African Flower Hexagon Tutorial Translated into Danish...and a new pattern!

I want to say a big ♥heart thank you today to Irene Larsen , author of the Danish Blog Min Verden Af ILD http://www.ildverden.blogspot.com/ for the wonderful Danish translation of the African Flower Hexagon Tutorial.

Irene has very kindly translated each step into Danish and I will be updating the original post with the translation during this evening. I am pretty "chuffed" (a very South African colloquial expression indicating happiness and satisfaction :) ) with the idea of having different translations for people across the world...if everyone on earth crocheted we would all be at peace, see...so all of us crochet fanatics are actually spreading world peace :D

Please would all of you who have used and learned (or will use and learn) from this translation, go over to Irene's blog and give her a big "Thank you" crochet Love!

Some news...remember my tutorial on how to do a Magic Ring start for crocheting a round-like motif? Well, I am pleased to present a new pattern for a flower hexagon...I am calling it a "The Happy Hexagon" Pattern and will post a tutorial next week some time...keep a watch out for it folks, if you love hexagons like I do and love flowers (like I do :) )!

It's Sunday night, so tomorrow a new week starts...you all deserve some energy for the coming tasks, so go and have a big slab of chocolate right now...it's good for you ;)

♥Heidi

African Flower Pentagon Tutorial

Hi everyone,
Well, I have been very pleased and thankful for all the wonderful kind comments I have received since I posted about Lollo Bear Pattern last night! Thank you to every person who commented and visited, and of course appreciation and thanks to all who bought a copy of the pattern!

One omission on my part, was to leave out a tutorial on how to crochet an African Flower Pentagon. I assumed (and we all know what that does...), that if you were familiar with the hexagon, you would be able to crochet the pentagon... I am really sorry folks! I should have done a tutorial, and so here it is.

Essentially the pentagon and hexagon are crocheted in the same way, except that you make 5 petals instead of 6. You just crochet one repeat per round less, and the stitches remain the same. That being said, I have put together a quick pictorial on crocheting the pentagon, in the hopes that it will help those crocheters who are making Lollo :) I have made one or two small modifications for ease of crocheting.

African Flower Pentagon Tutorial

Chain 5, and join to the first chain via a slip stitch (represented by the round dot). This forms your ring.

Chain 3. Dc into the center of the ring.
Chain 1.
* 2dc into the ring, chain 1, repeat from * 3 more times.

Slip stitch into the third chain to close your round. Round 1 completed.



Now Slip Stitch into the next along chain space as seen above. If you are making Lollo, now is the time to change yarn colour.

Chain 3. Dc into the same chain space. Chain 1. 2dc into same space. Moving along to the next chain space of Round 1, crochet 2dc, chain 1, 2dc. Move to the next along chain space of Round 1, and repeat the 2dc, chain1, 2dc as before. Continue crocheting around the motif, until you have reached the end of the round. Slip Stitch to the third chain to close the round. Round 2 completed.


Now slip stitch to the next along chain space. This sets your hook up for the 7dc repeats of Round 3.
Chain 3. 6dc into the same space. Move along to the next chain space along of Round 2, and crochet 7dc into that chain space. Move to the next along chain space of Round 2 and crochet 7dc as before. Continue in this way around your motif until you have reached the end of the round. Slip stitch to the third chain to close your round.
Round 3 completed.

Join a new colour yarn. Just as you would for the African Flower Hexagon, crochet 7sc (one into each consecutive stitch of Round 3), and 1LONG dc into Round 2 below. Repeat all along the motif, until you have reached the end of the round. Slip stitch into the first sc and change yarn colour. Round 4 completed.

You need to make one round more, Round 5 (which in Lollo Bear Pattern is the cream colored yarn round). Remember that when you are joining motifs for Lollo, you need to crochet Round 5 as-you-join! I have illustrated one 9dc repeat as seen above, to show you that you still end up with the correct amount of stitches for joining, even though the motif is a pentagon :)

I hope that this helps, and please send me an email if you are having difficulty with Lollo's pattern :)

Have a good evening folks!
♥Heidi

Lollo African Flower Bear Pattern is available!

Hi everyone!

