Hexagon Granny Rug

I have decided to make a rug for the girls - but I want to make something that isn't "too" nanna and propel me straight into the retirement home.  I also want to challenge myself  by trying something a little different to the standard "granny square".  It was my sister who suggested I have a look at rugs  made from hexagons (check them out here).  I LOVE them!!  Ok - design sorted.  But how????? do you do hexagons???  This hunt lead me to Attic 24 a beautiful blog written by Lucy, who loves crochet and colour.  Lucy has been kind enough to share her pattern for hexagons here. 

This is my first attempt at a hexagon - I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with myself - mistakes and all!

Ok - so I have a design and a pattern, now for the hardest decision of all ....... what colours to use?????  I want this rug to be funky and it is for the girls, so I decided to go with bright, happy colours in 8 ply pure Australian Merino wool.  (not a great representation of the colours in this piccie - but it will have to do).

I am going to make the centre of the hexagons all the same colour - orange, and then mix the colours up for each block. 

Lucy has a great way of joining the blocks as you go - eliminating that dreaded task of sewing all the blocks together at the end.  As this step is done when doing the "hexagon" round of the block, you need to get a few circles done first - here is my handiwork so far ....

I have to admit - I'm very excited about this project and am grabbing every spare minute I have to make more circles.  I am going to try and join a few of them tonight - so stay tuned!!

Nanna & Crochet

Ok - it is official ....... I have won the prize for worst blogger. My life is so dull I have had nothing worth writing about for the last 5 weeks - sad but true.  Life has been full of school holidays and hanging out with the girls - which is NOT DULL, but probably not something anyone else would find interesting.

I have fallen into a sewing black hole, and haven't been able to drag myself out of it - even though I have several interesting projects patiently waiting for me to re-emerge.  However, I have not been totally idle on the creative side - I have dug out my crochet hook and have started a granny rug for the girls (the ultimate plan is that one rug will turn into two rugs - one each ..... but let's not get ahead of ourselves!).

A much cherished gift from Nanna

After chatting to a friend who's daughter has recently discovered crochet, I got all inspired to see if I could remember how to do it .... and guess what?  I can (well with a little help from Google and U-tube).  My nanna taught me how to crochet when I was about 8 years old - the first thing I made was a multi-coloured bag to take to school (in fact I think that might be the only thing I ever made).  I cannot think about crochet without thinking of my nanna - who was skilled at crochet, knitting and embroidery.  But it was crochet that she did the most, particularly in the last ten years of her life (she passed away at the grand age of 96 & was crocheting right to the end).  Nanna was an active member of her local hospital auxilary, and crocheted thousands of granny squares, which were passed on to other ladies who sewed them together and then gave them to many varied charities. 

Another treasure!

As I take on this challenge of creating a rug that I hope will be cherished by my daughters, I feel very connected to Nanna.  I can see her sitting in her chair, the steady rythm of her hands, crochet hook and wool creating beautiful granny squares which would eventually be wrapped around a total stranger giving them warmth and comfort.  I can almost feel her by my side as I struggle to find that rythme, feel her giving me silent encouragement to keep going.  I am only a week into this ambitious project, and hoping that I can find that rythme, and stamina to see it through ...... for my Nanna, and for my girls.

NB:  Nanna did these large granny square blankets for those "special" people in her life - others got the small squares!