Granny Square Sampler Project- Week 7

African Flower
(Find all the assignments for this entire project listed on this page.)
I am so excited for this week’s square! It’s great for you beginners who are still getting the basic stitches down, but sort of adds a little flare. I found the video early this week and starting playing around with the square on Wednesday and let’s just say I think this is one of the prettiest squares I’ve ever tried. A variation of the African Flower Granny Square, its going to measure around 4 1/2″ square or so, done in our weight of yarn.
In the video, she begins her square with a little something called a “magic ring”, also called a magic adjustable circle, etc. I wanted to talk about this at some point, but didn’t want to overwhelm any beginners out there in the early weeks. But really, it’s a nifty way to begin a center circle and I like that it pulls the circle tightly, leaving no center hole.
To learn to make a Magic Circle to begin this week’s granny square, go to this video. I encourage you to give it a try, its a good trick to know.
The alternative method to begin this week’s square is as we’ve been doing- With first color, ch 5, join with a sl st to form a ring.
She also does a triple crochet stitch (tc), which is a new one for this project. Here’s a video for this one (we don’t need to worry about the part where she explains about putting it into the 5th loop, etc. for our project, that would be for crocheting row by row, instead of in the round.

This week’s assignment is the Granny Square African Somalia Flower– Make 2 of these.
(Kathy generously agreed to share the instructions she wrote for this flower following the video, here they are for those who need them. Thank you Kathy!!)

Granny Square African Somalia Flower

Make magic ring with 7 sc.
Close ring with sl st into 1st sc
Rnd 1 – same color. ch 3, 1dc into same stitch, *ch 1 , 2dc in next sc. Repeat from* until end of round, ch1 . (8 prs of dc.) Close with sl st into initial chains.  End off.
Rnd 2 – join new color. Begin bet any set of dcs; ch 3, 1dc, ch 2, 2dc into same space, ch 1. In next space *2dc, ch 2, 2dc, ch 1*, repeat from * * all the way around. Close with a sl st into initial chain. Do not end off.
Rnd 3 – same color. 1 sl st over to the ch 2 space closet to the hook, ch 3, 6dc, ch 1. *In the next ch 2 space, 7dc, ch 1*, repeat from * * all the way around. Close with a sl st into initial chain. End off.
Rnd 4 – change color. Start in the middle of a petal from previous row, ch 1. 1 sc into every stitch all the way around, but the ch 1 space (between petals), 1 sc but pull the stitch to elongate it, do this sc stitch into row 2 to create a long stitch (see video). Continue all the way around. End off.
Rnd 5 – change to frame color. Start at a notch between petals. Ch 2, *sk 1 st, 1 hdc, 3sc, 1hdc, sk 1 st*, then 2 tc, ch 3, 2 tc all into the same stitch (corner). *sk 1 st, 1 hdc, 3sc, 1hdc, sk 1 st* 1 hdc (this hdc is instead of making a corner), repeat from * * 1 time, then make next corner. *sk 1 st, 1 hdc, 3sc, 1hdc, sk 1 st* 1 hdc (this hdc is instead of making a corner), repeat from * * 1 time. Repeat from * * 1 time, and sl st into intial chain. Do not end off.
Rnd 6– (I did not do this on mine) 1 hdc into each stitch all the way around. End off.
Please remember, we are not professional crochet pattern writers, so if you see mistakes, let me know in the comments.
 
Week 7

Week 7
I hope you are taking time to spread out all the squares you’ve done and admire your work, especially you beginners. I am so excited that there are folks out there learning to crochet simply by following along on this project and trying the squares! When I envisioned this afghan as a finished project originally, I saw my version using minimal amounts of colors and repeating them, but the more squares I do, the more I like the variety of what I’m seeing. I’m worried less and less about actually picking colors for each square. If you have a color that you will be using a lot of to connect our squares together in the end (for me, it will be cream), then try to see in your mind how that will connect all these random colors. I’m excited to get to that point.
One more thing- I have created a pinterest board for all the week’s assignments for those who are over there a lot (kind of like me lately). Hope that is helpful.
Enjoy your weekend!
Blair
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30 Comments
  • severien

    June 29, 2012 at 6:11 am

    oh my, i love this crochet-a-long so much!! the african flower is one i’ve been wanting to try for ages, but i never really got around to actually doing it… it has to be one of my favorites so far, together with the circle-center granny square. i’ve been fighting the urge from starting a pillowcase or a new blanket with these squares only. so pretty!

  • kat

    June 29, 2012 at 6:26 am

    Oh, I love this week’s square & more things to learn! I’m one of those people learning to crochet through this project and it has been so great.

  • erin

    June 29, 2012 at 7:19 am

    love love love.

  • Jill

    June 29, 2012 at 8:45 am

    I really like this one…is there a written version of the pattern?

  • linda

    June 29, 2012 at 9:25 am

    It’s a lovely square I am a huge fan of the African flower so I will enjoy doing these:)

  • linda

    June 29, 2012 at 9:44 am

    just had a look at the video, I got lost on round 6 will have to watch it again, also are we dong the final round 7 all hdc as she has done or just finishing at round 6 ?

