This project comes from a Japanese pattern called Hana-Hana (this takes you to ravelry. You will need a free account to view this link and download the pattern). Hana-hana means flowers-flowers in Japanese. It is a very simple pattern that can
create a wide variety of finished items. If you can't view the link, this is the author's project. Isn't it lovely?
Image by Nokko ASANO, pattern author
The reason I chose this pattern was because I needed a
project with short repeats to accommodate the yarn I used. I’ll make it no
secret- I don’t like variegated yarn. I don’t like the pooling of colors and
jarring contrast as new colors meet and randomly change. About 3 years ago, I
ordered some yarn online- JoJoland Melody Superwash. It’s a light fingering weight yarn made of
100% wool. It is super gooshy soft. It’s hard to explain what “gooshy” means
unless you’ve squished and squeezed yarn and just felt what gooshy soft is. This stuff is gooshy… it is also
variegated, which was not shown on the website! It only showed one color, and
when I got it, it was a rainbow of colors. Literally, a rainbow...
I think you can see why I kept it instead of sending it back. The colors are really quite beautiful. It was hard to find the right pattern though, so after two projects that I hated
and ripped back, it went into storage for a while. Finally, I decided to find the right pattern and narrowed it down to a few projects until I decided on Hana-Hana. I wanted a small, simple crochet project and this fit the bill.
This crochet pattern is charted. Now,
if you haven’t tried to read a crochet chart, it can be intimidating. This
chart is a great way to start reading them because it is clear and not too
overwhelming in different stitches, and the symbols are clearly defined. It is a 6-pointed, 3-round flower that is attached to the project as you go. That means a lot of yarn tails to weave in…
but if you work in the starting tail on the first round, you only have one tail, or two if you use two
colors.
Round 1 is a simple chain loop and sc around. Keep the slip stitch tail short so you can tuck it in under the sc round as you see here.
Tuck that tail!
Round 2 is the setup row for the puff stitch petals, sc and ch 2 around.
Round 3 is the puff stitch petal round. A puff stitch is hard to define in all cases, because it may
be different in each design. This pattern calls for a half-double crochet puff stitch, but I ended up making a double crochet puff stitch, so it looks slightly different.
DC puff st: yo,
insert hook in ch 2 space, yo and draw up (3 loops on hook), yo and draw
through 2 loops (2 loops left on hook), repeat the sequence 4 more times for a
total of 6 loops left on the hook. Yo and draw through all 6 loops.
The next round is the joining round. With your first flower there
is nothing to join of course, so just enjoy the process.
What a happy little flower! I think it would make a lovely pin or fridge magnet too.
Depending on location, you will have 2-4 joins for each flower. In the joining process, you will finish the puff stitch, then slip stitch into the puff stitch of the other flower, or into the previous join of two other flowers, as shown here. Once you get the hang of it, it’ll be a quick process, just a bit tedious.
Join with a simple slip stitch, then ch 3 and sc the other side to finish.
I have to admit, the colors in this yarn are pretty amazing. There are vibrant colors and more subtle colors.
Some colors jump more than I would like as seen on the first picture. The second picture shows the colors a bit muted, and not so bold a line between colors.
The end result of this simple flower pattern is almost unlimited. You could arrange the flowers into a long, narrow scar, or a wide shawl in a rectangle or triangle. You could even use up scraps and create an as-you-go scrap blanket with any size yarn. Using a longer color-change yarn makes for a more subtle color change, or use different colors and create a color pattern. I would avoid dark colors because it won't show the detail of the flowers across the finished fabric.
That is why I like patterns like this. You are limited only by the laws of physics, and perhaps your funds.
Fellow knitters & crocheters, find me on Ravelry as AmberRoseEm!
