Frida's Flowers CAL - Block 1 - White Cosmos

TODAY begins the Frida's Flowers Blanket Crochet-Along, designed by Jane Crowfoot and hosted by Stylecraft Yarns :D The first pattern is available to download NOW from the Stylecraft website, in English (US and UK), German and Dutch. The patterns will be published at that link once a fortnight for 14 weeks, so 8 patterns in total. The Getting Ready document has been up for a few weeks now, and I definitely recommend having a read through that to learn about the idea behind the design, and what to expect! 

If you haven't set up a Ravelry project yet, the pattern page can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fridas-flowers-blanket 

I'll be working the CAL along with you all (in the Classique Cotton, provided by the wonderful Stylecraft team), and I'll post my tips and tricks for each part at the same time as the pattern is published over at the Stylecraft website. If you have any questions or need help, there are Facebook groups (English: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1555519964767343/ , German: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1039765272753087/ and Dutch: https://www.facebook.com/groups/145851979128898/ ), and you are always welcome to leave a comment here or ask us on Facebook. As you know, Anne is doing the German translations for the CAL, so ask away in German too!

A quick note about tension swatches: For this project, the tension testing is only really required if you're terrified of running out of yarn. From past experience my tension is fairly similar to Jane's, so I will let you know how much yarn I use for each block to give you an idea of what to expect!

So, Block 1 - the White Cosmos.

Front

Back

This pattern is a nice, straightforward one to ease us into the CAL. You'll need to make 4 hexagon and 4 half-hexagon blocks this fortnight. 

Yarn usage:
145g Plum (267m)
7g Leaf (13m)
9g Ivory (17m)

Remember: I'm using the Classique Cotton, so use the meterage above if you are making Frida in another DK yarn.

My top tips for the White Cosmos block:

1. Change hook when the pattern tells you to! 

It might seem a bit silly to those of us (like me) who really only use one hook size per project, but it really does make a difference - I forgot to change back to the 3.5mm for one hexagon, and it ended up quite a lot larger than the others and needed to be frogged and redone!! 

2. The corner 3sc (US) on the last row needs to be worked on the central stitch of the 3dc (US) of the previous row.

I'm sure it will only be me who stuffs this up the first time, but just in case :P

3. Yes, the half hexagon will look a bit bigger than half, and that's ok.

As my mother always tells me, peer pressure is an amazing force in a crochet blanket - the edges will come out square in the end!


I hope you have a fantastic time with this gorgeous CAL, and don't hesitate to comment, visit a Facebook group or ask Anne or Michelle on Facebook if you need any help :D