Our luscious May cover was a huge hit, with its gorgeous crafts made up from green and purple flowers linked together with knitting and crochet.

They were made using the handy Knit-Wit Tool, but unbeknown to us and our friends at Spotlight, just as we were going to print, the company that made the Knit-Wit went bankrupt.

We know that many of you were left hunting high and low for one of the few kits left in Australia, so for those who are happy to do a spot of DIY, here’s our make-it-at-home version.

You’ll need
An A4 sheet of polypropylene
Sharp craft knife or craft scissors
Pencil
Emery board (optional)

1. Print out the templates at 100%.
2. Cut out precisely.
3. Trace carefully onto the polypropylene
4. Using the craft knife, cut out carefully, making sure you leave no sharp corners or burrs.
5. Run your fingers around the outside of the shape, smooth any sharp edges with the emery, folding it in half to reach corners if needed.

To release the flower, just push in on the edges of the shape and pull the yarn away.

You can buy polypropylene from art supply shops for about $7 for an A4 sheet. If you can’t find polypropylene, you can use an A0 sheet of thin boxboard (about $2). However, each boxboard tool will only last for about 4-6 flowers, while the polypropylene is much more robust and should last almost indefinitely.

Because the polypropylene is bendier than the original tool, the size of the final flower may differ from those made with the Knit-Wit depending on your tension. If you are making the Cosy on up throw or cushion from the May issue of Better Homes and Gardens, crochet your flowers into strips before knitting your cream bands. You may need to add or remove a flower, or knit a few more or less stitches for the finished size.

Now that you’ve made your tool, here's how to make the flowers:

Making flowers
For 1 flower

STEP 1 Using either the Knit-Wit tool or our DIY model, choose a prong or spoke to be your 12 o’clock. Leaving a 10cm tail, start on a spoke in the 6 o’clock position. Take yarn up to left side of spoke at 12 o’clock and wrap around from left to right. Go back down to 6 o’clock position and wrap from right to left. Repeat with a left-to-right wrap at 1 o’clock and a right-to-left wrap at 7 o’clock. Continue working clockwise around tool until all spokes are covered. If you would like a fluffier flower, continue wrapping another 1, 2, or 3 wraps.

STEP 2 Leaving a tail of about 60cm, cut yarn. Take tail and stitch into centre of flower, then come up between petals at 11 and 12 o’clock. Stitch back into centre, then come up between petals at 12 and 1 o’clock.

STEP 3 Continue clockwise to create a centre. Separate petals.

STEP 4 Thread both tails through centre, tie off neatly. Cut tails close to knot, or leave long if required to stitch to other flowers.

STEP 5 Release Knit-Wit prongs or push off DIY tool, and smooth the petals. Your flower is complete!

Flower power
Got a spare two hours? That’s all it takes to construct this fab scarf. It’s made up of 26 triple-wound square Knit-Wit flowers in a textured yarn, joined at the top and bottom to form a chain. So simple yet so effective.

Delicate daisies
Give plain curtains a point of difference by adding a soft flower tie-back embellished with pearls. Simply make up 20 triple-wound flowers using the round Knit-Wit tool and string them together, catching the top and bottom petals. To finish it off, just stitch pearl gems onto the centre of each flower.


More ideas
You can even make up your own projects, feel free to show us the results. And don’t feel constrained by the size of the tools we’ve made: you can enlarge or decrease the templates on a photocopier to make different sized flower tools. Just remember that for smaller flowers you will need a finer yarn or fewer wraps, while larger flowers will require a thicker yarn or more wraps.

Tomorrow's Topic: July 4
We have some great recipes in case you are planning a 4th of July weekend.