All last year I enjoyed hundreds of beautiful Rudbeckia flowers for months in my garden. Through beaming sunshine, misty rain and the early frosts, they remained a bunch of cheerful faces. This year, feeling the lack of them, I’ve been forced to crochet myself a substitute, and thought I'd write down the resulting pattern. I used some DK yarn from my plentiful yarn supply shelves, along with some aran weight Kilcarra yarn from Donegal (dyed green with last years Rudbeckia flowers - they provide a rich mossy green colour) for the stem and sepals.

Materials:

Yellow, Brown, Green DK yarn (I used aran for the brown and green)

3.5mm crochet hook (or as appropriate to yarn weight)

2 x 3.75mm dpns

Abbreviations: (are for U.S crochet – U.K in brackets)

ch/s - chain/s

sl st – slip stitch (sc)

sc – single crochet (dc)

hdc – half double crochet (htr)

rep – repeat

BO – bind off

CO – cast on (knitting)

kpk – knit, then purl, then knit into each st

For this flower I used knit and crochet, but if you prefer to do only crochet then for the stem: ch10, sc into each ch, beginning at 2^nd ch from hook. At the top make 3sc into the top end, join with a sl st, then make 3sc into each of these scs (9 sts) Work as for sepals below using these 9 sts.

Petals:

Using yellow and crochet hook

1: ch 10

2: sl st in 2^nd ch from hook, sc in next 2 chs, hdc in next 4 chs, sc in next ch, sl st in last ch.

Rep these 2 rows 15 times, making 15 petals, joined at the inside.

BO leaving a 15” tail for sewing up.

Flower head:

With brown and hook make a slip ring. Ch1.

1: 6 sc in ring. Pull yarn end to close ring. Ss in top of 1^st chain.

2: ch1, *1 sc in next 2 chs, 2 sc in next ch, rep from *, then sl st in top of 1^st ch to join round.

3: ch 1, 1 sc in each sc, sl st to join round and BO.

Stem and sepals: (i-cord)

Using green and dpns CO 3 sts.

K 3, *push sts to other end of right needle and without turning switch to left hand, then k 3, rep from * Pull yarn tight on 1^st st each round to pull into a tube.

Continue until cord is 1.5” long or so.

Next round: kpk into each st (9 sts)

Sepals:

Working on 1 st at a time with the crochet hook, lift 1 st off the dpn and begin crocheting with it:

*1: ch4

2: sl st in 2^nd ch from hook, 2 sl sts in next 2 chs

Now lift next st off needle onto hook and rep from * until all sts are used. Join round with a sl st if needed.

Making up:

Block and pin out the petals and sepals.

Pin petals around the flower head and sew in place. (They may need a little bunching in.)

Stuff the top with a little spare wool.

Sew sepals to underside of petals, and weave all ends in. Hooray, it’s a Rudbeckia!

There's the real thing, just for comparison.
Please let me know if there's any mistakes!
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