Hi, it’s Amy here. Both Em and I like crocheting blankets the most. Though in summer I don’t always fancy working on a big blanket that has to be draped over me. This is where motifs come in! Crochet motifs are squares, hexagons, triangles, etc, that you can then join together to make into a bigger project. Most of Em’s blanket patterns fall into this category but two great examples of this are the Imagination Quilt and Hexadaisy Blanket.

Em actually designed the Hexadaisy Blanket to be a summer crochet along. Each hexagon is a motif which are then joined together to create a blanket.

Projects like this are great for summer as they are very portable. If you’re out for a beach day or picnic then you can just take the supplies needed to make a few motifs, without having to bring the whole blanket to work on. And if it is super hot (like it has been recently) then you also don’t have to be working on a big blanket in the heat. There is a playlist on YouTube which walks you through the Hexadaisy blanket. You can also find the written pattern on the Meema Makes website, Ravelry and Etsy.

Hexadaisy Blanket Tutorials

For her blanket, Em used Stylecraft Special DK yarn and chose colours inspired by summer. If you like these colours then there is yarn pack for these available on Wool Warehouse.

When I made this blanket last year, I used DK yarn from my stash. It was a great project as I got to use all of my most bright and colourful colours and I think it is my most favourite blanket I have made to date.

With all of this hot weather that the U.K has had recently it has me wondering if people crochet less in summer. Is it seen as a winter hobby? We’d love to know what you do!

Finding colour inspiration in summer

As I mentioned earlier, Em was inspired by summer colours when designing the Hexadaisy blanket. What I love about this design is it works create with any colours. Both Em and I chose to use lots of colours for the hexagons but this would also look beautiful if all the hexagons were the same colour. That’s what makes motifs such a great choice! You can really play around with colour combinations.

Summer is full of beautiful vibrant colours and we can use nature as inspiration when choosing colours for our projects.

Above is an example of how we can take colours from nature and apply them to our own projects. I saw these forget-me-nots on a walk and loved the soft pastel colours. I have chosen a few colours from the photo. From these colours I would then look through all of the colours from the yarn I’d like to use (I will use Stylecraft Special DK as an example).

If I were to recreate this forget-me-not colour palette with Stylecraft Special DK yarn I would choose: Cloud Blue, Heather, Cream and Buttermilk.

This yellow stopped me in my tracks because of how unique it is. All the other buttercups were solid yellow apart from this one, it looks like it’s been painted!

This has inspired me to make a yellow and white baby blanket. These colours aren’t a new combination but it doesn’t have to be. It is just what I have been inspired to make from seeing this flower.

Sometimes things we see can give us new ideas for colour combinations. I wouldn’t have thought of using pastel blues and purples together but the forget-me-nots have made me think about trying those colours together.

Where as the buttercup has made me fancy making a yellow and white baby blanket, not because it’s a unique colour combination but more just because I think it’s so pretty!

Joining Methods

As I spoke about earlier, crochet motifs are often joined together to create a larger project. For the Hexadaisy blanket, Em used the whipstitch. You can learn how to do this in this tutorial: How To Join Hexagons

There are lots of other ways to join motifs. Some you crochet them together and others you sew together.

If you’d like to learn more about how to sew motifs together, specifically the mattress/ladder stitch then you can check out this tutorial: How to Join With An Invisible Seam

If you prefer no sewing then you can try joining motifs using crochet. Watch this tutorial for three different ways to join using slip stitch: Crochet Joins For Granny Squares

There are even more joining methods which I will go into greater detail about in a future newsletter.

What Amy has been up to

I’ve been working on finishing a hexagon blanket. In November last year I made the Yorkshire Blanket using colours from Yarnsmith Pebble Haze DK.

I had some yarn left over so I decided to make a baby blanket to use up the scraps. It turned out that I was loving the hexagon design so much that I bought more yarn and turned it into a throw size!

The solid hexagons are 3 rounds of double crochet. I then added a half double crochet border around each hexagon in white and joined them together using the ‘join as you go’ method.

This joining method is my go to as I like the look of the join and I personally prefer crochet joins over sewing.

However, if I were to make this again I would use ‘continuous join as you go’ instead as it would reduce the amount of white ends I had to weave in. As with the join I used, each hexagon has two white ends to weave in, which wouldn’t be the case with ‘continuous join as you go’ as I’d be working with the same strand of yarn.

My next blanket

This project got me thinking about all of my other colourful scrap yarn. Those leftovers that aren’t quite enough to make a whole project with. I might make a scrappy blanket using all of my leftover yarn. I’m thinking either mini hexagons or squares though this time with ‘continuous join as you go’. I can crochet the motifs as and when I fancy, then come winter I can spend some time joining them all together into a blanket!

We are planning on having a newsletter all about using up scraps and scrappy projects so I will update you then if I decide to make it 😊.

Community News

One of our lovely crocheters in our Meema Makes Crochet Club shared that they entered their Imagination Quilt into their local fair and received the Grand Champion ribbon!

This blanket is stunning and it’s clear to see why it won a ribbon! Congratulations!

The Meema Makes Crochet Club is a Facebook group where we share our progress on projects and ask for/give advice to other crocheters. It is also a great place to keep up to date with CAL’s and other news (as well as the newsletters 😊).

Join the Meema Makes Crochet Club

An update on products and shipping

There is currently a sale running for our Crochet Tool Kits until the 9th August 2026.

Unfortunately we have stopped U.S. shipping for the kits.This is due to ongoing tariff issues. Hopefully we can continue to ship to the U.S. in the near future and thank you so much for all of our U.S. crocheters for your patience!

Happy crocheting!

