Knitting

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Giveaway: Floral Blocks to Knit and Crochet

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floral blocks to knit

Congratulations to Donna.

They say that April showers bring May flowers, but where I live the May flowers have been getting rained on quite a bit lately. So I thought it would be fun to share some flowers of the knit and crocheted variety this week.

75 Floral Blocks to Knit by Lesley Stanfield features pinwheels, hexagons, circles and squares with floral motifs in lace, colorwork and embroidery. Some flowers are applied to the blocks while others are integral to the block and still more are flower or leaf shaped themselves. These projects offer lots of ideas for afghan blocks, pillow fronts, washcloths and more.

Likewise 75 Floral Blocks to Crochet by Betty Barnden has a bunch of fun designs of different shapes, sizes and techniques using crochet. This book includes a directory of blocks showing collections of blocks in different colors that you might combine for a project.

The giveaway this week is for both books; there will be one winner.

For a chance to win leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, May 17. Why don’t you tell me what your favorite flower is? I usually say zinnias, but I love sunflowers, too. And roses.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

Comments

  1. I’d be hard pressed to choose a favourite but red poppies and sunflowers are certainly at the top of my list.

  4. I adore just about all flowers! On Mother’s Day I was lucky enough to pick out some favorites from a local shop. I filled my pots with Lantana, a miniature petunia “million bells” (hummingbirds love them), marigolds, geraniums, and heliotrope.

  5. My favorite flower is so hard to say, they are all so beautiful. But I really do enjoy Azelas.

  7. Some of my favorites are lilacs, iris, orchid, roses, carnations, orange blossoms, okay I admit it I love all flowers!!!!!

  8. My favorite flower is the carnation. I’ve loved them since I was a little girl.

  13. My Favourite flower is a Gerbera …. I would love to make blocks and join them altogether to form a beautiful rug !! Imagine combining every flower .. merging them all into one massive rug …. how beautiful would this be ? And all because of these two gorgeous books…my needles and hooks are crossed that I am the winner 🙂

  14. Oh my– sometimes it’s tulips, sometimes it’s hyacinths, sometimes it’s peonies! They’re all so pretty!

Have you read?

Learn a Flower Bobble Technique to Knit a Fun Shawl

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier. 

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project. 

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible. 

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge. 

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects. 

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy. 

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project. 

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Xandy Peters]