Afghan envy

Recently I pinned this utterly gorgeous afghan by CoCo Rose to my Crochet board on Pinterest.  I want one, I want one, I want one!!! 

The pin proved to be quite popular, and one Pinterester asked for the pattern.  Since I didn't make the afghan, I didn't have the pattern, and it turns out the original artist got the pattern from a book (details at the CoCo Rose link).  But I got to looking at the pictures and thought... "You know, that looks easy enough to figure out." So I did. 

It's a basic granny hexagon pattern, except the fourth round is v-stitches (dc, ch1, dc), rather than 3-stitch clusters (3dc). Please note that the pattern below is NOT the pattern from the book--it's my own kludge-up, based on pictures of hexagons made from the pattern in the book. Not the same thing.  The basic color palette and progression is blatantly copied from and inspired by CoCo Rose's afghan, though. Obvioulsy. :)

I used a size I/5.5mm hook, and my hexies are a smidge over seven inches from straight edge to straight edge, and eight inches in diameter at the corners.  All with Red Heart Super Saver worsted weight.  Here's a nice big pic of one of the hexies, followed by a very... um... non-professional-quality pattern in American terms.  Eight hexies made, 56 more to go.

Chain 4, join with slip stitch to form loop.

Round 1 (yellow in pic): Chain 2 (counts as first dc), dc in loop ch1, *2dc, ch1* five times for a total of six 'spokes.' Join to top of 1st dc. Fasten off.

Round 2 (pink in pic): Join new color at any chain space, ch2 (counts as first dc), 2dc in same chain space, ch1.  *3dc in next chain space, ch1* five times for a total of six clusters. Join to top of 1st dc. Fasten off.

Round 3 (green in pic): Join new color at any chain space.  Ch2 (counts as first dc), 2dc, ch1, 3dc in same chain space. Ch1. *3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1* in each of the five remaining chain spaces. Join to top of 1st dc. Fasten off.  Your hexagon shape should now be obvious, with six distinct 'corner spaces' and six 'middle' spaces.

Round 4 (v-stitches in light aqua in pic): Join new color at any 'middle' chain space. Ch3 (counts as first dc and ch1), dc in same chain space.  In next chain space (first hex corner), dc, ch1, dc, ch1, dc, ch1, dc.   In next chain space (which will be a 'middle') dc, ch1, dc. Continue around, working each corner as before and each middle as before. Join to top of 1st dc (2nd starting chain). Fasten off. 

Round 5 (aqua dcs in pic):  Join new color at any 'middle' v-stitch chain space from Round 4. Ch2 (counts as first dc), 2dc in same chain space.  1dc in next stitch (where the v's come together, NOT a chain space). 2dc in next chain space. The next chain space should be a corner. Dc, ch1, dc in the corner chain space. **2dc in next chain space; 1dc in next stitch (where the v's come together, NOT a chain space), 3dc in chain space of middle v-stitch. 1dc in next stitch (where the v's come together, NOT a chain space). 2dc in next chain space.** (total of 9 dc on one straight edge between **, not including corners) Dc, ch1, dc in corner space. Continue in the same fashion around. Join to top of 1st dc. Fasten off.

Round 6 (dark aqua in pic):  Join new color at any stitch along a straight edge. Ch2 (counts as first dc). Dc in next stitch, and in each stitch until you reach the corner space. As before, *dc, ch1, dc* in the corner space. Dc in next stitch and in each of the next 10 stitches (total of 11 dc on one straight edge, not including corners). Continue in the same fashion around. Join to top of 1st dc. Fasten off.

Inaugural Plarn Project

Moxie Rule of Life #458: One can never have too many sturdy bags. 

After tackling a fair portion of my dog food bag stash to make shopping bags, I noticed that the flimsy plastic bag used to store flimsy plastic bags was sort of... um... overflowing. (Note to self: Reusable shopping bags are veritably useless if you leave them at home or in the car.)  I'd bookmarked a plarn tutorial a while ago, so I set about cutting, assembling, and rolling a good-sized ball of plarn. 

I cut and plarned all the bags I could find, without any real regard to color except to mix them up a bit for variegation. I knew I was making a grocery-shopping bag, and since it was my first foray into plarn, I figured I wouldn't care about color.  And I was wrong.  After I'd finished crocheting the bottom of the bag and gotten a good half dozen rows up the sides, I decided I hate that Kroger-bag brown. Ick.  But I was too far into the project, and it is just a grocery sack after all, so the finished bag has sort of a spotty brown bovine feel.

It's interesting how this one bag is sort of a snapshot of my life. Bags mostly from Kroger and Walmart, many from Goodwill and Hobby Lobby, and the odd bag from Staples, Old Navy, and Kohl's.

For future projects, I'm going to keep the brown separate, reserved for dish scrubbies and loofahs and such.

By the way, I sort of made up the pattern as I went along, but the basics are:  Chain 20-ish with size N hook. Single crochet in each stitch, 3 sc in the end stitch and then sc again down the other side of the chain and keep sc-ing around, increasing at the ends, until the bottom of the bag is as big as you want it. Do a hdc, then dc around and around and around until it's as tall as you like. Split for handles and sc around until the handles are thick/sturdy enough for your needs.

Moxiemum flower power

I was playing around with flower designs to add to a purse I'm finishing (will share pics of the purse soon!). This one ended up looking pretty cool, so I thought I'd share it. It's a nice full flower (24 petals!!) that's not too bulky.  It's so easy that I'm sure someone else has come up with this before, but I'm calling mine a Moxiemum nonetheless :)  Chart and text pattern in US terms below!

MOXIEMUM PATTERN:

CENTER in Color A (Yellow)

Magic circle, chain 2 (counts at dc), 11dc, slip stitch into top of 1st dc. (12 st) Fasten off and cinch circle closed. Weave in ends.

BACK LOOPS in Color B (Dark Pink)

Attach yarn at back loop of any dc. *Ch 4, tc in back loop of same stitch, ch 4; slip stitch in back loop of next stitch.  Continue from * around. Last slip stitch should be at start. Fasten off and weave in ends.

FRONT LOOPS in Color C (Light Pink)

Attach yarn at front loop of any dc. *Ch 3, cc in front loop of same stitch, ch 3; slip stitch in front loop of next stitch.  Continue from * around. Last slip stitch should be at start. Fasten off and weave in ends.

When finished, if the flower petals want to go sideways, pull every other petal of the front layer to the front, and every other petal of the back layer to the back, so the petals overlap slightly.