Hello again, it’s been a while! How have you been? I think September was when I was last on here, and it’s now nearly April 2026.
I have been quite busy though. Towards the end of last year I was casting around for inspiration for a new blanket and remembered some photos I’d come across on Instagram and Google, of some very beautiful hellebores plants. I’d saved the images, thinking they could be the catalyst for a new project, and now decided this was the perfect time of year to start designing – since hellebores are winter flowering plants.
Let’s begin with the inspiration.
This image is from an Instagram account which posts the most glorious flower photos. It stuck in my mind when I first came across it and later prompted me to do a Google search for more photos of hellebores.
These are just some of the many I found on Google, and I added a photo of my own hellebore from my garden.
You can see that it wasn’t difficult to choose a colour palette – mauves, plums, cream, lilac and mossy greens – lovely subdued shades of a winter garden.
There are certain characteristics of a hellebore flower that I had to consider – well defined petals, often with a striking outline and of course the prominent stamens.
First, I experimented with a number of flower shapes within a crochet square but without much success, as they just looked a bit fussy. Then it dawned on me that what was really going to fit the bill was the African Flower granny square. I couldn’t better it for the petal shapes and the all important outline.
If you’re not familiar with the African Flower design, it was first published in a South African crochet magazine in 2009. The designers were Lynette Fouris and Anita Roussouw for the magazine ‘Sarie’, although it was initially a hexagon. It quickly gained worldwide fame and has been a favourite ever since.
The cream flower in the above image is a straightforward African Flower. I did tweak the pattern a little to make it a granny square and of course added the stamens.
The stamens are really what turns them into hellebores! Now, It wasn’t at all possible to crochet these stamens. They are too delicate. So I embroidered them on top of the crochet square. I chose to use a long tailed french knot for this, and it is so easy to do. Don’t be put off!
As the flower is the main theme, it appears in different parts of the blanket with stripes and plain squares interspersed as a contrast, and all on a background of mossy greens.
You will find it’s a simple pattern, suitable for any level of ability, especially as there are lots of video tutorials as well.
One aspect of this pattern that differs from all my others is the hook size I used. Although it’s my usual DK weight of yarn, I found it was better to go up a full hook size for most of it. My favourite 4mm hook was redundant in favour of a 5mm. This was mainly because I found the flower motif was pulling a bit with the smaller sized hook but smoothed out beautifully with the bigger one.
The blanket has a lovely drape, due in part to the bigger hook, but also because I made granny clusters of two stitches instead of the usual three.
The yarn as I mentioned is double knit weight and I’ve listed three different yarn options within the pattern. Seventeen balls in total are required.
Option One is mainly Yarnsmiths Create DK, with the addition of three shades from Stylecraft Special DK. The blanket was such a particular palette of plums, purples and mossy green that I needed to mix the yarns in order to find the perfect shades.
Option Two is all Stylecraft Special DK.
Option Three is all Scheepjes Colour Crafter DK.
The options are all nearly a perfect match for each other, so you can choose whichever suits you best.
The Stylecraft Special option is for anyone who wants to shop locally, or who has a stash of their own they can raid.
The Scheepjes Colour Crafter option is primarily for my followers in the EU who find the import duties from the UK (Brexit🙁) are too high.
However Option One, the mix of Yarnsmiths and Stylecraft, is my personal choice. I made my blanket in these colours and therefore the pattern is written with these colours. What’s more, the Yarn Packs will come in this option only.
You will probably be aware that Yarnsmiths yarn is only available from Wool Warehouse, as it’s their own brand but it’s a brilliant website to order from, whether you are in the UK or anywhere around the world. Their shipping rates and speedy delivery are consistently rated highly.
I’ll put all the links at the end of this blog post.
So as I write this post, it’s all systems go for a release of the pattern on Monday 30th March.
I’m so pleased to be passing this winter beauty of mine over to you now. As I get older, I find my eyes really struggle with the amount of screen time needed to write the pattern. Like most oldies I have cataracts forming in both eyes and have to be patient until they are advanced enough to have them removed. It makes my eyesight bleary and fuzzy which is beyond annoying. Thankfully, crocheting itself is not much of a problem as long as the light is good, but oh the computer screen is a killer.
Anyway, enough of my moaning – here are the important links to the pattern, yarn packs and video tutorials.
Pattern available here –
ETSY shop
Yarn Packs available here –
Video tutorials available here –
And with that, I’ll sign off for now and go and rest these old eyes in a darkened room. Just kidding, I’ll probably pour a nice glass of wine and drink a toast to the magnificent Hellebores.
What’s next? I’m not sure yet. But I’ll be back to share it with you, whatever it is!
Happy crocheting,
You’ve done a superb job of recreating those flowers! They are stunning, congratulations.