OMTWI

I am so excited to announce that I have been selected to participate in the next season of One Month to Win It, which starts next Monday!

Bios for all twelve contestants are up, so head on over and check it out. Our first batch of projects will be posted on Monday, and I am starting to get really excited about my project. I hope you will all like it.

Wish me luck!

Flower Hexi Baby Afghan Pattern

I made this afghan for my baby girl while I was pregnant. It was inspired by an afghan I saw  in Maggie Gylenhaal's fabulous apartment in the film Stranger than Fiction. I just tracked down an image of it:

It's great, right? I just remembered that I really need that couch too. Oh. And maybe the lamp. 

The baby afghan is made up of solid color hexagons, flower hexagons, and a few half hexagons, and then finished off with a contrasting picot edge. I really love the way it turned out, and I am contemplating a larger version for my couch.

I started crocheting hexagons after stumbling upon Attic 24's beautiful and incredibly helpful hexagon tutorial. She also includes some great information and images on how to join hexagons as you go. I would definitely recommend checking it out! For my afghan, I ended up using a slightly different hexagon than what is described at Attic 24.

My patterns for the solid hexi, flower hexi, and half hexi are below. For the baby afghan, you will need 10 half hexis, 16 flower hexis, and 54 solid hexis. You can make all the blocks first and then sew them together or crochet them together as you go using Attic 24's tutorial.

For the sample blocks, I used worsted weight yarn and a 6.5 mm hook. If you are using a different weight yarn, try a few solid hexis with different hook sizes to help you decide which hook will work best for your yarn.

Solid Hexi Pattern:

Ch 4, join into a loop with sl st.

Round 1: Ch 3, 11 dc into loop; join with sl st in third st of initial ch 3.

Round 2: Ch 2, dc into same st; make 2-dc bobble: yarn over, insert hook, draw up a loop through next dc, yarn over, draw yarn through first two loops on hook (two loops remain on hook). Yarn over and insert hook into same stitch, draw up a loop through same stitch as if starting a new dc, yarn over, draw yarn through all three loops on hook. *Ch 1, 2-dc bobble in each remaining dc. Join with sl st in second st of initial ch 2. [12 2-dc bobbles]


Round 3: Sl st to next ch 1 sp. Ch 3, 2 dc in same sp. Ch 1, 3 dc in each ch 1 sp. Join with sl st in third st of initial ch 3.
 Round 4: Sl st to next ch 1 sp. Ch 3, 2 dc in same sp. *3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc all in next ch 1 sp. 3 dc in next ch 1 sp. Repeat from * 3 times. 3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc all in next ch 1 sp. Join with sl st in third st of initial ch 3.

Flower Hexi Pattern:

With first yarn color (white in sample block), ch 6, join into a loop with sl st.

Round 1: Ch 1, 11 sc in loop, join with sl st in first sc. [11 sc]

Round 2: Ch 1, sc in same stitch. *Ch 2, sk 1 sc, sc in next sc. Repeat from * 5 times. [6 ch 2 loops, 5 sc]

Round 3: Ch 1. (Sc, ch 3, 3 dc, ch 3, sc) all into each of next 6 ch 2 loops, join with sl st in first sc. [6 petals]

Round 4: Ch 1, sc into same st. *Ch 4 behind petal, sc between next 2 sc. Repeat from * 4 times. Ch 4 behind petal, join with slip st in first sc. [6 ch 4 loops]

Round 5: Ch 1. (Sc, ch 3, 5 dc, ch 3, sc) all into each of next 6 ch 4 loops, join with sl st in first sc. [6 petals] Break off yarn.

Round 6: Join second yarn color between any two sc. *Ch 3. Inserting hook from back to front, sl st around post of center dc in petal of previous round (See image below). Ch 3, sc between next 2 sc. Repeat from * 4 times. Ch 3, sl st around post of center dc in petal of previous round. Sl st in first sc. [12 ch 3 loops]

Round 7: Sl st to next ch 3 loop. Ch 3, 2 dc in same sp. *3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc all in next ch 1 sp. 3 dc in next ch 1 sp. Repeat from * 3 times. 3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc all in next ch 1 sp. Join with sl st in third st of initial ch 3.

Half Hexi Pattern:

Ch 4, join into loop with sl st.

Row 1: Ch3, 6 dc into loop. Turn.

Row 2: Ch 4, Ch 1, 2-dc bobble in next 5 sts. Ch 1, dc in third ch of previous row. Turn.

Row 3: Ch 4, 3 dc in next ch 1 space. *Ch 1, 3 dc in next ch 1 space. Repeat from * five times. Ch 1, dc in third ch of previous row. Turn.

Row 4: Ch 4, 3 dc in next ch 1 space. *3 dc in next ch 1 space. 3 dc, ch2, 3 dc all in next ch 1 space. Repeat from *once. 3 dc in next ch 1 space, 3 dc in next ch 1 space, ch 1, dc in third ch of previous row.

Below is a pattern for laying out your hexi blocks. After my afghan was all pieced, I added two rows of dc in the main color to the zig-zaggy edges. Then I finished it off with a row of sc in a contrasting color adding picots to the zig-zag edges.

Felt Lattice Pillow

I'm back with yet another felt pillow. This one was inspired by this pillow from West Elm:

After I started working on this, I realized that my plan of attack for the knots was not going to work, and I went in a different direction. I will probably play around with the knot idea a bit more, but for this pillow, I ended up more of a woven lattice look. Even though it is really far from perfectly constructed, I like the way it turned out.

I started out with 2 17"x17" squares and 26 half inch wide strips of felt 23" long (this ended up being a bit longer than I needed, so you could probably cut your strips to be only 21 or 22 inches long). 

I sewed all of the strips up along one edge of one of my squares. I found it easier to add the strips as I went along rather than pin them all to the square before sewing.

Next, I took every other strip and crossed it over the next strip. I sewed over the cross as I went along.

For the next line of stitching, I crossed same strip that went over in the previous row under the next strip.

I folded the strips at the ends of the rows back in the opposite direction like this:

And sew those suckers down:

I would cross all of the strips before sewing, but I would adjust them as I sewed along to make sure they were sewn at about the right distance from the previous line of stitches. If I were to do this pillow again, I would use chalk or a washable fabric pen to mark sewing lines at an equal distance (about 1.5 - 2 inches). This would give the lattice a much more regular look.

Here's what it looks like after a few rows of stitching:

Continue weaving the felt strips until you reach the end of the square. As I played around with this I found there are many different ways you can weave the strips to create different patterns and looks. Play around with it and see what you like.

The front of my pillow all finished:

Once the front is done, simply pin right sides together, sew three seams, flip right side out, stuff in form, pin final edge, and slip stitch shut as we did with the previous pillows.

Done!