How to make crochet flowers

A friend of mine recently asked about making crochet flowers. I made some awhile ago, with a pattern I made up myself. Almost everything I make is designed by myself, but I do use books to learn the basic stitches, especially fancy stitches such as knitting cables and crocheting shell patterns. I learned to make a few crochet flower shapes from a book, and then designed my own with the same basic idea.

These flowers can be used to decorate hats and scarves, and to make brooches, as I've done here, by sewing the pin to the back. They sell backings for brooches at bead stores. Arton Beads on Queen West (in Toronto) is a well-stocked bead store with good prices.

Here is the pattern for the crochet flowers (I'm not an expert pattern writer, plus learning all the abbreviations can be an extra hurdle for the beginner, so here it is almost in plain english):

Crochet Flower Pattern
what you need to know: making a chain, slip stitch, single crochet stitch, double crochet stitch
General: use the size crochet hook recommended on the yarn label. Flowers can vary in sizes depending on how heavy the yarn is.

1. chain 4
2. join into a ring with slip stitch into first chain
   
3. * 1 single chain into centre of ring, chain 3 * Repeat from * 5 times to create 6 loops
4. * 1 single chain, 3 double chains, 1 single chain * Repeat from * 5 times, once in each loop to create 6 petals (it will look like there's a small hole at the bottom of each petal, that's ok, it gets covered by the top layer of petals)
   
5. repeat steps 3 and 4 for second (top) layer of petals, but this time only making 5 petals
   
6. optional: embroider French knots in a contrasting colour in a small circle in the centre of the flower, and one single French knot in another colour in the centre. Sew a pin clasp to the back of the flower.