Match 2 Winner: Sunflower

This was a very close match but the Sunflower won!  

Crochet Flower Tournament: Match #2

The second match up is between: (1) Small Rose (2) Rose Bud (3) Sunflower (4) Irish Crochet Rose (5) Large Simple Flower

I decided to change the order of the flowers rather than continue to post them as they appear in the book. 

Match #1 Winner: Loop Daisy

The Loop Daisy won Match #1 by landslide!

Crochet Flower Tournament Bracket

After making all 50 flowers in Claire Crompton's 200 Crochet Flowers, Embellishments & Trims I fell deeply in love with some, hated others, wanted to break up with some before I even finished them, while others left me feeling nothing. 

I wondered what other crocheters thought so I've decided to take it to instagram to see what my lovely crochet buddies there think. Rather than post all 50 flowers and have people vote I decided to set up a Crochet Flower Bracket.  Each day I will post 5 flowers and ask my followers to vote. That will leave me with 10 winners, which I will divide into two groups of 5 for a second vote. 

The 2 winners will be put up for a final vote with the winner being named the most popular flower in Crompton's book! 

Exciting right???

Like a basketball March Madness bracket for crochet nerds!

Today I posted the first 5

I've decided to simply post them in the order they appear in the book rather than try to group them in any specific order. Although I realize that color probably impacts the voting I can't bring myself to make them all the same color. That is to say this not a scientifically valid study - it's just fun.  I'll report the results for the first batch and the post a picture of the second batch tomorrow.

Welcome to Hook & Petal

Wooly Ana's Crochet has had a make over! 

Meet Wooly Ana's Hook & Petal! I'm hoping a more precise focus to the blog will help me and it feel less scattered. 

I want to start this new version of my blog by going back to the Jacinta flower. This is a pattern I wrote to honor my stillborn daughter Jacinta.  My hope is that eventually this pattern will become as widespread as the African flower or the Maybelle flower so I will continue to share it periodically in hopes that more and more people will make it.

When I first made the flower I did it in a solid color, later I discovered that it makes a delightful multicolored flower as well. 

Here is a tutorial including the color changes:

You will need 3-4 different color yarns

Chain 6, join with slip st to form a ring.

Color 1

RND 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 15 dc in 

ring; join with slip st to first dc. (16 dc totals)

Color 2
RND 2: Ch 1, sc in same st, ch 3, skip next dc, *sc in next dc, ch 3, skip next dc; repeat from* 6 more times; end with slip st in first sc. (8 ch-3 spaces).

RND 3: Ch 1, sc in same st, (2 sc, ch 3, 2 sc) in next ch-3 space, *sc in next sc (2 sc, ch 3, 2 sc) in next ch-3 sp * repeat from * 6 more times; end with slip st in first sc. (8 ch-3 spaces)

Color 3

RND 4: Ch 1, sc in same sc, dc in next ch-3 space, (ch 1, dc in same sp) 4 times, skip next 2 sc, *sc in next sc, dc in next ch-3 sp, (ch 1, dc in same sp) 4 times, skip next 2 sc* repeat from * 6 more times; end with slip st in first sc. (8 flower petals)

Either continue with color 3 as I have here or switch to color 4

RND 5: Slip st into next dc, slip st in next 1-ch space, ch 1, sc in same ch-1 space, ch 3, sc in next ch-1 sp, (ch 3, sc in next 1-ch sp) 2 times *skip next (dc, sc, dc), sc in next 1-ch space, (ch 3, sc in next 1-ch sp) 3 times* repeat from * 6 more times; slip st in first sc. (24 ch-3 spaces)

Your Jacinta flower is done but here is the down side of a multicolored flower - all the damned ends that need to be woven in! 

But they are so pretty you will certainly forgive them for all the trouble.

After you are done you will of course want to do a photo shoot!

I made some beautiful cushion covers with them by turning them into squares.

Hope you enjoy making these flowers as much as I do!
Thanks for visiting!

Sunday Shawls

For Christmas I wanted to make my daughters and my mother in law matching shawls, so I chose the beautiful Sunday Shawl designed by the very very lovely Alia Bland aka The Little Bee.  Check out her website or find her on Facebook and Instagram - you won't be disappointed.

I decided to stick to a neutral for the main body of the shawl and basic rainbow palette for the color work section at the end, with a different focal color for each.

Trixie's a huge fan of orange, obviously.

Eloise loves blue, especially the bright periwinklesque variety.

My mother in law loves blues.

Great pattern! Now I just need to make one or two for myself

Felted Bowl

I got a lovely skein of wool Noro yarn and decided to make it into a bowl

I started by crocheting a single crochet circle until I was at my desired size and then I stopped increasing and just used up the rest of the skein. Yay! I love one-skein projects.

After a rigorous scrubbing and a couple of rounds in the washing machine, I fitted my bowl over a bowl to dry.

It started slipping so I secured it with clothes pins. To my children's delight it looked like an awesome space ship.

Once it's done you can fill it with whatever brings you joy.  I particularly like filling a yarn bowl with yarn, hehe.