150 Hawaiian flowers - all done!

Hurrah, Hurrah! At last the Hawaiian flower blanket is done - finished, complete! Woohoo!!! And all that time I put it aside thinking it would take ages to complete, it only took a week to finish. Nothing like a Christmas deadline to move into ultra fast crochet mode, lol! I decided to stop at 150 flowers and make this a small bed/lap sized blanket. I arranged them 10x15 for a balanced rectangle and each flower is about 10cm wide so overall measurements approx 1metre x 1.5 metres. The pattern is Hawaiian flowers by Sarah London and is so simple to do.

Although I chose a bright and colourful palette for my niece, a lovely subtle colour combination would work well too. Mmm, imagine charcoals, powder blues, or a subtle warm ochre palette - yum! I found the higher the contrast in colours for the last two rows the better the flowers popped. And the more I did the better I got at choosing the right colour to finish each flower off. I did lay out the flowers first before that last row so I could get a good balance in the blanket overall. Then I piled them up in order, in rows of 10 and linked them together as I went.

The linking is really clever too. You make a little picot loop at the top of each flower petal and use that to link the flowers in place as you go. So no ends to sew in, and it looks great. There is an issue with only linking the tips of the flowers - it doesn't give the blanket much strength as a whole - as in a bit floppy ;) But if you accept that this is just meant to be a decorative overblanket and not a sturdy throw, then it's all good. I have seen a version where they stitched the petals more firmly together but the flowers lost their curve and become more angular points which I didn't like much. As a blanket, the bigger it gets the more solidity it gains so.... something to consider. The edges seem the most vulnerable but you could consider a solid border. Personally I like the floaty fragility of the fairy petals:) and a good press on the wrong side once finished and the flowers lie flat nicely while retaining the final chained ridge for definition.

So 150 hawaiian flowers done at last. I put this on my king sized bed and it only covered about a third of the length but all of the width. So if anyone has the staying power to want a full sized bed throw, then it would have to be about 15 x 30 flowers....... 450 flowers??? Ummm, maybe not, lol! I'd get too bored. Look how long it took me to do just this size;))) But if you were wanting a tv project for the new year then this one would be a good contender. Easy and fun to do, simple pattern and very visually effective. The instructions are very simple to follow so you know exactly where you are at every stage - which is good if you put it down for a while and then have to refresh your head to remember exactly what you were doing:)

Right, now I think it's time to relax a bit and enjoy the build up to Christmas with a wee drink and some nibbles - and maybe just another Christmas movie or two..... have to watch White Christmas and the Muppet Christmas Carol to feel that Christmas is truly here!

 elaine x

150 flowers done!

A little bit of crochet and the last row of flowers are done! Feeling good now. 150 flowers all ready to crochet into the finished blanket - at last! This is the bit I've been waiting for; the balancing of the coloured edgings against all the other flowers in situ - should be fun:) I might not be able to see the floor for a few days/weeks, but at least it will look colourful! I also have a feeling the cat will decide that this blanket should belong to her....of course;) I will try to catch her on the camera sneaking into prime comfy position - right in the centre, I'm thinking!

The weather here is very wet and dismal today so perfect for snuggling inside for some hooky time. Now, just need to find a good film to watch and I can get started. No deadline for this really but I need to get back on a roll and keep the crochet mojo going;) I haven't seen any finishing rows/borders on other versions of this - maybe nearer the time crochet blanket experts may have some suggestions for me? Maybe it won't look as if it needs one..... but all ideas would be very welcome!

Righty-ho, I'm off for some flower hooky fun. Starting the count - 149, 148, 147...... :))  See you all soon with another update!

143 hawaiian flowers - nearly there!