Amy & Em x

That’s why I have created an Absolute Beginner series on my YouTube channel that teaches crochet right from the very start. I go through all of the fundamentals including:

• How to choose the right yarn and crochet hook

• How to hold your yarn and hook comfortably

• How to make a slipknot and your first chain stitches

• How to single crochet and double crochet (US terms)

What is a good first project?

There are sooo many things you can make once you know the basics of crochet. One of my favourite things to crochet is granny squares. They are so versatile! You can make blankets, bags, cushions, hats, cardigans, (and more) all from granny squares!

A great first project is my Granny Love Blanket. This is because it is one big granny square, which means you do not need to know how to join squares together. It is a great project to practice the granny cluster stitch, which is made from double crochet (U.S. terms).

Any colours can be used for this blanket. I made mine using 12 colours from Stylecraft Special DK yarn. But that is what is so great about granny squares, you can use any yarn and colours! If you would like to use the same colours as I did then you can purchase a yarn pack from Wool Warehouse which includes all of the yarn you need to make this blanket.

Get the yarn pack here

You can find the video tutorials for this project on my YouTube channel. The tutorials are available for both right handed and left handed crocheters.

There is also a written pattern for this blanket which is available on My Website, Ravelry and Etsy Shop.

What supplies do I need?

Another aspect of learning a new skill that can be confusing is knowing what supplies you need to get started. To keep things really simple you need a crochet hook, yarn needle and a pair of scissors to crochet. This is so that you can make your project, snip your yarn and weave in your ends.

However there are a few other tools that I find it handy to have when crocheting. These include stitch markers, a tape measure and notebook.

Having good quality tools is another important thing for me as using certain hooks can cause pain when crocheting. I prefer metal hooks with a comfortable handle. My favourite are Clover Amour crochet hooks.

As I have been crocheting for 15 years I have found tools that I love. This is why I have put together a tool kit which includes everything you need for crochet, all in one bag! It includes quality tools such as Hemline yarn needles and embroidery scissors as well as Clover Amour hooks.

I’d like to offer different designs with each release of these kits. The photo below is of our first release! 😊

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Final thoughts

Crochet is a wonderful skill to learn and a super fun hobby! Once you have learnt the basics there are so many amazing things you can make.

If you have any questions about crochet, my tutorials or any of my patterns then you can email me at em@meemamakes.com and I will do my best to help.

Happy crocheting! ❤️

Em x

Substack is a platform where I can share more content outside of YouTube and other social media platforms. Although I enjoy filming craft vlogs and podcasts, due to my fluctuating health issues I find filming these long form videos increasingly difficult.

Using Substack means I will be able to still share and talk about all of these fun things with you, without causing my health to deteriorate.

Monthly Newsletter

I will be writing monthly newsletters which will focus on a theme and include exclusive content, crochet tips and tricks and behind the scenes photos.

If this sounds like something you’d like to follow along with then please feel free to subscribe!

Subscribe now

If you’d like more detail about anything in this post, I’d recommend watching this video:

The Next Chapter for Meema Makes

Lots of exciting things have been happening behind the scenes at Meema Makes. As you may know, in February I hired an assistant, Amy, who helps me to keep on top of emails, customer support and social media comments. Amy’s background is in product design and we are in the process of developing physical products! This is something I have dreamt of doing which is now possible as I have someone to help me with packing and dispatching.

Of course I will still be selling digital patterns that can be purchased on my Website, Ravelry and Etsy, though I am excited to branch out into other things too such as crochet kits.

Health Update

Unfortunately I had a flare up of my underlying chronic health problems from February to May this year so I have had to cancel or delay a lot of the plans I had for Meema Makes. Thankfully this flare up of my health problems seems to be much improved but unfortunately I am able to do less now than before this difficult period. I know there are a lot of people in our community who also deal with chronic illness and disability so I try to be upfront with you all about how it impacts Meema Makes.

Upcoming Patterns

Behind the scenes I have been developing new patterns!

Yorkshire Expansion Bundles

At the start of the year I announced that I had some bundles of new square designs for the Yorkshire Blanket in progress. I am happy to say that 8 of the squares have now gone through pattern testing and I am aiming to release these square patterns before October 2026 (health allowing)! I just have the tutorials left to film, which is my current priority as of this week.

These squares are the same size and stitch count as those included in the original Yorkshire Blanket so can be used in combination with the original 12 squares (shown below).

Starfall Blanket

Our next Crochet Along will be starting mid-November and will be another yarn advent collaboration. This year I am collaborating with Georgie aka Fibre Fox with her Autumn-themed 2026 advent. The pre-orders for this advent have now closed but will be available again in the future. I have been crocheting away with this advent and can I just say - it is the most beautiful deep fade and the background colour she has dyed is equally as gorgeous. Here are her moodboards:

In terms of the blanket design, it will be made from equilateral triangles laid out as 6-pointed stars - hence the name “Starfall”. I will hopefully have some black and white photos to share with you soon. I cannot share colour photos until the colours are revealed in December as Georgie’s yarn colours are a mystery!

Beginner Crochet Kit

As I mentioned earlier we have been working on launching physical products. I wanted to create a kit which includes everything you need for crochet. It includes quality tools that I have used for years and recommend, and also a pretty set of coordinating stitch markers!

There are two colour variations available, pink and sage. Your kit can also include a 4mm and 5mm Clover Amour crochet hook if you’d like. I have used Clover Amour hooks for years as they are my absolute favourite - the smoothest crochet hook I have ever used!

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See you next week

As you’ve seen there’s a lot happening at Meema Makes right now, on top of the usual weekly videos! From this point forwards myself and/or Amy will be posting here at least once per week, and sending out an email newsletter monthly (starting in August) which will also be posted here.

Happy Crocheting,

Em and Amy x