This flowery afghan is assembled from granny squares where the first few rows are worked into the puffy, lacy flowers that lend the afghan its name. The pattern in the book calls for all of the flowers to be white, with a light teal background, but I like the variety of having four colors of flowers, as well as being able to use up some yarn on hand for some of the colors. I used Caron Wintuk as a nice acrylic that will stand up to gentle washing while being softer than the traditional Red Heart. The central flowers are heavy enough, you definitely want a substantial yarn and a slightly firm hand in constructing this afghan. The assembled afghan is six squares by eight squares, for 48 squares all told, 12 in each of the four flower colors.

While I was able to use up leftover skeins for this project, it's really not a scrap afghan. With each skein weighing in at 3.5 ounces, I needed three skeins for each of the four flower colors, though I had most of the third skein left in each case. If I had worked all of the flowers in a single color, I would probably have only needed nine or ten skeins total. The flowers are surrounded by a round of "leaves", requiring five skeins, and the blue border including a simple one-row edging took eight skeins.

I try to avoid afghans pieced from squares rather than made in single pieces, because I hate weaving in ends. These squares were at least fairly large, and there were plenty of nice dense places for end-weaving, so the task was not unbearable. The pattern itself is quite easy once you get the hang of it, though I found myself making seven- (instead of eight-) petaled flowers more than once when I didn't pay attention. I think the end product looks more ornate than the work required to make it; if you can make a granny square, you can make this afghan. It's not a good afghan for blanket or lap-rug use because there are fairly large holes around the flowers and the flowers themselves do weigh the afghan down a bit, but it makes a very pretty throw and is heavy enough to be wonderful to pull over you for an afternoon nap.