The Progress of Pansies

Sometimes I wonder if Miss Marnie thinks that I can keep up my enthusiasm for crochet in her absence. I have to admit that it is very fun when she is around, because I have someone who can instantly show me how to fix all the things that I screw up. But it is definitely spring here (some might say summer in the desert given the temperatures that we've had the past few days), and all the little seedlings in my container garden have popped their heads up while the more established perennials are in full bloom. So, it's time to pull out the hook again and make some pansies...

The entire "collection" of twelveThis does not promise to be a quick project, crochet or not, and doubtless by the time I have crocheted enough of these little flowers to pull together a binky (a binky, mind you, not a full-fledged blankie) I will probably never want to see another pansy again. But my plan is simply to continue at a slow, steady pace, and finish after I'm done making the baby if I have to. I figure these are a good pick up project, since the pansy shape is easy to memorize, so I will just keep materials on hand to pick them up here and there.

Marnie convinced me (by example, not by persuasion) that the "best" method for working this binky would be to work all the flowers first and then link them together afterwards in the manner most pleasing to me. Although I fear it, this does give me a lot of latitude with the final design. I can go square, oblong, or amoeboid at will and play around with the border a bit. So for now I'm simply creating the pansies one at a time and trying to arrange them in a pleasing manner.

With five colors to work with, I have what I think amounts to 55 different color arrangements for the pansies. Being the crazy gal that I am, I'm going to make a point of doing each and every one at least once, though. I have noticed that there are definitely color combos that work better for me aesthetically. Working under the Mason-Dixon theory of brights and dulls, it is quickly apparent that the dulls do, in fact, make the brights pop, and that leaving the brights together works pretty well, too, but when you get dull on dull - basically putting the lavender and olive together - not so much. Maybe those with subtler expectations will like those flowers better, but I do have to admit to loving the "pop."

I was pretty deliberate in my color choices on this one. I would have loved to pick up some reds, pinks and oranges (still would - wouldn't that be lovely?) but those colors scream "girl!" to me and as much as I would have liked to crochet this for a girl, this was definitely my baby's binky and I didn't know the baby's gender when I made the color choices. So... these are the most gender-neutral pansies I could muster. The brown and the olive ground it all, and the yellow, purple and blue keep it pretty. It has the subtle sophistication that I was going for in a pansy blanket, but I still can't help thinking wistfully of those oranges, reds and pinks....

Are these pansies for a girl?
Or pansies for a boy?
Any guesses on the baby's gender?
Those of you who know, keep hush!

I don't know how many of these little suckers I will have to make to get the binky to a respectable size, but I'm thinking I will just go until I only have a third of a skein of each color left (other than brown - there's lots of brown). Maybe I should have a little contest to see who guesses the final number right. Any advice on the proper dimensions of a Linus binky? I'm all ears, or perhaps all pansies.

Edited to add: For those who have asked, here is a link to the Japanese motif dictionary that contains the pansy pattern.