Quilt trip

I’ve mentioned the incomparable Mrs. Dunwell of Done Well many times before, and readers will know she is quite the quilter (wanted to put something in there about it being a “quilty pleasure” of hers but alas, I cannot claim credit for that fantastic pun since it’s the name of a store in Orleans).

Now, I can’t quilt or sew to save my life, but when I heard she was pregnant, I hit upon a great way to combine my recent crochet obsession with a baby-themed tribute to her mad quilting skillz.

I figured a crocheted quilt-blanket, made up of 25 “granny squares,” would be a good project to tackle, since squares don’t need to be made to fit a little person’s body, and they sort of look like the squares on a quilt.

Ravelry was an invaluable source of free pattern goodness. I found Carola Wijma’s adorable Funny Face Square pattern pretty much right away and knew it was going to be one element of the blanket:

My favourite Funny Face Square among the ones I made.

It was a bit more tricky than I expected, but overall I’m happy with the bears I managed to make after I figured out how to properly embroider the French knot “eye twinkle” and the right way to sew on the 3D ears.

Finding the other part, though, was more difficult. I found some squares that looked beautiful on the site, but due to my own lack of skill or sizing issues (they were too big/too small to go with the bears), they really didn’t work out.

Then, I found the “Somalia” African Flower granny square pattern by Eliza Wetsch.

I was really reluctant to do this one at first because there wasn’t a written pattern, and I’m not generally a big fan of instructional videos. The Husband has learned tons of things by watching videos online – how to sew, how to cook a turkey, etc. – but I definitely prefer reading stuff rather than having to hit rewind every time I miss a step.

But the video is pretty clear and easy to follow, and once I got over The Husband’s chuckles at the narrator’s proper German Austrian way of speaking, I really got quick at these. They are SO easy and fun to make.

(On a side note, I actually took the time to transcribe the pattern, but unfortunately it’s stuck on my old, dead laptop. Will try to post it up when I have the time to retranscribe.) UPDATE! I took the time to do it the day after I originally wrote this post, so see below for the written pattern for the “Somalia” granny square!

The assembly process took a few hours as well because I wanted to make sure I didn’t have any of the same coloured squares, petals or bears in the same line. Unfortunately, because I didn’t plot this out before I started making squares, it probably took me a lot longer than if I had planned it better. I literally sat and arranged squares for two hours, while determining the colour schemes for the remaining squares.

Putting it together.

I would have liked it to be a little bigger, but I wanted to finish it before year-end (and before Baby Dunwell was born in February), so I didn’t have enough time.

I must say, though, that I’m really pleased with the outcome!

I added a half double crochet border to bring it all together, on the advice of my sister-in-law and my friend Angela D., and some of the squares were sewn together with the help of another lovely pal, Bailing Z.

This is definitely something I want to tackle again if and when I have my own little ones.

*UPDATE* WRITTEN PATTERN FOR ELIZA WETSCH’S  ”SOMALIA” GRANNY SQUARE

(Transcribed from this video: http://www.nadelspiel.com/2011/08/07/crochet-granny-square-somalia/. All intellectual property belongs to original creator of pattern.)

Centre of flower: Start with magic adjustable ring method; ch 1 (counts as first sc), 7 sc in round. Join with sl st to first sc.

Round 2: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc into same stitch. *(Ch 1, 2 dc in next stitch). Repeat from * 6 more times – you ought to have 8 dc pairs. Join with sl st to first dc. Fasten off.

FLOWER PETALS

Round 3: Join petal colour in ch-1 gap in round 2. Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc into same ch-1 gap; ch 2, 2 dc in same ch-1 gap. *[Ch 1. In next ch-1 gap (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc)]. Repeat from * 6 more times – you ought to have 8 “petals”. Join with sl st to first dc.

Round 4: Sl st into first ch-2 space in round 3. Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 6 dc into same ch-2 gap. *(Ch 1. In next ch-2 gap, 7 dc). Repeat from *6 more times. Join with sl st to first dc. Fasten off.

FLOWER BORDER

Round 5: Join new border colour to round 4 in 4th dc of any petal. Ch 1 (counts as first sc), sc in every dc of petal (should be 3 more sc after ch-1). *(Insert hook into 2nd dc of round 3, yo and pull up loop to round 5 level, yo and pull loops through both hoops on hook – long sc made. Sc in every dc of next petal – you should have 7 sc per petal.) Repeat from * 6 more times. Sc in remaining dc. Join with sl st to first sc. Fasten off.

(NOTE: The original pattern calls for you to alternate between inserting your hook into round 3, and round 2 for a taller long sc, and I didn’t realize until watching the video again just now. It looks fine without the alternating, but it’s up to you.)

FRAME

Round 6: Join frame colour in any long sc in round 5. Ch 2 (counts as first hdc), skip next sc, hdc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc, hdc in next sc, skip next sc.

Corner: In next long sc, (2 tr, ch 2, 2 tr). Skip next sc.

*(Hdc, sc in next 3 sc, hdc, skip next sc. Hdc into long sc, skip next sc, hdc, sc in next 3 sc, hdc, skip next sc. Corner in next long sc. Skip next sc.)

Repeat from * twice more. Hdc, sc in next 3 sc, hdc. Join with sl st to first hdc.

Round 7: Ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc into every stitch until ch-2 of corner.

Corner: In ch-2 space, (2 hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc).

*(Hdc into ever stitch until next corner ch-2. Work corner into ch-2 space.)

Repeat from * twice more. Hdc into remaining stitches; join with sl st to first hdc. Fasten off.