Today the sun came out again after a very grey, wet and windy week. At last! The sun can make you feel so much better can't it? And this being the longest day today - summer solstice - it felt fitting that it should feel like summer at least;) Anyway, the sun came shining in the window and brightened up a pile of crochet stashed in a shelf waiting to be finished. The hawaiian flower blanket! Yes, all the pretty little flower motifs were glowing brightly and shouting 'Finish me! You know there isn't much to do....' and you know? they're right!

Half the problem with this project was I hadn't decided just what size I intended to make at the start. It swung from being a cot blanket to a kingsize throw - in a giddy moment of enthusiasm:) - then swiftly back again when I realised just how many motifs I would need for that large a project! So I decided to count the flowers and see just how many I would need to turn this UFO into a ta-da baby blankie. 143 is the count so far, but what size is that in real baby blanket terms? Hadn't a clue so I ran upstairs and laid out all the motifs on the bed to see the scale so far......

Forgive the photos - the sun being out for once affected the tones of the bright colours. Weird. Anyway, this is what 143 flowers looks like. I get 10 x 14 rows with 3 remaining flowers. I would say that looked big enough to me;)) So I've decided to go for 10x15, crochet another 7 flowers and call it DONE!

It will still need the final round of edging to create the petal look which means I can join as I go rather than have lots of ends to sew in afterwards. Well, that's the theory. And it will make it a little bigger - possibly, although I have left gaps in the layout to compensate for that final edging. I think it will look nice and jolly once it's all done - and I won't feel guilty every time I look at that shelf now:))

I'll keep you posted....;)

And then there were 1, 2, 3, 4, ............ 58!!

Well, the hawaiian flowers are growing, and growing, and taking over the floor really:) I just crochet a few every time I sit down to watch any tv - not that I've actually watched a lot of tv this week, if I had there would have been a flower fest!! but the blanket, it's a-growin'.

48 flowers and counting....

Yes, I've decided to make this one a full on flower blanket. I wasn't sure when there were only 9 motifs but I saw a lovely one on ravelry that changed my mind. (you do need to be a member to see that link but its free to join!) It looked like beautiful coloured floor tiles all pieced together to give a colourful mosaic effect - lovely! So, it was decided very quickly to expand the mini throw into a full blown blanket. This did mean introducing a few more colours to the palette so I could get more variety in how the colour tones are balanced and I'm still tinkering with it as I go. You may notice a couple of plum/pinks that weren't there before and an apple green has sidled its way in too:)

57 flowers taking over the floor....

I have no idea how big this will become - the last ripple blanket was about king size - so depending on how many flowers I need, I'm aiming for at least for a double so it can be a decorative throw or even a wrap? Big enough to be versatile anyway! At the moment pieced together in a rough rectangle, it's measuring 60cm x 75cm and that's without the final crochet edging around to join them all together. So maybe at least another 100 - 150 flowers? Sounds a lot but those 58 have kind of snuck up on me so I'm hoping my abstract crocheting whilst watching the tv will help the numbers rise without feeling like I'm trying too hard!!

(yes, there are only 57 flowers in the last photo but I've crocheted another one since then, so officially the flower count is on 58:))

Hawaiian flowers

A little tv project going on at the moment... some bright colourful hawaiian crochet flowers, pattern courtesy of the wonderful Sarah London - go see her blog!! Colour and crochet heaven!  The flower pattern was part of a mystery motif month last year and this link will take you to day one. Four days in all and on the fifth day, there are gorgeous photos to get you thinking COLOUR!

Every so often, I get a hankering to start a longer project, like my ripple blanket from a few years ago. Projects that are in units are ideal as I can work away and feel I am making progress with small completed motifs. Okay, I'm trying not to think just how many motifs it will take to make a throw or blanket/snuggy the size I'd love to make, but at the moment, I'm happy to pick up my flowers and crochet in a bit of downtime.

I've not put the final edging on my flowers as yet as I want to link the motifs as  I go. For now, I can crochet a pile of flowers and play with the layout - that's the fun bit for me! Once I have them done, I can balance them with the final coloured edging. All is happy in the land of crochet;))