Welcome to Week 5 of “Friends Around the World” CAL!

This week we will be featuring Emily Franks. You’ll remember Emily as the designer of Bradley’s Far Away Universe – A Mystery Graphghan CAL. It’s the Star Wars inspired CAL we hosted last June. It was hugely popular so all you Star Wars fans NEED TO CHECK IT OUT (link to pattern below)!

I first met Emily when I had written to her about her Star Wars Afghan. I knew immediately when I saw it that everyone would love it! Thankfully she was very excited about the idea and agreed to the CAL!  Emily originally designed it for her son Bradley who was going away to college. She knew she wanted to make him an afghan to take with him to college but the patterns she found were too complicated for the amount of time she had. So she decided to design her own with inspiration derived from the more complicated, original patterns she had found……and that’s how Bradley’s afghan was born! Emily was our very first Featured Designer!! You can read more about her CAL on our Facebook page.

Emily, was taught to crochet at an early age by her mom. She made tons of bookmarks as a child and later graduated to afghans. She even designed some scarves and hats for herself. All these things have shaped her into the wonderful and talented crocheter and designer she is today.

Emily been part of our group from the start and has been HUGE help behind the scenes. She’s been a tester for Around the Bases, Hunter’s Sedge Stitch Baby Set, Honeycomb Winter Set and the Butterfly Shawl CAL’s….just to name a few.

So on to week 5!
Our heart’s are on fire for Emily’s Textured Heart square! If you’ve never tried a crochet graph, this will be a perfect way to test it out. The heart design comes to life with a combination of back loop sc and long dc stitches. Each row is worked from right to left with the yarn fastened off at each end. This leaves you with lots of ends to work in so Emily suggests keeping up with them as you go along. If you participated in the Bradley’s Far Away Universe -A Mystery Graphghan CAL, you’ll be familiar with this technique. Emily’s pattern also offers an option for experienced crocheters who may want to alternate back loops and front loops by turning their work and avoiding all those nasty ends!!!

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/textured-heart-square

I really loved making this square!!! It works up so fast and is very easy! I hope you try your hand at reading a graph! It’s a great learning experience!

Don’t forget to  post your progress pictures! I can wait to see your work!

Enjoy!!

Laurene