Advanced  Pattern contributed by Joan Zakas  /  Download PDF file of this pattern

Pentagon Flowers Interpreted from ISBN 4-8377-0292-9  Photo page 4 and back cover. Pattern Pg 71 This example is worked on a 31.7cm ball. (4 inch diameter),  but the book calls for  37cm ( a 4 ½ in. diameter ball) Colors,  perle cotton #5: 3 Shades of pink, 1 skein of each; Royal Blue 2 skeins Silver metallic. Wrap and mark a standard C10 in Royal or Navy blue. Your marking threads will not show so you can use perle cotton to mark.

See photo step 1, at left. Pin mark 1/3 in from the edge on the corners of each of the 12 pentagons. (Using the same measurement about (1.5) cm in from the edge of each pentagon means you will have less nudge and fudge to finish your blue background.) Stitch 10 rows of Royal Blue background color using the corner guidelines. Remove your pins as you go.  You should now have about 1/3 in the center of each pentagons  unstitched, a little over 1/3 of the center of the pentagons filled in with background color and a bit less then 1/3 left unstitched to the edge of each pentagon.

IMPORTANT:  read it through this section before you start to stitch; See photo step 2 at left. To stitch the pink petals you will use the guidelines that cross the flat side of the pentagons.  You will be stitching a large pentagon that corners at the unstitched center of 5 pentagons, using the inner edge of the blue pentagons as your starting place. The tricky part is that you will be weaving your individual rows under some of the blue threads to form the shape of the petals, as well as weaving the larger pink pentagons to shape the center of the flower. To get the weave pattern correct for the large pink pentagons, hold your ball so that you have one pentagon at the north pole, Starting at the pentagon bordering it on the south stitch around going counter clockwise. Each time you cross into the next blue pentagon you will pass your thread over the first pink pentagon (on the left) and under the second pink pentagon (on the right).

See photo step 3 at left. From center out of Blue pentagons:                        From the edge into pentagons: Light pink           Rows 1 and 2  over all blue rows.                              Rows 1 and 2  over all blue rows Row  3  over 9 blue under 1 (outermost row)            Row 3  under 1 over 9    Row 4  over  8 blue under 2                                      Row 4  under 2 over 9 . Medium pink                                                              Medium pink  Row 1 over 7 under 3                                               Row 1  under 3 over 7  Row 2 over 6 under 4                                               Row 2  under 4 over 6 Dark pink                                                                   Dark pink  Row 1 over 5 under 5                                               Row 1 under 5 over 5  Row 2 over 4 under 6                                               Row 2 under 6 over 4  Row 3 over 3 under 7                                               Row 3 under 7 over 3 If needed continue on with the dark pink following the same pattern until you are as close to the pole as you can get. (Row 4 over 2 under 8 …row 5 over 1 under 9)

Step 4 Stitch: 4 rows of royal blue in each of the blue pentagons 1 row of silver 1 row of royal blue 1 row of silver 3 or more rows of royal blue to meet the edge of neighboring pentagons. Finish the ball by stitching a double line from the corner of each pink pentagon to the pole.

---