Fields of Gold Hoop

In the middle of last week I came across a beautiful crochet sunflower photo on Instagram, posted by my lovely crochet friend Jane Crowfoot. She had taken a large flower motif from one of her blankets and turned it into a beautiful decoration for her front door - you can see it ((here)). Along with her gorgeous photo, she announced that during this month of March all profits from pattern sales would be donated to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to assist refugees in Ukraine. I didn't hesitate for a moment and went  straight along to her website to buy myself a digital copy of her "Fields of Gold" pattern.

It's been a long while since I sat down and tried to follow somebody else's crochet pattern, and it was an interesting experience for someone like me whose brain really, really dislikes written patterns. I have very low concentration for pattern reading, I mean, I have a lot of brain fog going on during a normal, non-concentrating type of a day, so anything that requires this level of brain work is usually a no-no.

However......I really wanted to be able to support Jane's generous fundraising venture and so I made a determined effort to stick with it and see it through.

WOW, this pattern is so blinkin' clever!! There are multiple layers where the different rounds go over and under each other and at first you just can't see how it's going to work.....

....but slowly it all just clicks into place and petals and leaves interlink in a brilliantly thought out way. Honestly, my mind was a little bit blown. Jane's pattern is extremely well written, with photos to show you what some of the more complex rounds should look like. I had to really get my head around some of the taller stitches ("double treble
crochet 5 together" was a particularly testing one) but on the whole it was a wonderful, creative and satisfying experience.

I used oddments of Stylecraft Special DK as that's what I had to hand in the colours that seemed to fit. I roughly followed Jane's photo to pick my sunflower colours and chose the following shades:

Gingerbread, Gold, Dandelion, Buttermilk, Spice, Tomato, Cypress, Meadow and Lapis.

Jane said she attached her sunflower to a 28cm embroidery hoop, then added pompoms around the edge, but I chose to attach mine to a 30cm metal hoop instead. I have a bunch of these hoops left over from doing a crochet retreat a few years ago, so it seemed sensible to use what I had. You can buy them easily on Amazon :

✤ 30cm white coated metal craft ring on Amazon  ✤

I adapted Jane's blanket pattern to create the final round which attaches the motif to the hoop and love how it turned out. 

Attaching to a hoop by looping the crochet chains over is such a neat way to go about it, I used a similar method when I made my Positivity Mandala and I explain exactly how I did that in ((this tutorial)). 

I love the design very much - it's so cheerful and jolly in those sunny colours against the blue.

I've hung my hoop up in my big bay window so that you can see it from the street as you walk past.

I did mean to share this with you earlier in the week, but with one thing and another the days have slipped by. If you happen to catch this post before midnight and want to grab a copy of this pattern, the monies will be donated to charity by Jane. I think she's done very well with it and raised a lot of money already - she'll be posting an update on her social media about it soon I think.

Here is the link to Jane's page where you can purchase and download the pattern either via Etsy or Ravelry >>

https://www.janiecrow.com/fields-of-gold.html

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EDIT >> 1st April...A message from Janie via her Instagram page :

"Thank you all so much for the wonderful support of my Fields of Gold pattern throughout March. I am delighted to tell you that you raised almost £5000....so we topped it up to that lovely round number 😀 All of us at Janie Crow are over the moon at your generosity and we are just delighted that we can give a nice donation to the UNHCR on behalf of our wonderful crochet community! It's been lovely to see all the sunflowers popping up. You are wonderful - thank you again. Janie x🌻⁠"

 

 

 

Comments

[Femke]

This post is so wonderful! But I especially love the title. The Dutch word for hope is 'hoop' (pronounced as 'hope'). So at first, I read this as Fields of Gold Hope. Which is exactly what the world needs right now.

[Beverley]

This is a lovely design from your friend Jane. Thank you for sharing and I hope lots of money is raised.

[Carine]

Hello Lucy,

I just had to give the blanket a little rest 😉.

For a long time, I wanted to make an Easter Bunny and then I came across this adorable creature and couldn’t resist: https://freeamigurumi.picpin.pro/sweet-bunny-amigurumi-free-crochet-pattern/ The pattern is occasionally in a bit of 'funny' English, but I dare say I'm getting it right.

Last week we had some 16 °C, whilst yet it is again snowing and very cold due to the wind blowing, in other words: the blanket will be continued with shortly 😊.

Have a nice evening.

Warm greetings from a cold Vulkan Eifel,
Carine

[Galyna]

Lucy, I am a long time follower of your blog but this is my first time posting.
I am Ukrainian currently living in the US with my whole family scattered all over Ukraine..
What a great choice of a pattern for the cause - we adore sunflowers in Ukraine, it's somewhat of a national flower.
I will be forever grateful to people of the UK and other European countries for their kindness and generosity towards Ukrainians in these awful times.

[Ann]

This is beautiful and I ordered the pattern, some yarn and the metal hoops from Amazon. Just waiting now for the yarn to be delivered. There is a handy chart that comes with the pattern comparing the UK and US crochet stitches which is helpful. Thanks for bringing this beautiful pattern to our attention.

[Ida]

Bought the pattern and crocheted the sunflower. Sounds easy doesn't it? Not so ;-) After ripping up; changing yarn; going to the store buying some more yarn; ripping up; trying not to confuse American and UK crochet terminology; reading the pattern again and again (because it is not my language)talking to my daughter in law who also made the sunflower the same evening; ; I managed to finally finish the flower. Remind me next time I get a sudden impulse to buy a crochet pattern, to take a deep breath and then sleep on it before making the decision. But this time though the effort was for Ukraina. All for Ukraina.

[Chloe]

Very pretty!
Thank you!

[Nora McGrann]

BEAUTIFUL ☀️🇺🇦☀️

[Susan Jackson]

Thank you so much, Lucy! I love Jane's patterns and have made almost as many of her designs as I have of yours! Two of my favorite crochet gurus in one project, what fun!!

[CJ]

It's brilliant, so sunny and happy and a really good cause. Lovely to see so many people donating money to help. CJ xx

[Louise]

I had bought this gorgeous pattern a little while ago as it's such a worthy cause. The war in Ukraine is so devastating. I havent made a sunflower yet though. Yours looks just beautiful!

[Corinna Mazzotta]

What have you done? 😂 I've just ordered a pattern I've got zero chance of understanding and will probably never manage to complete, but it is so beautiful and with a donation to Ukraine as well it had to be bought! 💛💙
Oh well, I can dream that one day I'll have a sunflower hanging in my house. 🌻