Welcome to Week 4 of our 2019 Block of the Week Crochet Along. I am pleased to see so many of you chatting and sharing photos on my Ravelry board and my Facebook Crochet-A-Long group.
Remember how I told you that some weeks will be more challenging than others? Well, welcome to your first challenge of 2019 – Iris Twins by my old friend Mugginsquilts – Margaret MacInnis! While Iris Twins is as well-written as all of Margaret’s work, each round will keep you on your toes. I found myself enjoying the ride as I tackled each twist and turn. Because I may have complained a little too much, Margaret has kindly given us another beautiful block this week called Bufflehead, which I have not tried yet as I was a little under the weather but I am looking forward to working it up this week. And thanks again for making them both free Ravelry downloads! And thanks for the very helpful included photo tutorial!
beautiful version by DakotaStamper
Margaret has been a good internet friend since we met on Ravelry exchanging afghan squares over ten years ago. It is amazing how crafting and the internet brings people together. Margaret is a busy woman these days, even busier than when she was a working nurse raising a family. Among her latest ventures is her burgeoning career as a vintner. Yes, she farms in the wilds of Saskatchewan and grows a very interesting fruit called a Haskap berry, and is almost ready to start producing wine. In fact, Margaret would like us to weigh in on the design of her wine label, so won’t you check it out and pick a favorite here. Margaret is a prolific knitter as well as a crochet and knit designer; some favorites are the very simple (for her) Cat’s Claw afghan block, and her geometric masterpieces, Deftly Delft and Ring Rosy. Margaret has been quiet on her blog recently, but you can always find her and keep up with new designs on her Ravelry board, More Muggins’ Marvels.
Have you purchased your CAL bag yet? Mailing out almost every day – my custom heavy-duty canvas tote bag, see here for more information. If you spend $25 in one day on my patterns, send me your address and I will send out the bag to your U.S. address. For International addresses, postage is at cost and can be calculated on my Etsy listing.
Do not miss the last few days of my BOGO sale in my entire Ravelry store until the end of January with Coupon Code BOGO18. Buy two patterns and the lower priced pattern is free.
Welcome to Week 3 of our 2019 Block of the Week Crochet Along. I am pleased to see so many of you chatting and sharing photos on my Ravelry board and my Facebook Crochet-A-Long group.
In the course of an afghan square crochet-along, some weeks will be more challenging than others. Some blocks will be at a beginner level, some intermediate, some experienced, but you will learn something and increase your skills with every block. I always pick up new little techniques. This week you will get plenty of experience with post stitches in the context of a relaxing square, Flame Square by Jessie Rayot. The square works up nice and square and I love the opportunity for a flame-like color progression, although mine is in blues and greens. Hmm, makes me think I used too much off-white in my other blocks.
Jessie has been stitching since childhood and is a formidable force in the crochet-blogging world, with daily posts on her blog Jessie at Home, featuring crochet and knit patterns, tutorials, and a very helpful “Stitchopedia.” If you are looking for another fun afghan block, try Tamara’s Kismet Square, and you can’t help being impressed by her CGOA Design Competition Winner, Fall Leaves Wrap. One of Jessie’s favorites is her beautiful Spring Shells wrap. You can follow Jessie on her blog, Jessie at Home, her Facebook page, and all social media. Thank you, Jessie, for these beautiful designs, and I’m sure we will enjoy making our Flame Square this week.
Have you purchased your CAL bag yet? Mailing out almost every day – my custom heavy-duty canvas tote bag, see here for more information. If you spend $25 in one day on my patterns, send me your address and I will send out the bag to your U.S. address. For International addresses, postage is at cost and can be calculated on my Etsy listing.
Do not miss the last few days of my BOGO sale in my entire Ravelry store until the end of January with Coupon Code BOGO18. Buy two patterns and the lower priced pattern is free.
Welcome to Week 2 of our 2019 Block of the Week Crochet Along. I am pleased to see so many of you chatting and sharing photos on my Ravelry board and my Facebook Crochet-A-Long group.
An afghan square crochet along is such a good way to increase your crochet skills. You have the satisfaction of completing a project in a day or two, and you get to try out new stitches and techniques brought to you by many different designers. This week I am pleased to present Lola Bean Square by Shelby Shea. Lola Bean is a beginner/intermediate pattern, with a few new stitch techniques.
