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

Noro...to love or not to love...price is the question...

Yesterday was a wonderful day! I spent the morning with my group of knit buddies, sitting in the spring sunshine, eating cake and drinking cappuccinos and just chatting about life, the Universe and everything...
Since Gerry is in the US, I do not need to go into work, so I have just veg'd and wasted time doing fun * (see footnote) things...
I have had a new idea for a project using the African Flower Hexagon (have you noticed? I love this pattern...), and messed around with different colours and combinations, as a trial run for the pattern (Yes, it's still a secret...)


A couple of moons ago, I decided that I needed to find out if all the hype about the Noro range of yarns was justified. If you take a look on Ravelry, Noro seems to be side by side in the Hall of Yarn Fame, with the likes of angel wing handspun and unicorn mane roving...
Of course, in South Africa, it was impossible to find the stuff, so I ended up importing it from the States....and no, I admit to ordering NOT just one ball....

After I had to virtually trade an organ to pay the &%##?!! customs person the price of the exorbitant duty levied on the yarn when it arrived, I muttered unpleasantries all the way home, because surely I thought, no yarn can be worth that amount of money.

Strike 1....

When I opened the parcel, It was wrapped in a plastic bag and looking at the colours, I re-thought my earlier uncharitable behaviour! The colours are absolutely divine! Really saturated, intense colours in gorgeous combinations and gradations. Then I opened the plastic bag...

Strike 2....

The stuff is as hard as three day old oatmeal stuck on a spoon! Aaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!



D**m I thought! Ok...Stay Calm and Fabric Soften On... I told myself....

It was not to be. After soaking a skein in super-concentrated fabric softener, all I ended up with was Noro that needed rinsing.

NOT good.


Oh well, if life chucks lemons, chuck lemonade! See? I must be getting old...in the face of an obvious reality, I choose to ignore the 900 pound gorilla in the room...
Noro Kureyon is seemingly made from a roving spinning type action, because it has no ply, and is very uneven in places, with yarn thickness varying from 4 ply to chunky! Ugh! I even had the tragedy of the yarn committing a self destruct in places...no folks, it's not the greatest to knit or crochet with...

Strike 3...


So....despite the beautiful colours and the fanatic following, I have come to the conclusion that Noro is ok (only because of the colours), but not at that kind of cost!

I guess in fairness, it does cost less in the US and Europe, so perhaps putting up with the scratchiness, and uneveness is less of a burden, than here in SA.

But for now, I will just use up what I bought and then seek other sources of colour nirvana...

Do you love Noro Yarn? Let me know... :)

♥Heidi
*totally frivolous and absolutely necessary

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