Can't believe I'm Crocheting!

Whilst visiting lots of lovely and inspiring blogs throughout the month of May I happened across some lovely crochet.  Now, although I can crochet, I've never found a project that I liked enough to venture beyond sample squares that practice the stitches.
That is until I visited Jo Avery's myBearpaw blog where she has been slowly working on this lovely blanket:

This photo and lovely blanket belong to Jo Avery

Isn't it amazing!  I am really drawn by the idea that they are flowers inside hexagons!  Jo used a vibrant set of colours in Alpaca and Merino wool.
So here is my first ever attempt at my own African Flower Hexagon:

I used a YouTube video to watch this step by step, some colour varying yarn that I already had in my cupboard and a size 4mm hook.  On this one I forgot to do the bottom left corner.

Then I decided to make another one with a slightly larger sized 4.5mm hook but I think it looses it's cuteness.

I imagined my own blanket in lots of muted and natural colours, so decided on 100% Eco-cotton from Debbie Bliss.  Here is my first flower inside a hexagon for my own blanket!  Yay!

Once the yarn arrived in the post, of course I couldn't stop at just trying out one:

Now I am loving the pale ones a lot, but in the future I think I'll only use the darker shades in smaller doses.

Also, I noticed that my flower centres look a lot like the spokes of a wheel.  So I googled a little more and found a photo step-by-step tutorial from Heidi Bear that suggests a different way of making the centres, so I've tried that and I much prefer this kind of centre:

So that is how I will do them from now on.  

I am having a bit of trouble joining the threads and then starting the next row.  I always seem to be too far forward, in front of the hole I'm next supposed to enter, so if you have any tips or can point out any tutorials you may have bookmarked, I'd be most appreciative! I shall google for a few more tips anyway, as it could be because I am left handed and am following right handed tutorials.

Lots to Learn!

Heidi Bear also has a tutorial on how to join up the hexagons as I go!!  ooooh - got to love a challenge!

Have you thought of copying being inspired by someone else lately?