Shelby is a talented young designer and I’ve known of her work since 2012 when we crocheted along together on Ravelry boards. Her Kiss-Fist is a classic afghan block that should be in your repertoire. Shelby took a break from designing while focusing on the little ones, but recently released Retrograde, a full size afghan making great use of color-changing yarn. All her designs can be found on Ravelry, and she has a Facebook Crochet Along Group. Added bonus, Shelby is crocheting along with us and will be available for questions if needed. She’s also thinking about expanding Lola Bean into a full size afghan. So head to Ravelry for your free Download, and join us in our CAL!
Have you purchased your CAL bag yet? Mailing out almost every day – my custom heavy-duty canvas tote bag, see here for more information.
Welcome to the Block of the Week Crochet-a-Long with JulieAnny 2019! We will feature a free 12″ afghan block each week through November (48 squares) and then join and border our afghans in December. Free pattern will be revealed here on the blog each Monday (sign-up for blog notifications so you do not miss a week.)
I have the pleasure of the cooperation of almost 40 talented crochet designers in this year-long project, and will also offer a few patterns myself. Chat and share photos on my Ravelry board and/or my Facebook Crochet-A-Long group.
Each square in this CAL will have approximately 39-41 stitches per side on the final round to fit together. This will result in a 12″ square in worsted weight or a 10″ square in dk weight. Forty-eight blocks will produce at least two large size afghans if you use worsted or aran weight yarn and a H or I hook. Using dk yarn or thinner will result in a smaller afghan. Use whatever yarn and hook you like to achieve a pleasant fabric.
To get started, I would recommend about 3000 yards worsted or aran weight yarn for a 24-block afghan. You will need more if you do all 48!
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Hook: H (5.0 mm) crochet hook or whatever size works with your yarn
Size: 12” Square but a little larger or smaller is fine as long as you like how it feels. All blocks in the Crochet Along will have a final round stitch count of 39-41 to fit together.
Pattern uses American crochet terms. Ch-3 counts as dc.
Abbreviations
beg – beginning BLO – back loop only ch – chain dc – double crochet FPtr – front post treble crochet RS – right side sc – single crochet sk – skip sl – slip sp – space st – stitch tr – treble crochet WS – wrong side
Beg PC – beginning popcorn st (ch 3, 3 dc in same st, remove hook and place hook from front to back through top ch of beg ch-3, grab working loop and pull through, ch 1 to tighten PC*)
PC – popcorn st (4 dc in same st, remove hook and place hook from front to back through loop of first dc, grab working loop and pull through, ch 1 to tighten PC*)
Berry Stitch: YO, insert hook in next st, pull yarn through, YO, pull yarn through one loop, YO, insert hook in same st, pull yarn through, YO, pull yarn through all five loops, ch 1 to tighten*.
*Ch-1 that tightens the PC and the Berry does not count as a stitch.