I have finally finished the pattern...so here is a quick post to announce that my Lollo African Flower Bear Pattern is available in my Ravelry Store for purchase...it's been a long time overdue! I have never uploaded a pattern for sale on Ravelry, so if you do buy a copy, and there are any glitches, please let me know...it's a learning curve for me as well... :)

Here is the link:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lollo-the-african-flower-bear

The cost of the pattern is $10US, and there are 6 separate PDF files to download.

I hope that you will find the pattern easy to follow and a pleasure to crochet!

Chat soon,
♥Heidi

An African Flower Surprise Pattern

Hello everyone! It's been a looooooong time since I last had the time to blog, but I have managed to write up my pattern for our newest family member...Lollo African Flower Bear!
She is named after my youngest daughter, whose nickname is Lollo. Lollo has been long in the making, with more frogging than I care to remember, and more design changes than I would like to admit.

Between work and all the rest of family life, I have worked on and off on this pattern. Before I started , I managed to speak to the original designer of the African Flower Hexagon Pattern, who graciously sent me an email with permission to use the pattern and to make up Lollo Bear and sell the pattern. Thank you very much! Lots of Lollo Love coming your way :)

I have purposely over-explained every single step of how to make Lollo. The eBook comprises almost 200 pages and has over 300 explanatory photographs, with clear legends. That being said, the eBook has been broken down into several parts, as the whole book is quite a big file.
This week, I am going to try get to grips with uploading the eBook to Ravelry! I have never submitted a multi part eBook, so wish me success with this... :) ...so keep checking back if you are interested in making a Lollo for yourself!


On other matters...it has been a very busy time in the last 6 months! We had a fabulous holiday in France, skiing in April this year :) We have also been extremely busy in the ICU, with loads of new developments. Gerry has been busy with all his ECMO work as well, and is presenting at the International ELSO Conference in September this year...I am very proud of him!

I have also turned part of my garden into an organic vegetable garden and orchard. It is Spring in South Africa and the fruit trees are blooming! I have sweet cherries, pears, peaches, mulberries, grapefruit, apples, nectarines, loads of lemons, Calamondin oranges, limes, Kumquats, pomegranates, figs, gooseberries, plums, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, Loganberries, Blackberries and am going to try and grow litchis and avocados as well (however, they will have to live in the greenhouse, as it gets way too cold here!) I will post some gardening photos and info in another post...I have learned so much about organic gardening and companion planting in the last few months :)

I have so many things I want to post about, but have run out of time, so I'll say Ciao! everyone,
have a good evening :)

♥Heidi

African Flower Hexagon Join-as-you-go Tutorial

Today was a quiet day...we spent it at home, just pottering about. Gerry had to go and do rounds, and the kids did homework while I photographed the tutorial. It was a warm, sunny summers day here in SA, and the kids spent the afternoon swimming....

A visitor asked for a tutorial on how to join-as-you-go when you are crocheting African Flower Hexagons... here you are ....





Start with one completed hexagon. Crochet a second hexagon, up until you are crocheting the last round. Proceed as follows...



At the apex of the flower petal, (where you will do 2 DC into the same space , with a chain stitch in between), work up until you have made ONE of the 2 DC at the apex of the petal.


Chain 1 st.


Insert your crochet hook as shown, through the little hole of the other hexagon, at the petal point.


Yarn around hook.


Pull yarn through both the hole and the stitch on the hook.

Yarn around hook...


Chain 1 st.


Yarn around hook again, and DC into the SC loops of the round before...just as above...

(NOTE: I have just noticed that I have made a mistake by DC into the next SC space, instead of doing the second DC into the SAME SC SPACE...sorry :( only noticed now...but the you can ignore my mistake and continue exactly in the same manner as described...)


Completing DC.


Second DC into same space completed. Your work should look like this picture above.


Continue to crochet DC as per the pattern, until you have THREE DCs as seen above.


Insert hook in the hexagon you are joining to, at the place where there are THREE DC from the
point where you joined the corners, as shown above...


Yarn around hook...


Pull through...and DC into the next SC loops of the previous round (just as you would crochet the round as per the pattern)...


Continue to DC until you again have THREE DC from the point at which you joined to the other hexagon...


Join at the place on the other hexagon, at the point where there are THREE DC's from the join...you are matching DC for DC, so that your hexagon doesn't get joined in a wonky way...


Here is a bigger picture for you to see...


Yarn pulled through...


Again, make THREE DCs ...you are now at the apex of the petal, where you will make two DCs into the same space with a chain stitch in between (just as per the pattern)...


