The Grand Finale

Phew, I'm finished just in time! The end of the year 2012 also marks the end of my Challenge: For the last twelve months I've been working my way through Edie Eckman's book "Beyond the Square" and completed all of the 144 motifs. Earlier today I've posted my last motif, one of my favorites:

Motif # 17, a circle

Along the way, I've made beautiful circles, interesting hexagons, relaxing triangles, unique squares and other unusual motifs.

Motif # 1, a circle

Motif # 51, a hexagon

Motif # 62, a triangle

Motif # 114, a square

Motif # 143, an unusual shape

Is it strange to say it was an exciting adventure? Probably, because any Surfer or Bungee Jumper might have another definition of excitement and adventure :) For me, however, it's been a pleasure to meet the well known stitches and arrange them in a new way, or to try new and sometimes challenging stitches, like the folding single crochet stitches as in motif # 23.

Motif # 23, a circle

An easier stitch was the Leaning Tower Stitch, but it was so much fun to do and I love the three dimensional effect it adds to the traditional granny, as in motif # 109.

Motif # 109, a square

144 motifs, that means:

For more beautiful motifs please check out our Shared Gallery once again, where the other participants have linked their versions. And that brings me to the thank-you-part of this post:

A big thanks goes to all the other girls who have joined me on my journey through this book, although we took different routes, we've often met on some crossroads along the way. It would have been quite boring to go this way alone!

I also have to thank the readers of my blog who frequently came to visit and always found something nice to say about the motifs I've been posting all year - it would have been quite boring without you, too!

And of course, I want to thank the author of the book, Edie Eckman: thank you for writing this book, for watching my progress from afar, and for the free copy of "Connect the Shapes - Crochet Motifs" that arrived at my house a week before Christmas - what a wonderful present, thank you so much!

Flipping through Edie's new book almost made me want to start the next Challenge for 2013, but for now I'll have to take a little break from the motifs. Still, I couldn't resist trying one special motif that caught my eye the first time I've opened the book. It's a hexagon-motif from the "swirls"-section of the book, I've added some picot-3's to the corners to give it a more Christmassy look:

Motif # 69, a swirls-hexagon, from "Connect the Shapes"

Now that's it. I kinda miss this Challenge already... What about you, girls? What's your summary at the end of this year? Have you reached your personal goal? Do you want to continue the Challenge for a while in 2013? Our actual gallery was supposed to close by the end of the year, but I can add a few more weeks/months, even another year, if you want me to - just give me a quick feedback, okay?

Thanks for your visit today, I'll be back soon for a general 2012-review. See you then!

Links: 

Beyond the Square: Challenge 2012

News and Participants

Shared Gallery: link up your motifs!