Now that you've mastered the Cast-On Loop, it's time to make a Cast-On Rose. This lovely embellishment gives the appearance of Irish Crochet to your work.

This stitch uses three shades of color (four if you count the leaves). Start by stitching a 12-loop Cast-On Loop, in the darkest shade, with the ends of the stitch very close together, so that the loop makes a circle (Step 1). Now switch to the medium shade. Stitch 5 16-loop Cast-On Loops. The start of the stitch should be tucked under the center Loop, and the end of the stitch should be just outside the rim of the first Loop (Step 2). Overlap the 5 Loops of this inner ring, so that each stitch hides the end of the stitch before it. The last stitch in this ring end tucked under the first (Step 3). Now, switch to the lightest shade of thread. The outer ring is stitched the same way as the inner ring, but with 7 Cast-On Loops of 19 loops each (Step 4). If you wish, you can add leaves with some 16-loop Cast-On Loops (Step 5).