Mary’s Memory is a hexagonal motif I designed for my February 2019 Crochet Cruise with Crafty Adventures.  I have named it after two Marys who are no longer with us:  Mary Oliver (the poet) and Aunty Mary of Aunty Mary’s Thing fame.  I also dedicate this motif to a third Mary (whose relatives I was fortunate enough to meet on the cruise) and to Sue-Anne (who bought me my first ever Bloody Mary) and her husband;  to the impact their individual and collective stories had on me and everyone else who was fortunate enough to hear them;  to the tears and the joy and the celebration of a life well lived.  Finally, I dedicate it to every woman who has helped shape who YOU are, whether they know it or not.

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Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
– Mary Oliver, The Summer Day

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I have broken the motif up into three parts, which I will share over the next week (at which point I will turn 38! Whoohoo!!).  Apart from photos for every round and hand-holding instructions, it also contains many MANY charts, created in collaboration with the wonderful Maggie Bullock (I’ll tell you a little bit more about her lower down).

Mary’s Memory

• A Bit About the Design
• A Bit About the Cruise
• Mary’s Memory Pattern
  • Information
  • Chart Legend
  • Part 1 (With Links to Complementary Hexagons and Joining Suggestions)
  • Part 2
  • Part 3 (With Links to Complementary Hexagons AND Happy Birthday Me!)
  • Growing Mary’s Memory With the Ubuntu Border (Happy Birthday Mr LAWIM!)

A Bit About the Design

At the end of Part 1, you will have a gorgeous little Hexagon that you can use as a stand-alone motif.  For the central flower, I have used a modified version of the flower we used for Sophie.  Yup, I can’t stay away from Sophie!  Part 1 includes suggestions for using this small motif in a blanket, as well as links to complementary motifs and my favourite joining methods.

At the end of Part 3, you will have a large hexagon that can also be used as a stand-alone motif.

This design was inspired by the kaleidoscope photo I took when we were making the half-diamonds during the Ubuntu CAL 2018 (Part 6).  I was intrigued by the challenge of making this ‘visual’ work in the round.  It was no easy task, let me tell you, and some of the elements were just too tricky to recreate.  So the end result, in Mr LAWIM’s words, ‘looks nothing like the inspiration photo‘.  And I’m ok with that, because I love how she turned out and I know her history :)

Once I have shared all 3 parts, I will tell you how I grew my motif even bigger by adding the Ubuntu Border to it (with a few modifications).

And after that?  Who knows?  Maybe we can have a grand old grow-your-own adventure (with a little bit of guidance, of course).

A Bit About the Cruise

If you haven’t already read about my epic cruise, you can find my ramblings about it HERE in the post I did about the My Voyage Shawl and HERE in my Newsletter.  It was truly the trip of a lifetime!  Apart from all the other reasons already mentioned in those two posts, I just adore doing workshops.  They give me the chance to connect with people, to share my knowledge, to better understand how people interpret instructions, and to learn from them.  And when I am fortunate enough to have a well-known crochet goddess as my sidekick, well… can a girl ask for more?  This photo pretty much embodies the mood at the workshops;  lots of laughter, lots of concentration, and LOTS of frogging (but mainly laughter)!

The majority of the ladies managed to finish their hexagons during the two three-hour workshops allotted to them, just to give you an idea of how long one motif takes to make.  This does not mean that each one will take you six hours!  You have to take into account the vast amount of chatting and snacking that was going on simultaneously :)

Paula Storm, who hosted the quilting workshops, started making her hexagon in Stonewashed XL.  Doesn’t it look dramatic in those colours?  She hadn’t finished it when I took this photo, but it is my estimation that her hexagon will be roughly 23cm per side when it is done, just to give you an idea of scale.  It will be almost as big as my motif was after adding the Ubuntu Border (photo above with hand for scale).

While we were busy crocheting hexies, the quilting ladies were busy sewing some.  Aren’t they gorgeous?  I wonder what it is about circles and hexagons that make them so pleasing to create!

I would like to thank Scheepjes for donating the yarn for the kits we used on the cruise.

Mary’s Memory Pattern

© Dedri Uys 2019.  All Rights Reserved.

Charted by Maggie Bullock

Designed for the February 2019 Crafty Adventures Cruise.

Information

Resources

• Add the Pattern to your Ravelry Queue
• Hashtag:  #maryhexagon
• PDF:  You can buy a print-friendly, ad-free, US PDF of this pattern from my Ravelry Store HERE.  Please note that this PDF does not contain the charts or the photo tutorial.  It has space for making notes (should you choose to print it out) and a few necessary photos.  It also contains a Yarn Legend at the back that will allow you to attach your chosen colours for easy reference.  Alternatively, you can use the print-friendly button at the bottom of each part to save it to PDF.

