African Flower Hexagon: Summer Playtime

Despite numerous works in progress silently demanding "finish me! finish me!," I started a new blanket last week. All year I've been slightly obsessed with hexagons: the way they blend into one another to create geometric art, the pops of color that pull your eyes here and there, and just the . . . feeling you get when you look at a bounty of crocheted hexagons. 

Don't they just make you so happy?

Is it me? Maybe it's just me, but the colorful riot of flowers makes me smile.

Imagine when winter comes (and winter is a dull, grey, wet affair here in Texas), and as you feel a chill, you pull a blanket of happy flowers across your lap. There, isn't that nice? You have a steaming cup of jasmine green tea at your side, an exciting  romantic suspense novel, and a lap covered with sweet, vibrant blooms. Or, you know. Maybe you have coffee and a historic novel. Or red wine and good biography. Whatever floats your boat.

After lots of trial and error and some experimentation, I decided to go with the African flower hexagon design by Heidi Bears.  Just to keep it real, I'll let you know that my first two attempts at the African flower were, well, not the best. They are cute flowers, just not ones that followed the pattern. (I'll turn these into coasters, I think. Waste not, want not.) So after getting the pattern down, I stuffed my latest totebag with about a billion colors of Stylecraft Special DK yarn and churned out flowers to my heart's content as we drove from Texas to Florida for our annual family vacation.

Florida was lovely. It was a feast for the senses (so many bright colors!) and a wonderful time to gather with family that we don't get to see nearly enough.

I love the chairs in the above picture. So much more fun than if the chairs and tables matched! 

It's amazing to me how different the water looks at different times of day. 

Turns out I didn't crochet at all while we were on vacation. My yarn and hook stayed tucked away while we tromped across the shifting white sands of Pensacola beach; while we visited and laughed with extended family until my sides ached; while we shared family photos, stories, and memories, and created new ones. And finally, while we just sat there, our minds open, our hearts open, our senses soaking up the world, soaking up the now and just being in the moment in a way that is hard to do at home. 

My 5-year old got it. As we sat on the balcony watching the waves, balancing our simple summer dinner of sandwiches and grapes on our lap, he said, "This is the life, Mommy." I didn't know he knew that phrase, but here he busted out with it at the perfect time. And after that, whenever we asked if he wanted to go somewhere to eat, he'd say, "No, I just want to have the life out on the balcony." Wise man, that 5-year old of mine. 

The car trip home had me digging out my yarn and trusty Clover hook. I'm using a 4.0 mm (size G) hook, which is the first time I've used a hook this small for a blanket. But the Stylecraft Special DK works best with a smaller hook like this, so that's what it'll be.

I've been inspired to try Stylecraft by the simply fabulous Lucy of Attic24. Being stateside, I'd never heard of Stylecraft before stumbling across her gorgeous projects. I finally found a website to order it from where shipping didn't cost an arm and a leg (lovecrochet.com), and then I was in business. It's an inexpensive acrylic, but the colors. My goodness, the colors are so lovely and plentiful! There is nothing like this in the "big box" craft stores in America. Did I perhaps order a lot of it? Yes. Will it go to waste? Definitely not.

OK, motif blankets. I suppose I can admit among friends that I've always shied away from them. When my mother first taught me to crochet, she showed me how to make a granny square. So after Mom and I worked through the magic of that first granny square, we sat admiring our creations. Cute, but . . . "what do we do with these?" I asked. "Well, you crochet about a hundred more, sew them together, and then you have a blanket," she replied. My eyes grew large as I looked at the "simple" square it had taken me an afternoon to master. Make tons more of them? And then "sew" them all together (i.e. lots more work at the end). No thank you, please. Amiright? Too. Much. Work. 

I've made most of my blankets with the "instant gratification" of building your work, row after row, and easily seeing it grow. Ripples. Granny stripes. Mixed stripes. But I love the look of the motif. So here I am tackling one. I've worked on many different joining methods. Currently I'm planning to sew them one by one after I decide on the layout, hence the super long tails in the first picture. Well, wish me luck and join me right back here for updates! 

African Flower Hexagon Pattern

Pattern adapted from HeidiBears.com's tutorial.

According to Heidi, this pattern was originally published in a South African magazine, and the designers are Lounette Fourie and Anita Roussouw. Heidi's tutorial is tremendously useful, but I needed a condensed version to take with me, so this is my short and sweet pattern.

To Begin
Chain 5, SS into first stitch to make a ring.

Round 1
Ch 3, 1 dc, ch1, (2 DC or DC2Tog, ch1) repeat until you have six spaces and six 2DC/D2Tog. SS into the 3rd chain of the beginning round.

Round 2
Join a new color. Start in a space. Chain 3, DC, CH 1, 2 DC in same space (2 DC, CH1, 2 DC in next space). Repeat around.

Round 3
With same color: chain 3. DC 6 in same space. DC 7 in next chain-1 space, around. No chains between DCs. (42 DCs.)

Round 4
Join a new color. C1, SC around (7 SC around petal), making a long DC in round 2 between each flower petal.

Border. 

Chain 3, 3 dc. You will now have reached the middle of the top of the flower petal. Ch1, then make another dc into the same space as the previous DC. Continue DC around.

Optional 2nd color border: exactly the same way as the previous round, again making a dc, ch1, dc over the middle of the petal.

For more project details, including detailed yarn colors, view on: