Crochet Podcast 17: Daisy Squares, Flower Shawl, Bunny WIP

Crochet Vlog Episode 17: Daisy Granny Square Blanket, a Never-Ending Flower Shawl, and My Bunny WIP

Some crochet days are all neat stacks of finished squares, and other days are loose ends, re-doing joins, and a project that suddenly needs six more motifs than I planned. In this episode, I'm sharing what's on my hook right now, including my Daisy granny square blanket, my never-ending flower shawl situation, and the bunny that's taking over my crochet time (in the best way).

Morning tea, a cozy start, and settling in together

I filmed this one early in the morning, so I came prepared with a cup of tea. I'd already had my two coffees, but tea just feels right when I'm trying to ease into the day and talk crochet.

Today's mug was filled with Kericho Gold English Breakfast, which has quickly become a favorite for my morning crochet. The company has been around for ages, but the branding is newer, and this particular blend felt like a fun "new but not new" kind of treat. They've got a huge range too, something like 20 different types, including herbals, which I think is super cool when you like to switch it up.

If you're curious about what I'm sipping, this is the Kericho Gold English Breakfast Tea I'm talking about.

Once I'm settled with a warm drink, it's easier to stay on topic, even when I'm excited about five crochet things at once.

Community corner: thank-yous, shout-outs, and the giveaway excitement

I love when viewers take a moment to introduce themselves. It makes everything feel more like a real crochet group and less like me talking to a camera in my yarn room.

Thank you to everyone who introduced themselves

A special thank you to:

• Bimala
• Trudy
• Jody Mars One

If you're new here, I'm always happy you found me. Get comfy, grab your project, and hang out a while.

Crochet blog shout-outs I've been enjoying

I've also been finding (or getting found by) other crochet bloggers, and I want to start sharing those in my vlogs more often. It's fun to see what other people are making, especially when their videos are short and sweet.

Two I mentioned:

Christy from Christy's Crochet Corner
She posts cute little vlogs pretty often, many of them around five minutes. They're quick, friendly, and easy to watch when you want a tiny crochet break. She's a dog groomer in the States (I keep wanting to say Tennessee, but I don't think that's right).

Angelia from Crochet House
She's newer to blogging and has a few blogs going. I've been enjoying her projects, especially the Easter bunny ideas that look doable and not overly complicated.

If you have a crochet blog or YouTube channel you love, tell me in the comments wherever you're watching. I want us to help each other find the good stuff.

Giveaway update (and my next prize idea)

The giveaway is going great. Right now I have 173 unique comments, which means 173 entries, and I'm not even going to pretend I'm not checking it daily. It's genuinely fun.

Doing giveaways makes me want to make it a regular thing, like a monthly rhythm. My idea is to keep it half yarny, half Kenya, since that's our life over here.

Here's what I'm thinking for the next giveaway bundle:

• A curated set of Kenyan yarn (a really nice colorway)
• Tea or coffee, or maybe both

Yarn plus a warm drink just feels like the perfect happy mail. If that sounds fun to you, let me know.

A yarn weight resource I'm actually using (because yarn math is real)

Sometimes I pick yarn by vibe. Other times, I need the numbers, especially when I'm trying to match yarn to a pattern and I don't have the exact yarn the designer used.

This week I found a yarn weight chart that's so helpful I wanted to print it out and keep it nearby. The page breaks down things like what "aran" or "chunky" really means, plus the practical details that matter when you're substituting yarn.

This is the chart I used: standard yarn weights

Before I move on, here's what I look for when I'm trying to match a yarn to a project:

The takeaway is simple: when the yarn isn't exact, I can still make good choices if I match thickness and yardage as closely as possible.

March crochet-along plans: my shawl idea (and how I'm handling the gradient)

I'm getting excited about a crochet-along coming up in March, and I'm doing a separate video for the CAL kickoff. Still, I wanted to mention it here because it's the kind of project that gets you thinking about yarn options right away.

The shawl pattern I'm preparing for

The shawl I'm talking about is Erigeneia by Silke Terhorst. It's a free pattern on Ravelry, and it has that beautiful dark-to-light gradient look that's so striking in a shawl.

Here's the pattern page: Erigeneia on Ravelry

In the vlog I showed a black-and-white image first, but the finished shawl is gorgeous, and I'm really looking forward to working through it carefully for a tutorial-style crochet-along.

Yarn choices, hook sizes, and my DIY ombre plan

This is where it gets interesting, because not everyone has access to those perfect gradient yarn cakes that shift smoothly from dark to light in one cake. I also don't want to wait a month for yarn to ship if I'm ready to start now.

The yarn I'm considering for myself is a size 2 cotton. It's the right thickness, and it does change color, but it changes back and forth instead of shifting one direction. Yardage-wise it's not bad, but cotton is also heavier and more solid than a cotton-acrylic blend, which can be fluffier and lighter.

Meanwhile, a couple of my crochet ladies want to do the same shawl in bamboo. That bamboo yarn is thicker, and they'll likely use a 6 mm or 6.5 mm hook, compared to the finer yarn and smaller hook that the designer used.

So here's my plan: if I don't have the perfect gradient cake, I'm going to build my own ombre by switching colors by section. In other words, I'll use my cottons and change colors where it makes sense in the pattern so I still get that dark-to-light look.

I also want the bottom trim to be one solid color because the edging on this shawl is so pretty. Keeping that trim consistent will make it look extra special.

If you're swapping yarn, matching the yarn weight and having enough total yardage matters more than using the same brand.

If you want to crochet along, use what you have. That's the whole point.

If you're newer to crochet-alongs and want a clear explanation of how they work, I wrote this beginner-friendly guide: what a crochet-along (CAL) is and how it works.

What's on my hook right now: bunny, flower shawl, and the daisy blanket

This week is a full mix of soft and sweet, plus a project that keeps changing its mind.

My bunny amigurumi (aka the "road-kill bunny")

Let's start with the bunny, because I'm honestly in love with it. I jokingly called it my "road-kill bunny," but it's turning out so cute.

The bunny body is a lot of double crochet, and it's taking longer than I expected. I've been working it in gray silk yarn, and it feels amazing in my hands. I've used multiple balls already, and I still need one more ball to finish the body before I can assemble everything.

I've also crocheted the head and ears. The ears have a peach center, and that part was trickier than I expected. I left long tails on everything so I can use them for sewing and closing up openings while I stuff.

The tail is a pom-pom situation, and I've sewn it on so many times that I'm finally happy with it. I still need to trim the ends neatly, but it's in place and it makes me smile.

This is one of those projects that's slow, but it's also the kind you want to pick up again because the texture feels so good and the shape gets cuter every time it grows.

The never-ending flower shawl (and why I needed a break)

This one is officially my never-ending flower shawl.

It's staying together nicely now, which should feel like a win, but the layout started to look empty in a couple spots. It looks like I need to add a flower here and a flower there to fill it out.

The bigger issue is that I filmed the tutorial and laid everything out with a clear plan (how many flowers in row one, row two, all the way through row seven, plus the joining). When I joined it the first way, it looked like it was going to choke me, like the poncho shape was pulling too far back.

So I joined one more down below to fix the fit. That helped, but now the tutorial is out of date, because the flower layout changed. To make the video match what I'm actually making, I'll likely need to take part of it apart, cut off a couple flowers I already attached (including the brown and blue ones), then re-do the layout and film again.

That is the part that hurts my feelings a little, because I already sewed in ends properly. I'm taking a short break from it, then I'll add the extra flowers and test the layout before I commit to re-filming the joining section.

If you like flower-style projects, I do have a detailed joining tutorial for granny flower squares that gives a really polished look: how to join granny square crochet flowers. It's not the same shape as this shawl, but it's great inspiration when you're figuring out how joins affect drape.