  • Heather Anderson

    June 29, 2012 at 10:01 am

    I’m a knitter and have not crocheted since I was a kid but last night in the wee hours, I took a good close look at what you’re doing here and have decided to join you! Wow, I am so excited! I’ve got a two week trip coming up during which I think I can catch up. Thank you for the inspiration and guidance!

  • quilterbell

    June 29, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    So pretty!, I will start week 4 tonight, getting there!. Thank you!

  • michelle

    June 29, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    SQUEEEEEEE!!

  • knutty knitter

    June 30, 2012 at 6:49 am

    Its very pretty but I’m afraid I mostly made up the last two rounds. Couldn’t get the hang of what she was saying and crashed the computer! It LOOKS the same 🙂
    Your written patterns are by far superior for my needs 🙂
    viv in nz

  • Rose

    July 1, 2012 at 12:22 am

    I’m just starting week one. Don’t know if I will do the full crochet-along, but just wanted to say THANKS SO MUCH for this! I’ve wanted to be able to crochet (and make granny squares) for years and years, and was never able to get the hang of it. Now I’m well into my first square, and it’s going well! A new skill learned! Or on my way to learning it anyway…

  • kat

    July 1, 2012 at 11:36 am

    I wrote the pattern down for myself while watching the video, so I wouldn’t have to refer back to the video while working on it. I’ve never written a crochet pattern before so it’s probably not exactly how one should be written, but if anyone doing this project would like me to email it to them just let me know at justcraftyenough (at) yahoo (dot) com

  • anne

    July 1, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    I’m seriously confused.com! Is there a written pattern for this design somewhere? That lady in the video goes way too fast and I didn’t get half of it!

  • blair/wisecraft

    July 1, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    Hi Linda, we’re doing ours exactly like hers.

  • blair/wisecraft

    July 1, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    I think making it work with your last rounds is completely fine. Glad you took the initiative. I’ll try to get some written instructions to include with the post as well for future.

  • blair/wisecraft

    July 1, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    Kat, I would love it if you could email them to me at wisecraftblog@gmail.com. Others would be most appreciative and I will add them to the post. THANK YOU!

  • blair/wisecraft

    July 1, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    She’s fast, it took me several times to get it… stopping and starting the video. Working on getting some written instructions up on the post.

  • kat

    July 1, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    Blair, I just sent it to you. Glad to help.

  • Ann

    July 3, 2012 at 3:35 am

    Just a thank you for this project; I cobbled together 4 ply & 2 ply (from my friend’s late nan’s stash, so a real thrift project). I’m loving this project, and looking at the pretty squares, & wondering what the next ones will be. This must be a huge task to put together, and for gratis, so, thank you (and here’s to the book!).

  • Anne

    July 6, 2012 at 5:35 am

    Thanks Blaire, I emailed Kat and she sent me her instructions. All done and ready to do this week’s challenge! 😀

  • sonskyn

    July 8, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    thank you so much for the written instructions….just one difference (I don’t think it matters,though) – but the video lady mentions 2 ch between the 2 tc…I only realised it right at the end of my round:-) but am going to leave it like that

  • WanderingChemist

    July 9, 2012 at 6:57 pm

    Do we hdc all the way around for a row 7? You state that you do not do this… Just trying to clarify!

  • blair/wisecraft

    July 9, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Entirely up to you, whatever you prefer.

  • haley

    July 15, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    Should there be 7 or 8 sc in the magic ring? If there are only 7 scs, I don’t see how we get 8 pairs of dc.

  • blair/wisecraft

    July 24, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    Hi Haley, sorry I didn’t answer this sooner, did you figure it out? When you make a magic ring, the very last step in making it is to chain 1 (she doesn’t mention this in the video). Then comes the 7 sc into the ring. So, you actually have 8 to crochet into on the next round. Hope this makes sense. If not let me know and I promise a quicker reply!

  • Heather

    August 6, 2012 at 4:48 am

    I am working on catching up finally. I am so loving all these grannies. Thank you again, Blair. My skills in crochet are starting to blossom.

  • Auntwidget83

    August 21, 2012 at 11:59 am

    This square is going to be the death of me! I’ve tried the magic circle but then I have a hard time seeing where to put my hook as the stitches aren’t as defined. When I do the chain 5 then I’m lost on the 8 sets of dc. HELP!

  • blair/wisecraft

    August 21, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    Sorry to hear you’re having trouble on this one. It took me a few tries of careful counting to finally get the 8 sets of dc, but I did get there. Let me know as many specifics as you can and I will try to help.

  • Whitney

    August 22, 2012 at 5:08 am

    I finally got it!! I sat down last night with my magic circle tutorial and after about 20 minutes of trying and frogging and trying again I got it! I’m half way through the first square. I’m loving this project! Thank you for sharing this.

  • Penny

    October 11, 2012 at 4:39 am

    Thank you so much for the written instructions! I am a beginner at crochet, so watching the video was a bit overwhelming. Having the video AND written instructions is wonderful! Thank you so much.

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