Frida's Flowers CAL - Block 3 - Bird of Paradise

The Third Instalment of the Frida's Flowers Blanket Crochet-Along, designed by Jane Crowfoot and hosted by Stylecraft Yarns has just been posted, and is available to download NOW from the Stylecraft website, in English (US and UK), German and Dutch.

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 am 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!

So, Block 3 - the Bird of Paradise.

Front

Back

You'll need to make 4 hexagons.

Yarn usage:
11g Sunflower (21m)
9g Plum (17m)
4g Poppy (8m)
9g Leaf (17m)
10g Greek Blue (19m)
7g Nocturne (13m)
7g Toffee (13m)
50g Black (92m)
18g Ivory (33m)

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

Here's a little spreadsheet tool that I am using to track yarn usage - just enter your start and finish weights for your yarns, and then the weight and meterage used will be automatically calculated! 


My top tips for the Bird of Paradise Block:

1. The pattern gets more complex this week. Make sure you take the time to read the instructions properly!! 

I can't emphasise this enough - the few issues I had with this block came from me not reading the instructions closely enough.

2. When you're starting a new colour with a stitch taller than an sc (e.g. hdc, dc, tr, etc), consider using standing stitches rather than chains.

Moogly has some great tutorials for standing stitches - I thoroughly recommend them! 

http://www.mooglyblog.com/standing-double-crochet-joining/

You can of course use the Stacked Standing DC we talked about last week, but I find that most suitable for when you're continuing with the same colour. 

3. In Round 7, make sure you work dc3tog in FRONT of the last few rows, not over them.

If you work over the rows, encasing them in the stitch, your hexagon will be scrunched up in strange places. Keep it flat, work in front :)

4. In Round 9 with the white dc3tog petals, try using Moogly's standing dc to make a true dc3tog to start! 

Do the standing dc up to the last yoh and pull through 2 loops, and continue as you would for a normal dc3tog. It'll look neater and more consistent with the other petals! 

5. I recommend reviewing the tips from Blocks 1 and 2 - some of that information is still relevant to this more complex block! You can find those posts here:

Block 1: http://crochetbetweentwoworlds.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/fridas-flowers-cal-block-1-white-cosmos.html

Block 2: http://crochetbetweentwoworlds.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/fridas-flowers-cal-block-2-dahlia-bud.html

Happy hooking! Don't hesitate to comment, visit a Facebook group or ask Anne or Michelle on Facebook if you need any help :D