Now insert your hook, into the little hole in the other hexagon, and yarn around hook (just as before)...


Pull yarn through...


Chain one stitch...


Make a DC into the same space on the green yarn round, as the previous DC...


Continue as per the pattern, and finish off the hexagon as you would normally...


When you want to join a second round of hexagons, you need to follow the previous steps in exactly the same way, until you get to the corner join area, as seen above...


When you get to the corner, insert hook into the little hole of the right side hexagon, just as you would in the previous steps, yarn around hook...


Pull yarn through...


Chain one stitch...


Insert hook into the second little hole (as seen above ) of the left side hexagon, and yarn around hook...


Pull through..


DC into the same space as the previous DC, and continue your joining as before, every THREE DCs...

There you go....how to Join as you go!

♥

African Flower Hexagon Crochet Tutorial now in Spanish

Hi everyone :)

I wanted to let everyone who speaks Spanish know, that the African Flower Hexagon Crochet Tutorial now has Spanish subtitles ;)

I hope this helps :) You can find the tutorial here.



Tomorrow I'll do the second part of the picot story... what if you want a big fat picot (aka a bobble), instead of a small little critter? Well, you make a bobble cast on!

Have a good evening folks!
♥Heidi

African Flower Hexagon Crochet Tutorial

Hello friends :)
Today I am doing a tutorial on the African Flower Crochet hexagon.I recently joined a Ravelry group swap, and really have enjoyed making these hexagons...so I thought I would share a tutorial! This pattern was originally published in a South African magazine, and the designers are Lounette Fourie and Anita Roussouw.

Hola Amigas :)

Hoy, realizaré una tutoría para la elaboración del Crochet de una Flor Africana Hexagonal. Recientemente, me he unido a un grupo de intercambio Ravelry, y he disfrutado plenamente confeccionar estos hexágonos… por eso ¡he decidido compartir mis conocimientos con ustedes! Estos patrones se publicaron originalmente en una revista sudafricana, y las diseñadoras son Lounette Fourie y Anita Roussouw.

Hej venner :)
I dag vil jeg lave en vejledning til African Flower sekskanten. For nyligt deltog jeg i en Ravelry bytte-gruppe og har virkelig hygget mig med at lave disse sekskanter... så derfor har jeg besluttet mig for at lave en vejledning. Dette mønster blev oprindeligt udgivet i et sydafrikansk magasin og designerne er Lounette Fourie og Anita Roussouw.



You will need several colours of yarn and a size 5mm crochet hook.
Necesitarás hilos de varios colores y una aguja de crochet de 5mm.
Du skal bruge flere forskellige farver garn og en 5 mm. hæklenål.

Start by making a slip knot, and make 5 chain stitches.
Empieza haciendo un nudo corredizo y realiza 5 puntos cadena.

Start med 5 luftmasker.

Slip stitch into the first chain, to make a ring. If you are not sure how to do this, please look at this post.
Haz un punto enano en la primera cadena para formar un anillo. Si no estás segura de cómo hacerlo, por favor mira este post.
Saml til en ring med en kædemaske.

Chain 3 (this will form the first dc).
Cadena 3 (esto formará el primer punto alto o vareta).
Hækl 3 luftmasker (de vil udgøre den første stangmaske).

Make a dc into the ring. Your work should look like the pic above.

Haz un punto alto en el anillo. Tu trabajo debe ser similar a la fotografía de arriba.
Hækl en stangmaske ind i ringen (dit arbejde skal se ud som billedet herover).

Chain 1.
Cadena 1.
Hækl 1 luftmaske.

Make 2 dc into the ring. You should now have 4 dc's separated by a chain stitch.
Haz 2 puntos altos en el anillo. Ahora deberías tener 4 puntos altos separados por una cadeneta.
Hækl to stangmasker ind i ringen. Du skal nu gerne have 4 stangmasker med en luftmaske imellem).
Repeat, until you have six x (2dc, ch,2dc) sets.
Repite el proceso hasta tener seis series de puntos de cruz (2 puntos altos, punto cadena, 2 puntos altos).
Gentag indtil du har 6 par stangmasker (2 stangmasker, en luftmaske, 2 stangmasker).

