
    (WS) k4, w+t,
Ridge 3: (RS) k6, w+t,
    (WS) k8, w+t,
Ridge 4: (RS) k10, w+t,
    (WS) k11, w+t,
Ridge 5: (RS) k13, kfb, k3, w+t,
    (WS) k24, w+t,
Ridge 6: (RS) k26, w+t,
    (WS) k11, w+t,
Ridge 7: (RS) k1, kfb, k11, w+t,
    (WS) k16, w+t,
Ridge 8: (RS) k18, w+t,
    (WS) k33, w+t,
Ridge 9: (RS) k31, w+t,
    (WS) k17, w+t,
Ridge 10: (RS) k14, w+t,
    (WS) k11, w+t,
Ridge 11: (RS) k7, kfb, k2, w+t,
    (WS) k15, w+t,
Ridge 12: (RS) k5, kfb, k14, w+t,
    (WS) k36, w+t,
Ridge 13: (RS) k23, kfb, k2, w+t,
    (WS) k8, w+t,
Ridge 14: (RS) k21, w+t,
    (WS) k42, sl2

Contour

CC
Row 1: (RS) sl1 k to end, 
Row2: (WS) sl1 k to last, sl1
BO all

Cut yarns, weave in ends.
If there is still a small distance between the left and right petal, use the CC tail to sew it closed.