It started with tragedy - a friend's blanket, crocheted by her grandmother, had fallen apart. She was looking for someone to recreate it, and there I was, looking for a challenge (read: I had nothing better to do and wasn't thinking very hard at the time
)
First, the finished blanket:
She wanted lots of colours, so I started with this:
She liked them all! I went around the circle, picking every fourth ball, making groups of 3 colours. I fudged the groups a little bit, to make the colour combos a little nicer, and the red really wasn't working for me, so I switched it out for tan.
Then I made a flower:
Then I made a bunch more:
Six variations of each colour combo.
Then it was just a matter of adding the background and joining them together (I used this
join-as-you-go method)
Here's a sexy, low-light pic:
And an attempt to get a true-colour picture, out in the shifty, Canadian Winter sun:
The stats: 216 flowers. 24 balls of yarn. 1728 ends to weave in. (But who's counting?)
Finished in 5 times the time I thought it would take (to be fair, I figured it would take about a month... ha!)
The pattern! (I intend to take pictures of various steps of this at some point... some day... )
This pattern has not been tested yet, so feedback is not just welcome, but desired!
Flower To Granny MotifUse four colours. CA = centre. CB = petals. CC = leaves. CD = background
Before you begin: R5 can be a little tricky. If you're a fast crocheter, you'll want to slow down here. The spaces to work into can be hard to find with the hook alone. I found I was often at risk of catching a leaf by accident, and that sticking a finger in there to separate things a little made everything much easier!
With CA
ch3, join to form a ring
R1: ch1, 8sc into ring. Join with a slst to first sc. Cut yarn
R2: with CB, join to a sc, ch3, 3dc in same sc. Remove hook, insert it in the top of the ch3 (front to back), grab the loop and pull it through. ch1.
*4dc in next stitch, remove hook, insert hook (front to back) in the top of the first dc, grab the loop and pull it through. ch1* repeat until you have 8 petals. Join with a slst to the top of the first petal. Cut yarn
R3: with CC, join and ch3 in a ch1 space from previous round. 3dc in the same space. *4dc in next ch1 space* until there are 8 leaves. Join with a slst to the top of the ch3. Cut yarn
R4: with CD, join and ch3 in a space between two leaves. 2dc, ch2, 3dc in the same space. 3sc in next space. *(3dc, ch2, 3dc) in next space. 3sc in next space* repeat between the *'s 2 more times, to make 4 sides. Join with a slst. DO NOT CUT YARN.
R5: continuing with CD, slst to ch2 corner. In corner space, ch3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc. In the next two spaces, 3dc. *In the next corner space, 3dc, ch2, 3dc. In the next two spaces, 3dc.* repeat 2 more times, for a total of 4 sides.
This is where I stopped, and it made small-ish squares (about 3.75"). However, there's no reason at all why you couldn't continue working in a regular granny square pattern from this point on.
Note: My granny squares only have ch stitches in the corners. I like it this way because I find it makes for smaller holes. If you prefer to do it another way, then note that the granny square pattern starts on R5. Add your extra chain stitches starting there.