Slip stitch into the third chain of your initial 3chain, made at the beginning of the round.
Haz un punto enano en la tercera cadena de tu cadena 3 inicial, hecha al inicio de la vuelta.
Saml med en kædemaske i den tredje maske på den stangmaske der startede omgangen.

Cut yarn, join a new colour.
Corta el hilo, agrega un color nuevo.
Klip garnet og start på en ny farve.

Insert hook into the space just to the right of the 3ch leg from the previous round. Yarn around hook, pull yarn through, ch3.
Introduce la aguja en el espacio que está a la derecha de los 3 puntos cadena de la vuelta anterior. Con el hilo alrededor de la aguja, jálalo a través de los 3 puntos cadena.
Placer hæklenålen til højre for de 3 luftmasker fra forrige omgang. Slå garnet om nålen og lav 3 luftmasker.
1dc into the same space.

1 punto alto en el mismo espacio.

Hækl en stangmaske i samme mellemrum.

Ch1 and the make 2dc into the same space again. Your work should look like the pic above.
Haz 1 punto cadena y luego realiza 2 puntos altos en el mismo espacio nuevamente. Tu trabajo debe ser similar a la fotografía de arriba.
Hækl en luftmaske og derefter 2 stangmasker i samme mellemrum (dit arbejde skal se ud som billedet herover).

Repeat the previous steps into the next chain space from the previous round, as seen above.

Repite los pasos anteriores en el próximo espacio de la cadena de la vuelta anterior, ver arriba.

Fortsæt forrige trin i næste mellemrum fra forrige runde, som det ses på billedet herover.

Continue with these repeats until you have six sets of 2dc,ch1,2dc.
Continúa con la repetición de estos pasos hasta tener una serie de 2 puntos altos, 1 punto cadena, 2 puntos altos.
Fortsæt indtil du har 6 par (2stangmasker, 1 luftmaske, 2 stangmasker).

Join to the third chain stitch with a slip stitch, to close the round.
Une al tercer punto cadena con un punto enano para completar el círculo.
Afslut omgangen med en kædemaske i den tredje maske på den stangmaske der startede omgangen.

Insert your hook into the space created by the chain stitch between the 2dc 's, as seen above.
Introduce la aguja en el espacio creado por el punto cadena entre los 2 puntos altos, ver arriba.
Placér nålen i det mellemrum der er skabt mellem de to stangmasker fra forrige omgang, som det ses herover. Slå garnet om nålen og træk igennem i en bevægelse (kædemaske).

Round joined...
Vuelta completa.
Omgangen er nu hæftet.

Chain 3. This again is taking the place of the first dc, and you count it as 1 dc stitch.
Cadena 3. Nuevamente, esto toma el lugar del primer punto alto, y lo consideras como 1 punto alto.
Hækl 3 luftmasker, som igen udgør den første stangmaske (dvs. at den tælles som én stangmaske).

Make 6 further dc into the same space. There should be 7 dc's...
Haz 6 puntos altos adicionales en el mismo espacio. Debe haber 7 puntos altos…
Hækl yderligere 6 stangmasker i samme mellemrum, så der i alt er 7 stangmasker

Repeat the same into each space, as above.
Repite el mismo procedimiento en cada espacio, como se muestra arriba.
Fortsæt sådan i hvert mellemrum, som herover

Join round by slip stitch (getting the hang of this :) )
Cierra el círculo con un punto enano (vamos dominando el proceso :) )
Afslut omgangen med en kædemaske i den tredje maske på den stangmaske som startede omgangen

Cut yarn, and join new colour.
Corta el hilo, y agrega un color nuevo.
Klip garnet og start på en ny farve.

Insert hook into the first chain stitch space, yarn around hook, pull yarn through. Yarn around hook again, pull through the stitch on the hook.

Introduce la aguja en el espacio de la primera cadena de puntos, jala el hilo de la aguja. Con el hilo en la aguja nuevamente, jálalo a través del punto en la aguja.

Placér nålen i det første mellemrum mellem to stangmasker, slå garnet om nålen og træk igennem, så garnet om nålen igen og træk igennem masken på nålen.

You have made the first sc into the first chain loop.
Haz realizado el primer punto bajo en la primera cadena de hebras.
Du har nu lavet den første fastmaske i din ”kædebue”

Repeat 6 times more (sc into every successive chain loop, until there are 7 sc in total).
Repite el proceso 6 veces más (punto bajo en cada hebra sucesiva de la cadena, hasta que haya 7 puntos bajos en total).
Fortsæt seks gange (hækl 6 fastmasker mere, så der i alt er 7 fastmasker).

