It was lovely to see Gill again after her recent illness and lead Saturday's Happy Hookers activity along with her friend Sarah. It was a new pattern for the group in the shape of the African Flower which forms the basis of many cute animal makes, plus the usual stuff like blankets and bags. It's a versatile pattern to have in our repertoire, a nice change from granny squares, and also a good stash buster for left over yarn. Each flower in itself doesn't need that much, though for many of the makes shown for inspiration during the session some thought should be given to the amount of yarn needed for the colour combinations and to ensure a consistent look for the finished result.
Gill's pre-session tip was to have 4 colours to hand with a good contrast between them so the pattern stands out. Yarn which provides a good definition is also recommended so the final flower is the desired hexagon (other shapes may be needed e.g. pentagons depending on what's being made) rather than the more circular form Michelle had with her first attempt a while ago.
For the session we used a Number 4 hook and double knitting yarn. Looking at the possibilities for animal makes it was felt a smaller hook would be better for these to give a tighter result. They would possibly also need lining before stuffing and final assembly as there is good potential to view the stuffing otherwise. A number of us found our flowers curled at the edges, so some blocking may be required where precision is needed in the make. We recalled Sarah's top tip from ages ago where she uses a garden kneeling mat and cocktail sticks for the blocking process.
If you fancy having a go at these, here's a link to Bella Coco's video tutorial. There's plenty of other help and inspiration available online via the power of Google (see this link for general help and ideas or specifically for animals in the earlier link above); Michelle particularly fancies the Happypotamus pattern available from Heidi Bears.
In the next session we'll be looking at sampler stitching chevrons and waves.
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