African Flower Afghan

I wanted to show you my latest afghan accomplishment. I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out. I think my newly 16 year old niece will like it too. :)

I struggled trying to make another afghan with squares, but the motifs were flat and lifeless and I just couldn't do it. I really wanted to make a flower style afghan, and I kind of knew I wanted to do something like an African Flower motif. I didn't want a raised- poofy flower. I felt like that might be too much material, if you understand what I mean. She is also in that transition between little girl and woman, so I wanted something that could grow with her. 

It took me forever to find an African Flower motif pattern. I don't know why I was so "challenged". lol When I finally located an English version of an African Flower, it made almost no sense if I didn't have a picture sitting right there. So, I am going to share the simple pattern with you in laymen's terms. 

Easy pattern instructions: I used worsted weight (RHSS) yarn and a J hook.

R1: ch5, join to make a circle, ch3 (counts as a dc), dc in the circle, ch1, (2dc, ch1) in the circle 5 more times, sl st to first dc to join. (6 ch1 sp, 12 dc) cut color.

R2: join with next color in a ch1 sp, ch3, (dc, ch1, 2dc) in same ch1 sp, (2dc, ch1, 2dc) in each ch1 sp around skipping everything else in between them, join with a sl st to the first dc. (6 ch1 sp, 24 dc) do not cut color.

R3: sl st over to the next ch1 sp, ch3 (cts as dc), put 6 more dc in the same ch1 sp, put 7 dc in the remaining ch1 spaces skipping everything in between, join with sl st to first dc. (6 "petals) cut color.

R4: Using the first color, join with a sl st to the first dc of a petal, ch1, sc in join sp and next 6dc, in the space between petals make a long dc around the "bridges" created by the skips in rows 2 and 3, repeat this pattern around. (42 sc, 6 long dc) cut color.

R5: With a border color, join with a sl st to the center sc on a petal, ch3, 2dc in the same space, (dc in 7, 3 dc in next) repeat until you reach the last 7 stitches, dc in the last 7, join with a sl st to the first dc. cut color.

I usually leave a long end for whipstitching my pieces together. 

The next pictures just show my afghan progress until I finished. I chose not to make half motifs, but left the edges open. I did finish with a simple border. 

The blanket finished out at 50" long by almost 40" wide. I think, from start to finish, it took me a week and a day to finish it. 

The colors I used were Red Heart Super Saver in Dark Orchid, Medium Purple, Purple Tones, and Melonberry. The Melonberry is what made the whole thing pop.