You will now do a dc , into the 3rd round space as seen in the pic.This will make a very long dc stitch, but will help to shape the flower petal.
Ahora, realiza un punto alto en el espacio de la tercera vuelta, tal como se muestra en la fotografía. Esto producirá un punto alto muy largo, pero ayudará a dar la forma de pétalo de una flor.

Nu skal du lave en stangmaske i tredje rundes mellemrum, som det ses på billedet. Det vil blive en meget lang stangmaske, som er med til at forme blomstens kronblad. Sørg for at stramme stangmasken godt op, men ikke for stramt så blomsten rynker sammen

Continue to work you way around the hexagon...7sc, dc, 7sc, dc etc, until you get back to the beginning...as always, join the round by slip stitch into the first sc.
Continúa trabajando alrededor del hexágono…7 puntos bajos, punto bajo, 7 puntos bajos, punto bajo, etc., hasta que vuelvas al inicio… como es habitual, cierra el círculo con un punto enano en el primer punto bajo.
Fortsæt arbejdet rundt om sekskanten (7 fastmasker, 1 stangmaske, 7 fastmasker osv. indtil du er nået hele vejen rundt til hvor du startede). Afslut som altid omgangen med en kædemaske i første fastmaske.

Cut yarn and join a new colour.
Corta el hilo y agrega un color nuevo.
Klip garnet og start på en ny farve.

Chain 3.
Cadena 3.
Hækl 3 luftmasker

Dc into the next loop of the sc you made in the previous round. Repeat until you have 4dc made.
Haz un punto alto en las hebras del punto bajo que hiciste en la vuelta anterior. Repite el proceso hasta que hayas hecho 4 puntos altos.
Hækl en stangmaske i fastmasken fra forrige omgang. Fortsæt indtil du har 4 stangmasker.

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. It is this chain that helps to form the hexagon shape.
En esta instancia, has llegado a la mitad de la parte superior del pétalo de la flor. Haz 1 punto cadena, luego haz otro punto alto en el mismo espacio que el punto alto anterior. Es esta cadena la que ayuda a formar la figura del hexágono.
Du har nu nået midten af toppen af kronbladet. Hækl en luftmaske og hækl derefter en stangmaske i den samme maske som den forrige stangmaske. Det er denne maske der er med til at give sekskanten sin form.

I have marked the middle stitch with a pink dot, so that you can clearly see where the dc,ch,dc has to be made, over each petal. Work your way around the hexagon, working in the above pattern.
He marcado la zona media con un punto rosado, de manera a que puedas ver claramente donde se deben realizar el punto alto, el punto cadena y el punto alto sobre cada pétalo. Continúa trabajando alrededor del hexágono, utilizando el patrón de arriba.
Jeg har markeret midtermasken med en lyserød prik, så du tydeligt kan se, hvor stangmaske, luftmaske, stangmaske skal være over hvert kronblad. Arbejd dig rundt om sekskanten ved at bruge det herover forklarede mønster .

Join the last dc to the 3rd chain of the beginning leg, as in the previous rounds.
Une el último punto alto a la tercera cadena del inicio de la serie, como en las vueltas anteriores.
Afslut omgangen med en kædemaske i øverste maske af denne omgangs første stangmaske, som i de tidligere omgange.

If you prefer, you can add another round in a different colour. This extra round is worked in exactly the same way as the previous round, again making a dc,ch1,dc, over the middle of the petal...

Hope this makes sense...

Have a great evening!

Lots of Love,

Heidi :)

Si prefieres, puedes agregar una vuelta adicional en un color diferente. Se trabaja de la misma manera como en las vueltas anteriores, haciendo punto alto, 1 punto cadena, punto alto en el medio del pétalo…Espero que esto te sea de utilidad…

¡Que tengas un excelente día!

Con mucho Amor,

Heidi :)

Hvis du har lyst, kan du tilføje en omgang mere i en anden farve. Denne omgang laves efter præcis samme opskrift som den forrige omgang (stangmaske, luftmaske, stangmaske over toppen af blomstens kronblad).

Håber det giver mening...

Hav en skøn aften!

Mange kærlige hilsner

Heidi :)