A big rainbow flower at the top with a spiralled yellow centre, and beneath it two wide coils in full rainbow colour twisting past each other all the way down to a turquoise tassel.
It is a metre of pure colour and it is the least seasonal thing I make. Mine hangs by a window all year and it is the piece visitors ask about.
The two coils run through the rainbow in opposite directions, which is the detail that makes it work. One starts red at the top and ends violet. The other starts violet and ends red. Where they cross, you get colour pairings that keep changing down the length instead of two matching stripes travelling together.
What you’ll need
DK or aran cotton in seven colours, red, orange, yellow, green, teal, blue and violet, plus a little extra turquoise for the tassel.
Around 40 g of each colour, since the two coils use most of it.
A 3.5 mm hook.
You’ll also want a gold ring around 3 cm, about a metre and a half of 1 mm florist wire per coil, a scrap of fibrefill, and a tapestry needle.
Finished length is about 95 cm.
Abbreviations are US terms. ch is chain, sl st is slip stitch, sc is single crochet, hdc is half double crochet, dc is double crochet, MR is magic ring.
Part 1. The two coils
Both are made the same way. Only the colour order changes.
Coil one. The chain is worked in colour blocks. Starting with red, ch 18. Change to orange and ch 18. Continue through yellow, green, teal, blue and violet, 18 chains each, giving 126 chains.
Coil two. Exactly the same but starting with violet and working back to red.
For each coil.
Row 1. Ch 2, then work 2 dc into the third chain from the hook and 2 dc into every chain across, matching your yarn to the chain colour underneath. Do not fasten off.
Row 2. Turn and work sc into every stitch across the full length, keeping the colours matched. The work will be coiling hard, so follow the curve rather than fighting it. Fasten off.
Change colour on the last pull through of the final chain in each block, and again on the last pull through of the final stitch of each block on row 2, so the joins line up between the two rows.
Thread florist wire through the base of the row 1 stitches along the inner edge of each coil. Use 1 mm here rather than 0.8, because these are long and heavy and thin wire will not hold them.
Part 2. Setting the double spiral
Both coils must twist the same way. Set them with the wire in the same direction before you attach anything, because opposite handedness makes them fight instead of nesting and it cannot be fixed afterwards.
Attach them half a turn apart, one at the front and one at the back of the flower’s underside. Side by side they stack and look like an error.
Then set the spacing so one coil’s band always sits in the gap between the other’s turns. Work down from the top with your fingers.
Because the two run through the rainbow in opposite directions, red will sit against violet at the top and violet against red at the bottom, with everything shifting in between. Check as you set the spacing that those pairings are landing level with each other, since that is the whole point of running them in reverse.
Part 3. The flower
Eight petals, one in each of seven colours plus a second red, worked around a spiralled yellow centre.
Centre. In yellow, 6 sc in MR (6), inc six times (12), sc and inc repeated six times (18), sc twice and inc repeated six times (24), then sc for two rounds (24). Stuff lightly and fasten off.
Then work a spiral of surface slip stitch across the top face, starting at the middle and winding outwards in three or four turns. That spiral is what makes the centre look like a real flower head rather than a yellow button, and it takes about five minutes.
Petals, make eight. For each, ch 14. Working back along the chain, sl st in the second ch from the hook, sc in the next 2, hdc in the next 3, dc in the next 4, then 3 dc into the last chain to round the tip. Work back along the other side with dc in the next 4, hdc in the next 3, sc in the next 2, sl st in the last. Fasten off.
Working both sides with three doubles at the tip gives the rounded petal. One side only would curve it, which is the technique for a pinwheel but wrong here.
Sew the eight petals in a ring, overlapping each slightly over the last, then sew the yellow centre on top so it covers all the petal bases.
Part 4. The tassel
In turquoise. Wrap around a 14 cm card about fifty times, tie tightly at one end, cut the loops and trim level.
Make a collar by chaining 20, working sc back along it, then wrapping it around the tassel 3 cm below the tie and stitching it at the back.
For the domed top in the photo, work a small cap of 6 sc in a magic ring increased to 18 over three rounds, stuff it lightly and sew it over the tie.
Part 5. The centre cord
Chain 90 in gold or yellow and slip stitch back along it.
Attach it at the top under the flower so it runs straight down the channel between the two coils without touching either, and attach the tassel to its bottom end.
That straight line down the middle is doing something important. It gives the eye a still point against all the movement, and without it the piece reads as chaotic rather than as a spiral.
Part 6. Hanging
Cover the gold ring by working sc closely around it in violet until the metal is hidden.
Sew it to the top of the flower, then attach a cord above it.
Hang it and leave it for a day before finishing the ends. Two long coils always settle.
Notes and variations
A single coil version is quicker and still effective, though it loses the crossing colours.
Pastels in the same arrangement make a much softer nursery piece.
Make the coils in one colour each, one warm and one cool, for a graphic version.
Questions I get asked
Why do my coils not nest? Handedness. Both must twist the same way, and it is not fixable once sewn.
Why is my wire bending under the weight? Use 1 mm. At this length 0.8 sags.
Why does the colour pairing look wrong? One coil is running in the same direction as the other. They must be reversed.
How long does it take? About ten hours.