Materials

• Scheepjes Catona, 100 % Cotton, 50g/125m/137yds
  • Yarn A – 130 Cream
• Scheepjes Catona, 100 % Cotton, 10g/25m/27yds
  • Yarn B – 208 (Yellow)
  • Yarn C – 222 (Medium Pink)
  • Yarn D – 114 (Dark Pink)
  • Yarn E – 146 (Turquoise)
  • Yarn F – 397 (Light Blue)
  • Yarn G – 245 (Green)
• 3mm crochet hook

	Yarn Usage in grams
	Yarn A	Yarn B	Yarn C	Yarn D	Yarn E	Yarn F	Yarn G	Total (g)
	130	208	222	114	146	397	245
End of Part 1	6	0.5	0.5	1	1	0	0	9
End of Part 3	28	4	8	8	5	2	5	60
After Ubuntu Border	120	19.5	19.5	20	19	21	18	237

Abbreviations

US Terminology

• Beg – Beginning
• BLO – Back loop only
• BP – Back post
• Ch – Chain
• Dc – Double crochet
• FP – Front post
• Hdc – Half-double crochet
• Rem – Remaining/remains
• Sc – Single crochet
• Sl st – Slip stitch
• SM – Stitch marker
• Sp/sps – Space/spaces
• St/sts – Stitch/stitches
• Tr – Treble crochet

Punctuation

* An asterisk indicates pattern repeats. You will need to repeat all the instructions between asterisks the number of times specified. This is a hard-core repeat and will consist of multiple instructions.

Square Brackets [] indicate repeats. You will need to repeat the instructions between square brackets the number of times specified. This is a lower level repeat.

Parentheses () are used to indicate a group of stitches to be worked into the same stitch/space. Parentheses are also used to indicate a repeat when using square brackets would be too confusing.

Special Stitches

• Tr Bobble – Yarn over twice and insert your hook into the indicated st/sp. Yarn over and pull up a loop. (Yarn over and pull through 2 loops) twice – 2 loops. Yarn over twice and insert your hook into the same st/sp. Yarn over and pull up a loop – 5 loops. (Yarn over and pull through 2 loops) twice – 3 loops. Yarn over twice and insert your hook into the same st/sp. Yarn over and pull up a loop – 6 loops. (Yarn over and pull through 2 loops) twice – 4 loops. Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops.
• Dc2tog – Yarn over and insert your hook into the indicated st/sp. Yarn over and pull up a loop (3 loops).  Yarn over and pull through 2 loops (2 loops).  Yarn over and insert your hook into the next st/sp.  Yarn over and pull up a loop (4 loops).  Yarn over and pull through 2 loops (3 loops).  Yarn over and pull through all 3 loops.
• Popcorn – Make 5 dc in the same stitch. Remove your hook from the last stitch. Insert your hook into the first dc of the 5-dc group. Grab the last stitch with your hook and pull it through the first stitch to create the Popcorn.
• 3-dc Bobble – Yarn over and insert your hook into the indicated st/sp. Yarn over and pull up a loop (3 loops).  Yarn over and pull through 2 loops (2 loops).  (Yarn over and insert your hook into the same st/sp.  Yarn over and pull up a loop.  Yarn over and pull through 2 loops) twice – 4 loops.  Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops.

Chart Legend

This pattern does not contain one ‘traditional’ chart.  Due to the three-dimensional character of the motif, it is hard to create one cohesive and easy-to-follow chart.  Instead, it contains many little charts.  If you are not familiar with charts but have always wanted to learn to follow them, this is the perfect opportunity.  The charts have been created in collaboration with Maggie Bullock, whom I had the fortune of meeting for the first time in ‘real life’ on the cruise.

Maggie hosted the ‘I Can Read Charts CAL‘ in 2015, and it is an excellent (free) chart-learning resource.

Below, you will find the stitch legend for Mary’s Memory.  I suggest that you print this out so that you can reference it easily as you work through the parts.

Gauge

Your motif should measure 8cm/3.1” from point to point at the end of Round 4.

Size

At the End of Part 1:

• Per Side:  5cm/2”
• From Side to Side: 9cm/3.5”
• From Point to Point: 10.5cm/4.1”

At the End of Part 3:

• Per Side:  13cm/5.1”
• From Side to Side: 21.5cm/8.5”
• From Point to Point: 26cm/10.2”

After Growing With the Ubuntu Border:

• Per Side:  27cm/10.6”
• From Side to Side: 47cm/18.5”
• From Point to Point: 54cm/21.3”

I hope that you will join me on this week-long journey and that you will have a lot of fun creating your own memories.

Continue to Part 1

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