Wildflower winter woolies

Winter has hit down here, (well sort of!) Today was 27 which is hardly cold by any stetch of the imagination. I wore a T shirt for the day.

Given I have more afghans in my house than I care to count I have been putting this years crochet energy into scarfs and accessories. I made a few for some friends of the female type of my son, but my daughter needs a few more necks before I give her any more, and I think I have exhausted the the list of scarf recipients for a while, so I have listed a few on etsy for the fun of it. Pity we are out of season with the top half of the globe.

I have also been exploring our native flora to trigger some different designs.

I was feeling rather hippy and had some colourful yarn I wanted to experiment with. From this I created the hippy head band and matching scarf. Not super heavy, but bright and light!


The colours remind me of the everlasting daisies that I see on the side of the road out west. I remember doing a trip few years back and collecting them along the way. Dried flowers were pretty trendy in the 80s. I remember having a houseful of the things, all lovingly arranged in brass containers. Of course they look spectacular when they are new, but gee they are terrific dust collectors.

Everlasting daisies also called paper flowers, come in a variety of colours, have a large centre and multiple petals. They are bright and cheery where they grow in the tough parts of the Australian countryside. This is a square motif, designed by me, and is simple and effective when done in a variety of colours.

The one below I have called the flannel flower scarf. More to do with the texture of the yarn, than the actual shape of the flower as the real flannel flower has skinnier petals. It is a variation of the everlasting daisy above.

This scarf is luxurious to the touch and made out of a yarn comprised of mohair, wool, and acrylic with a slight metallic thread that adds a bit of glisten. As a yarnaholic I couldn't resist this at the local spotlight store when I saw it. It is a beautiful soft pink and a good quality yarn. I have made 25 flannel flower motifs and then joined them into a scarf . I must say I am a bit over those fluffy scarves that have been around for the last few years, so thought I would try something a little different.

The flannel flower is one of Australia’s’ interesting wildflowers. They have a large centre and petals which are textured like flannel. They look a bit like a daisy, but are more closely related to carrots and celery. The flannel flower is also called the Federation Star as the petals have a star appearance. A more rare kind, the pink flannel flower is only found in the heights of the Blue Mountains.

The flannel flower has also been adopted by the Mental Health Council of Australia for use as the symbol to promote mental health.

You might like to read about this initiative at this link: http://www.mhca.org.au/Media/flannelflower.html

Trying to use Australian flowers as inspiration for crochet designs is quite challenging. Having entertained myself with a range of critters, I am enjoying thinking about flowers, however my head is still trying to work out how I can incorporate wattle into a design without it looking silly.

mmm maybe get some of that fluffy yellow yarn and crochet it up..(lol)

Thanks for looking.