My Daisy granny square blanket (fast, fun, and motivating)

This blanket made me so happy. It's bright, cheerful, and it worked up fast enough that I stayed excited the whole time.

I used a local Kenyan acrylic yarn for mine. It's thick and soft, not silk-soft, but still really nice and comfy.

The structure felt manageable because it wasn't a mountain of squares. I made:

• 16 small daisy squares
• 5 larger squares

Then I joined them into the blanket. I still need to add a border, and I keep putting it off, but the blanket itself is done and I love it.

If you want the full project steps, including joining, I have it here: daisy granny square blanket tutorial. If you just want the square itself, this is the matching post: daisy granny square tutorial.

It's the kind of project I'd recommend when motivation is low, because you get lots of small finishes that quickly turn into something big.

Out and about in Nairobi: crochet meetup plans and Maasai Market shopping

Crochet doesn't always stay at home. Sometimes it comes with me, especially when I'm meeting up with my group.

Coffee shop crochet hook-along at Village Market

If you're in Nairobi, we're meeting at the Village Market coffee shop for an out-and-about crochet hook-along.

It's on Saturday, March 3, from 9:30 to 12:30.

I'm looking forward to it because it's cozy and practical. We can order tea or coffee, grab breakfast bites, and actually sit and crochet without rushing. Our group started in a coffee shop, so it feels like going back to the beginning, plus snacks are better there. If you've ever tried to crochet through hunger, you know exactly what I mean.

Maasai Market shopping (and filming without making it weird)

I also filmed a long out-and-about video at the Maasai Market, and I picked up a small keychain gift for the giveaway.

Filming in public can be awkward here because people get nervous about it. There aren't even real security issues most of the time, but rules pop up because someone thinks it will make people feel safer. Meanwhile, anyone who truly wanted to film secretly could do it with tiny cameras, so the whole thing can feel a bit irrational.

Still, I wanted to show you the vibe, so I did my best to keep it low-key. I dressed so my phone could sit where it wouldn't flash light off me, and I used a wrap to block reflections.

The market clip includes little moments of chatting with vendors, greetings like "Jambo" and "Asante," and the normal back-and-forth around prices. It's a glimpse of the real feel of walking through, browsing, and trying to find something small enough to tuck into an envelope.

Also, I spotted a gecko, which made me happy. Anything that eats mosquitoes is my friend.

Tutorials I want to film next (and what I want to know from you)

I'm trying to set aside a day just for filming tutorials, because I have a few ideas I want to get done while they're fresh in my head.

Here's what's on my list:

I want to do a book cover tutorial, and I also want a basic stitch series I can point people to when they need help. For example, if I'm teaching a pattern and it uses treble crochet, I want to be able to say, "Watch this quick treble crochet video first," instead of re-explaining it in every project.

I've already done a foundationless chain, and it seemed to really help people. Next, I want to do foundationless versions for:

• single crochet
• half double crochet
• treble crochet

I also want to film a tutorial for color changing in the round, because that can get tricky. Stitches naturally drift, and you have to keep correcting so your color changes don't slant too far. On my first try, I didn't carry the yarn through, and it worked, but the circle turned out too big. Still, the fabric felt great.

That little round is a silk-cotton blend, 32% silk and 68% cotton, and it feels delicious. Even though it's oversized, it honestly would make a nice face scrubby.

If there's a stitch you want help with, tell me what it is. Also tell me what you're working on right now, because I always want to know what's on your hook.

Conclusion

Episode 17 ended up being a real mix of cozy and chaotic, tea in hand, bunny parts on the table, and a flower shawl that needs a time-out. Still, the Daisy granny square blanket reminded me why I love these buildable projects so much, because they stay fun from start to finish. Thanks for spending part of your week with me, and if you have requests for tutorials or stitches you want to learn, leave a note and I'll add it to my filming list.