More Flowers

This is my version of the popular round crocheted cushion that's been seen on several blogs recently. I used the pattern from the Complete Guide to Knitting and Crochet, but changed the edging and found a different flower pattern to adorn the centre. The leaves are my own improvisation.
I've found that circular cushion pads are difficult to find, at least where I live (a cultural desert!), so I modified a square one instead.
I used Rowan Pure Wool Aran for the cushion and scraps of dk for the flowers.

Talking of flowers, I must mention this book.

I don't know when I've been so excited to get a new book as I was when this one arrived. I knew last year that it was going to be published, and had it pre-ordered. What would we do without Amazon?
There are patterns for both knitted and crocheted flowers in the book, which is nice if you do both these crafts. The ones I've tried here are all crocheted, in either dk or 4 ply.

All the patterns I've tried turned out well, although some are more complicated than others, and do require some concentration!

Some of them are quite ingenious in the way they are made. The forget-me-nots are a case in point (the bunch of 3). If you try them you'll see what I mean. The other blue one is amazingly simple but very effective. The pansy was definitely complicated.

The butterfly is one of 3 different ones from the book, of which I thought this was the nicest one.

I'm not sure what I'll do with them all, but it's quite nice to have a few flowers put aside for attaching to different things as and when. The main thing is it's fun to try them out!

Another time I'll show you some of the knitted flowers from the book.

Stripes

I finished my striped blanket at last. I did a couple of rows of white around the edge, then for the outer picot edging I borrowed an idea from quiltmaking and used leftovers from the stripes to make a multicoloured "binding".

This way I was able to use up ends of wool which were only a few feet long, while continuing the stripe theme in a different way.
Thinking of doing it like this really was a lightbulb moment, and I'm very pleased with the effect.

The finished size is about 46" x 44", and the yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. This isn't budget yarn, but it is truly gorgeous.

You don't need a pattern to make a blanket like this. It's basically just stripes, which can be as wide or as narrow as you like, and you can make it any size. All you need is a basic knowledge of crochet.

Any good beginners' book will tell you how to construct crochet in rows, but you do need to make the foundation chain loosely.

If anyone would like details of the very simple picot edging, I've written up how I did it in the post below.

I really enjoyed making this blanket, and now I almost feel sad that it's finished! Do you ever feel that slight sense of loss when you finish a long-term project you've enjoyed?

Simple Picot Edging

Working into a base of an even number of stitches:

*1 dc in each of next 2 stitches, 3 chain, slip stitch in left-hand side of last dc worked. Repeat from *.

To make the slip stitch, you need to insert the hook into the 2 vertical strands at the side of the last dc worked.

I have used UK crochet terms. American crocheters, just read sc instead of dc.