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Friday 10 November 2017

African Flower Baby Blanket


African flower hexagon baby blanket



To make this blanket you first need to make all the hexagons and half hexagons and then join them together before adding a border.

I used just under 600g Stylecraft Special DK (450g of white and 150g of colours). And a 4.5mm hook.

Please note that this pattern is written using US crochet terminology.

ch à Chain Stitch
sc à Single crochet
dc à Double crochet
hdc àHalf double crochet
hdc2tog à Half double crochet 2 together
RS à Right side (the front of blanket facing towards you)
WS à Wrong side (back facing towards you)
[…] à Stitch totals and end of Row/Rnd

African Flower Hexagon

African flower hexagon There are lots of charts online for the African Flower. Most of them are basically the same. There are 2 differences between most of them and my version. One is on round 5 where I only crochet into the back loops. And the other is that I have 2 rounds of dc.

Here is my version:
Each flower has its own 3 colours (Centre, Petals & Outline). The flowers are then made into hexagons using the main blanket colour (White).



Full Hexagon:

Make 59.
African flower hexagon

Start with a Magic Circle with the centre colour.
Rnd 1. 3ch (Always counts as 1st dc), dc, * 1ch, 2dc, repeat from * 5 times, 1ch, join to top of starting ch. Cut yarn. [12dc + 6ch spaces]

Rnd 2. Petal colour. Join in any ch space, 3ch, In the same ch space: dc, 1ch, 2dc. In the next 5 ch spaces: 2dc, 1ch, 2dc. [24dc + 6ch spaces]

Rnd 3. Slip stitch to the next ch space. 3ch, 6dc into same ch space. 7dc into next 5 ch spaces. Join to top of starting ch. Cut yarn. [42dc]

Rnd 4. Outline colour. Join to any dc, sc until end of petal, *dc into Rnd 2 (in-between petals), 7sc, repeat from * 5 times, sc until end of rnd. Join to 1st sc. Cut yarn. [42sc + 6dc]

Rnd 5. Main Colour. BACK LOOP ONLY. Join to any dc. 3ch, 3dc, corner V (1dc, 1ch, 1dc), * 7dc, corner V, repeat from * 5 times, 3dc. Join to top of starting ch. [54dc + 6ch spaces]
Ø  The corner V’s should be in the middle of the petals.

Rnd 6. 3ch. 4dc, corner V (1dc, 2ch, 1dc), *9 dc, corner V, repeat from * 5 times, 4dc. Join to top of starting ch. Cut yarn. [66dc + 6ch spaces]
Weave in all ends.

Half Hexagon:

Make 8.
African flower half hexagon

Most of the Rows are worked from the right side {RS} so they look the same as the hexagons. The only row that is worked from the wrong side {WS} is row 2.

Start with a Magic Circle with the centre colour.
Row 1. {RS} 4ch (counts as 1dc + 1ch), * 2dc, 1ch, repeat from * 3 times, 1dc. Cut yarn. [8dc + 4ch spaces]

Row 2. {WS} Petal colour. Join in 1st ch space, 4ch (counts as 1dc +1 ch), In the same ch space: 2dc. In the next 2 ch spaces: 2dc, 1ch, 2dc. In the last ch space: 2dc, 2ch, 1dc. [14dc + 4ch spaces]

Row 3. {RS} Slip stitch to the ch space. 3ch (counts as 1dc), 2dc into same ch space. 7dc into the next 2 ch spaces. 4 dc in the last ch space. Cut yarn. [22dc]

Row 4. {RS} Outline colour. Join to 1st dc, sc into the same stitch and the next 3 stitches. *dc into Rnd 2 (between petals), 7sc, repeat from * 2 times. Dc into Rnd 2, 4sc. Cut yarn. [22sc + 3dc]

Row 5. {RS} Main Colour. BACK LOOPS ONLY. Join to 1st sc. 4ch (counts as 1dc + 1ch), 1dc into same stitch, * 7dc, corner V (1dc, 1ch, 1dc), repeat from * 3 times. Cut yarn. [29dc + 4ch spaces]
Ø  The corner V’s should be in the middle of the petals.

Row 6. {RS} Main Colour. Join to 1st ch space. 3ch (counts as 1dc). 1dc into same ch space. 9dc, *corner V (1dc, 2ch, 1dc), 9dc repeat from * 2 times, 2dc into last ch space. Cut yarn. [35dc + 2ch spaces]

Weave in all ends.

Joining the Hexagons and Half Hexagons.

  
I used a simple sc join.
Place 2 hexagons back to back and sc into both loops on both hexagons. Making sure the stitches line up. ch to ch and dc to dc. When you get to a corner move onto another hexagon.


Border

African flower hexagon baby blanket

African flower hexagon baby blanket side
24 sc into side of half hexagon
Once all the hexagons and half hexagons are joined its’ time to start the border.
This blanket has 2 different types of edges. The straight sides and the Zig-Zag top and bottom.
I also used 2 colours. The main blanket colour and the outside edge colour.

Rnd 1. {RS} Main colour.
African flower hexagon baby blanket. Blanket corner
1hdc, 1ch, 1hdc for the blanket's corners
Start on a straight side. Join to any hexagon. 2ch (counts as 1 hdc). 1hdc in each dc and 2hdc in each ch space. (15hdc per hexagon). Place 24 sc into the side of each half hexagon.

At the blanket’s corners place 1hdc, 1ch, 1hdc into the ch space.

African flower hexagon baby blanket. Points
1hdc, 2ch, 1hdc for the points
For the Zig-Zag: *1hdc in each dc towards the point. In point place 1hdc, 2ch, 1hdc into the ch space. 1hdc in each dc towards the dip, stopping 1 before the dip. For the dip hdc2tog into last dc from one hexagon and the 1st dc from the next hexagon. Repeat from * until the corner of the blanket.
Once back to the starting point slip stitch into the top of the stating chain. And turn.

Rnd 2. {WS} 2ch (counts as 1 hdc).


On the straight sides 1hdc in each dc.
For the blankets corners and the Zig-Zag do the same as Rnd 1.
African flower hexagon baby blanket. Dips
hdc2tog for the dips
Once back to the starting point join to starting and cut yarn. Turn.

Rnd 3. {RS} Edge colour.
Join to any hdc and repeat Rnd 2, but don’t cut the yarn. Slip stitch into stating chain and turn.

Rnd 4. {WS}
Again, repeat Rnd 2 but replace the corner and point hdc-ch-hdc with 3hdc.

Weave in all ends.







Rnd / side
Flat sides
Corner
Dip
point
1 / RS
24sc
15hdc
Hdc 1ch hdc
Hdc2tog
Hdc 2ch hdc
2 / WS
hdc
3 / RS
4 / WS
3hdc
3hdc

African flower hexagon baby blanket



4 comments:

  1. How many hexagons and how many 1/2 hexagons should I make for this baby blanket?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I see it now, 59 and 8 thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. How could this be made bigger for a throw?
    How mAny hexagons and half hexagons would be needed to increase the size?
    Would you double the length AND the width?
    Thanks Sue Moore sumo19527@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sue,
      This blanket can be made any size and shape, its just a matter of making more (or less) hexagons. As for how many more that is hard to say. It will depend on the size of your hexagons and the size you would like the final blanket/throw to be.
      I just started making hexagons and every now and then laying them out to see how many more I needed. Once I had enough to do 2 sides (I pinned them out in an "L") it was easy to calculate how many more I would need.
      I left the half hexagons until last (that way it was easy to see how many I would need).
      I hope this helps you a little!

      Delete