Crochet: African Flower / Paperweight Granny

[Update April 13, 2012: I made a purse out of this motifs, tutorial is here.]

[Update August 11, 2011: Thanks to Mia again for providing more information to answer some questions at the comment section. Please find the information of the type of yarn, hook size and the resulting flower size at the pattern section.]

This is the first time I come across African Flower… well, accurately speaking, this is the first time I know that this crochet block is “African Flower”. Just like Granny Square, African Flower is a crochet block but in hexagonal shape, it can be joined next to each other to become a bigger piece and make into blanket, afghan, shawl, bag, table runner, cushion cover, soccer ball toy, coaster, pincushion, dress etc…. you name it!

Why does it call African Flower and not something related to it’s shape, for example Hexes, Hexagon Flower etc… According to some findings from the net, some said a lady saw this pattern from a South African community, so she gave it a name “Africa Flower”. There are some arguments around about the originality of the pattern since some saw it in the 70′s and it is called Paperweight Granny, much earlier than the version of the South African. Well….. leave that argument alone, be it African Flower or Paperweight Granny, crochet your project with these beautiful hexagons and call it Paperweight African Flower Granny I am putting this into my to-do list

Get the step by step photo and written crochet pattern after this jump.

Thanks to Mia, who shared her African Flower crochet at Pinterest – one of my favorite stop-overs when I needed inspiration. I love the colors Mia used, as sweet as a pretty girl! Glad that Mia allowed me to share her photos and pattern here at Craft Passion. [Note: I modified Mia's original pattern to the way I used to write, but the workings are the same.]

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