The main hexagonal motif used in this project was originally designed to be part of my Frida's Flowers blanket crochet along project in 2016, however I felt it wasn't totally right for the design, so I made an alternative piece instead. Despite its omission from the project, I love the motif and so I named it 'Diego's Flowers' after Frida Kahlo's husband Diego Rivera. The colours for this project were inspired by the décor of Frida & Diego's fabulous kitchen within their home in Mexico City 'The Blue House', which is now a museum. The kitchen surfaces feature bright yellow and blue ceramic tiles and the painted table and chairs that sit at the centre of the room have green and red hand painted details. The large terracotta bowls and cooking pots that are placed around the room are decorated with flashes of orange and pink - all colours that feature in the palette I have chosen for this project. I adore the fun 'fiesta' feeling of this blanket and am really pleased with the outcome of it, but I also love seeing how motifs can be used to make alternative projects, so I asked ace crocheters Marina Kelly, Gemma Biggs and Sue Macdonald if they would like to come up with a couple of ideas for how to use the motifs in another project. Within this pattern we have included some images of the fabulous cushion project made by Marina and the vibrant handy bag project made by Gemma as well as the fun, stash busting mandala that Sue created. I love seeing my designs 'out in the wild' and I think the way Marina, Gemma and Sue have interpreted the pattern is fantastic. Hopefully you will be inspired too! The pattern is written in UK & US terms and it includes written instructions and crochet charts. Please note that this is a pattern for the blanket project. Instructions are included for how to make a hexagon and half hexagon motif. The images of the bag, cushion and mandala are shown here to give you ideas of how you could interpret the crochet motif to make alternative projects.

My amazing sister-in law, Julie, adored bunting. Any excuse for a party and Julie would be there with a step ladder and loads of bunting to decorate the room! We lost Julie after a courageous battle with cancer earlier on this year, so I wanted to design something in her memory. A pretty, floral bunting that features some beads and yarn in her favourite colour, yellow, was the obvious choice.

A garter and tuck stitch cowl that uses increases and decreases to open and close a series of geometric, organic shapes: diamonds, buds, or blossoms. Winterlong is started from a provisional cast on, and worked flat to the knitter’s desired length. Skills needed: increasing, decreasing, provisional cast on, 3 needle bind off. Recommended worsted weight yarns. Finished measurements: 59” circumference, 7 1/4” depth