301-304::365 lacy squares

Patterns (left to right): "Hot Pepper" by Janie Herrin & "Minty Fresh" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares; "Dogwood Flower" & "Cone Flower" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

There's not really a common theme to these squares other than that they are more open than the ones I usually make (with the exception of the first one, but the crossed stitches do leave it a little airy). I was really excited to get The Granny Square Book, my first e-book purchase for my new Kindle Fire. Yay for early Christmas presents! Junior is the best boyfriend ever! It is really convenient to use for crochet patterns. Even though this book has a few patterns similar to some I've already made, there are plenty of unique ones among the 75 in this book. And it even has crochet charts. Pretty awesome! There are also a bunch of ways to use granny squares, but none of them are really groundbreaking. My favorite is a mobius* scarf of "Cone Flower" squares crocheted in fluffy, bulky yarn.

*Wow, check out this super pretty mobius wrap pattern!

276-279::365 a few new squares

Patterns (left to right): "Water Lily" by Jean Leinhauser, "Cluster Wheel" by Janie Herrin, "Puffs & Posts" by James G Davis, and "Whirligig" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I thought I'd be able to post these squares on Sunday, but after a fun but exhausting weekend of camping, I didn't quite get around to it. I searched up and down for my copy of Beyond the Square so I could make some more circle squares, but I didn't have any luck. I'm beginning to think that I loaned it to someone. Hmm. Anyway, I took this book with me instead and made these four squares. The Whirligig one is my favorite. I really had to work at shaping Water Lily to get it to ruffle evenly. Now that I've blocked it, it looks like it will stay this way.

266-269::365 circles-in-squares

Patterns (left to right): "Victorian Doily" by Jean Leinhauser, & "Ruffle-Go-Round", "Land of the Free", & "Ship's Wheel" by Janie Herrin in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I've been avoiding using dark colors of yarn for a while now, but I'm basically down to a few blue shades and a yellow until pay day on Friday, so I've resorted to crocheting with this dark blue for a little variety. I have seriously used a ton of yarn this year! My plan for this afghan is to use circle squares like these of all different sizes and some of the squares I've been making from rows for this new baby blanket. (You can see the first one here. I'm not quite done weaving in ends yet! I have finished the border though.)

"Victorian Doily" has a 3-d lacy effect going on. It is almost flowery. I tend to avoid working patterns as written if they say not to join at the end of a round because I'm afraid that the result will not look neat, but I followed the instructions for the center exactly on this one. You really can't tell the difference unless you are looking for anomalies.

The second square's ruffles are created over a mesh of dc stitches created by skipping a stitch in specified places around the circle. Then with a contrasting color, you have to sc & ch 2 three times over each dc from right to left then go to the next dc "spoke" and repeat. That may or may not make any sense. It was a little confusing in the pattern, but I'm pretty sure I did it right!

"Land of the Free" was red, white, & blue in the sample in the book, of course. The center is created by a series of 3dc cluster stitches. It may be the plainest of these three squares as far as fancy stitches go, but I really like it. I had to pay really close attention when I got to the first round after the dark blue circle one because it would have been really easy to miscount stitches.

"Ship's Wheel" is probably my favorite. It really was the quickest of these squares to make. The spokes of the wheel are created with front post treble crochet stitches. Super easy! It really does kind of look like the wheel of a ship.

Do you know of any neat circle-in-a-square patterns I should check out? I'm looking for more!

265::365 breezy filet

Pattern: "Breezy Filet" by James G. Davis in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This huge square measures 13"! I did alter it a little on the final round. Instead of sc, I copied the previous round and worked 2dc, ch1 in each space. I keep forgetting not to use white in a circle like this because it always looks like a giant eye. Maybe someday I'll make an eyeball-only afghan. I have plans to add this to the second baby blanket I have to make, but I wonder if little baby hands might get caught in the lacy stitches.

264::365 embossed floral

Pattern: "Embossed Floral" by Janie Herrin in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I had put this book on my back burner for the silliest reason ever, but I'm back to it now. I just didn't like the way this square looked, and since I was making them in order, I didn't want to skip it. I think it was just the country blue color of yarn used in the sample in the book that turned me off to it because I like it just fine after making it my own colors.

250::365 berry beauty

Pattern: "Berry Beauty" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This really simple square uses popcorn stitches in the corners to add a little bit of texture. I actually left the corners solid in a couple of the outer rounds, only adding a space on the very last round.

Here are my most recent 25 squares. I really love this mosaic even though there are a couple of repeats in the fabric I used for each day. I can't wait to show you the progress I've been making joining these squares! I have a three day weekend for Columbus Day, and I'm going to get lots of crochet done.

247::365 golden shells

Pattern: "Golden Shells" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I wish more patterns incorporated crossed double crochet stitches. Those are the "X" stitches on the dark purple round on the center of each side. They look so pretty! I didn't stray from the pattern other than in the corners to create a space. At 7.5", this square is one of the smaller ones in this book.

246::365 quadruple shells

Pattern: "Quadruple Shells" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This easy square measures about 8". As usual, the only changes I made were altering the last two rounds so that they have open corner spaces. It looks sort of flowery as it is, but if the first round of sc were in a contrasting color, it would be a more obvious flower. The whole time I was making it, I was reminded of the center of the 5th square I made this year, Coffee & Cream!

245::365 winter rose

Pattern: "Winter Rose" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

The center of my square bears little resemblance to the sample in the book. It is supposed to be kind of ruffly instead of the slightly scalloped circle I have. I'm not sure why this is. I always use a magic ring for the center of my squares, and when a looser ring didn't look great, I cinched it almost all the way shut.

Another change I made was in the final round. I used hdc instead of sc, and I worked them into the back loop and the loop at the very back of each sc of the previous round to create the neat ridge effect.

The fabric in the background is one of my favorite vintage tablecloths. I really need to take a picture of the whole thing!

244::365 cluster dome

Pattern: "Cluster Dome" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares.

This circle-in-a-square is pretty huge compared to the other squares I have been making lately. It measures about 10.5". As usual, I used my trusty size H hook which must be larger than what was used in the samples in the book (it doesn't specify), because it lists the size of the finished square as 8.5". The only change I made was substituting hdc for sc in the next to last round.

241::365 moody blues

Pattern: "Moody Blues" by Jean Leinhauser in 5o Fabulous Crochet Squares.

I got this book for my birthday, and it has some really nice granny square patterns! This square worked up to 7". I did leave off the last round of single crochet. Since this square is named after the shades of blue that mostly make up the sample in the book, I had to feature some blue. The pattern did have a yellow center and border. I mainly just switched up the outer part of the circle by changing it from blue to green.