Vera's Spike Stitch Daisy Rounds 1 - 9 Tutorial

Some people have been having difficulties with the Vera's Spike Stitch Daisy Square, and jojo99 over on Ravelry posted her tutorial with some changes, so I figured I'd do a tutorial of my own with my directions. Hopefully this will help a ton of folks, and give some people the extra push to try it. It'll also be written in plain English, with no crochet abbreviations, so it does get a bit wordy, but hopefully it'll be clearer.

For this tutorial, I'm using scrap yarn, so the colors are different. I've listed the color changes below, and in the directions. If you want the colors I used in the original, please see the actual pattern post HERE. Thanks. :]

COLORS
Round: original pattern = tutorial
R1: brown = brown
R2: green = purple
R3: yellow = green (Complicated, I know, but I didn't have enough green.)
R4: orange = blue variegated
R5
R6: green = purple
R7: pink = pink variegated
R8
R9: brown = purple

Round 1: With brown, using the adjustable loop/magic ring method, single crochet 12. Join with slip stitch to first single crochet. Fasten off brown. (12 single crochets)

This is what you have:

Round 2: Join purple with slip stitch into any single crochet. Single crochet 12, slip stitch into first single crochet. Fasten off purple. (12 single crochets.)

Now you have:


Round 3: Join green with slip stitch into any single crochet. Chain 3 (counts as first double crochet.), double crochet into same stitch, 2 double crochets in each single crochet around. Fasten off green. (24 double crochets.)

And we have:

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Now the fun (and the meat of the tutorial) begins.

Round 4: Join blue variegated with a slip stitch to a space between double crochet pair.

The red circle shows where you will be spike stitching into. You will be splitting the two double crochets of round 3 in half; you're working right over them.

*Spike stitch into single crochet in round 2, between each pair of double crochets in round 3, ch 2.* Repeat between * until end. (12 spike stitches and 12 chain 2 spaces).

Here is my almost finished spike stitch, with the slip stitch where I joined. (Here I just joined into a single crochet of round three; it really doesn't matter as much where you join as long as you're spike stitching into the right space.)

Fully completed spike stitch:

This is what round 4 should start to look like after you've done a few spike stitches.

This is what will be on your hook after you've yarn overed, and stuck your hook into the single crochet of round 3. After this, complete the spike stitch like a regular double crochet, yarn over and pull through two loops, yarn over and pull through two remaining loops.

My completed round 4 with all spike stitches:

Round 5: Slip stitch to first chain 2 space. [Chain 3, 2 double crochet] in chain 2 space, slip stitch in top of spike stitch.

Here's my first part:
*3 double crochet in each chain 2 space, slip stitch in top of spike stitch.* Repeat between * until end. Fasten off blue variegated. (12 "petals)

Here I'm showing you the difference in the petals. The red circles are where I have slip stitched to close the petal off; you can see there's more of a definite arc there, versus the yellow circle, where I did a single crochet into the spike stitch.

My finished round 5:

Round 6: Join purple with slip stitch into any slip stitch from round 5.

*double crochet, treble crochet, double crochet, slip stitch* Repeat between * until end. Fasten off purple. (12 "petals")

Here is my first purple petal:

The additional instructions for this round read: Between the * you will be crocheting: a double crochet into the double crochet [of the previous round], a treble crochet into the double crochet, another double crochet into the double crochet, and slip stitching into the slip stitch.

All petals finished. See how it ruffles? That's ok. In the next rounds it'll get even more ruffly, but once you add round 9 to make it into a square it'll flatten out.

Rounds 1 through 6 complete:

Round 7: Join pink with slip stitch in any slip stitch from round 6.
Single crochet in same stitch as joining. *double crochet, treble crochet, double crochet, slip stitch* Repeat between * until end.

3 more completed petals:
Additional instructions for this round read: You will be crocheting a double crochet in the double crochet [of the previous round], a treble crochet in the treble crochet, a double crochet in the double crochet, and slip stitching into the slip stitch.

Round 8: Slip stitch for first single crochet. *double crochet, treble crochet, double crochet, sl st.* Repeat between * until end. Fasten off pink. (12 "petals)

Yes, it should be quite curly at this point.

Round 9: Put a stitch marker in a slip stitch every three petals

See the stitch markers! And there's three petals inbetween them all. Make sure your marker is in a slip stitch between the petals.

Remove one stitch marker and join purple in its space. [Chain 4, treble crochet, chain 2, 2 treble crochet] Then #3 double crochet in next 3 stitches, dc in slip stitch.# Follow between # until you reach marker. Remove marker and *2 treble, chain 2, 2 treble* (Corner made.) Repeat between # until you reach marker, and then between * in marked stitch. Slip stitch to 4th ch of beginning ch 4.

Here is half of round 4. You can see how it's flattened out a little, and where I haven't worked round 9 it's still curly.
Whew, that was a tad tedious. I hope it helps! Let me know if you need anything clarified.