Round 1: With A, ch 4, join with sl st to form ring, ch 1, 8 sc in ring, sl st to first sc. (8 sc)
Round 2: Ch 1, 2 sc in each sc, sl st to first sc. (16 sc)
Round 3: Sl st in next st, Beg PC in same st, ch 2, sk next sc, (PC in next sc, ch 2, sk next sc) seven times, sl st to top of first PC, fasten off. (8 PC, 8 ch-2 sp)
Round 4: Join B with sc in any ch-2 sp, (ch 1, PC, ch 1, sc) in same sp, [(sc, ch 1, PC, ch 1, sc) in next ch-2 sp] seven times, sl st to first sc. (8 PC, 16 sc, 16 ch-1 sp)
Round 5: Sl st in ch-1 sp, Beg PC in same sp, ch 1, sc in top of next PC, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, (PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, sc in top of next PC, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1) seven times, sl st to top of BegPC, fasten off. (16 PC, 8 sc, 24 ch-1 sp)
Round 6: Join A with sc in any Round 5 ch-1 sp that lines up over a PC in Round 3. FPtr around top of PC in Round 3, sc in same sp as first sc. [Sk PC, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in sc, sc in ch-1 sp, sk PC, (sc, FPtr around PC in Round 3, sc) in ch-1 sp] seven times, sk PC, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in sc, sc in ch-1 sp, sk PC, sl st to first sc. (8 FPtr, 40 sc)
Round 7: Sl st into next st, Beg PC in same FPtr, (ch 1, dc in next 5 st, ch 1, PC in FPtr) seven times, ch 1, dc in next 5 st, ch 1, sl st to top of Beg PC. (8 PC, 40 dc, 16 ch-1 sp)
Round 8: Ch 4 (counts as dc and ch-1), (PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, sk dc, dc in next 4 st, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, dc in top of PC, ch 1) seven times, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, sk dc, dc in next 4 st, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, sl st to 3rd ch of beg ch-4. (16 PC, 40 dc, 32 ch-1 sp)
Round 9: Beg PC in same st as join, [ch 1, dc in top of PC, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, sk 1 dc, hdc in next 2 st, sc in next dc, sc in top of PC, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in next dc, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in top of PC, sc in next 2 dc, hdc in next 2 st, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, dc in top of PC, ch 1, PC in dc] three times, ch 1, dc in top of PC, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, sk 1 dc, hdc in next 2 st, sc in next dc, sc in top of PC, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in next dc, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in top of PC, sc in next 2 dc, hdc in next 2 st, ch 1, PC in ch-1 sp, ch 1, dc in top of PC, ch 1, sl st in top of Beg PC. (12 PC, 8 dc, 16 hdc, 32 sc, 24 ch-1 sp)
Round 10: Ch 4(counts as dc and ch-1) 2 dc in same st, [dc in next ch-1 sp, dc in next dc, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in PC, sk ch-1 sp, sc in next 12 st, sk ch-1 sp, sc in PC, sc in ch-1 sp, dc in next dc, dc in next ch-1 sp, (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc in corner PC)] three times, dc in next ch-1 sp, dc in next dc, sc in ch-1 sp, sc in PC, sk ch-1 sp, sc in next 12 st, sk ch-1 sp, sc in PC, sc in ch-1 sp, dc in next dc, dc in next ch-1 sp, dc in same st as beg, sl st to 3rd ch of beg ch-4, fasten off. (25 st per side)
Round 11: Join B with sc in any ch-1 sp, sc in same sp, (sc in next 24 st, 3 sc in ch-1) three times, sc in next 24 st, sc in same sp as beg, sl st to first sc, fasten off. (27 st per side)
Round 12: Work in BLO. Join C with sc in second sc of any 3-sc corner, sc in same st, (sc in next 26 st, 3 sc in next st) three times, sc in next 26 st, sc in same st as beg, sl st to first sc, ch 1, turn work. (29 st per side)
Round 13 (WS): (Hint: In this and the next round, since we are now looking at the stitches backwards, work into the two loops “after” the stitch instead of before.) Sc in same st as join, sc in next st, [(Berry st in next st, sc in next st) 13 times, sc in next st, 3 sc in next st, sc in next st] three times, (Berry st in next st, sc in next st) 13 times, sc in next st, 2 sc in same st as first st, sl st to first sc, fasten off. Turn work. (Each side has 3 sc in corner, 1 sc before the berries, 13 berries with sc between, then 2 sc at end, for 31 per side.)
Round 14 (RS): Join B with sc in second sc of any 3-sc corner, sc in same st, (sc in next 30 st, skipping the ch-1’s that tighten the berry, 3 sc in next st) three times, sc in next 30 st, sc in same st as beg, sl st to first sc, fasten off. (33 st per side)
Round 15:Work in BLO only. Join A with sl st in 2nd sc of any corner, ch 4 (counts as dc and ch-1), 2 dc in same st, [dc in next 32 st, (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in next st] three times, dc in next 32 st, dc in same st as beg st, sl st to 3rd ch of beg ch-4, fasten off. (37 st per side)
Round 16: Join C with sc in any ch-1 sp, sc in same sp, (sc in next 36 st, 3 sc in ch-1) three times, sc in next 36 st, sc in same sp as beg, sl st to first sc, fasten off. (39 st per side)
Copyright 2019 Julie Yeager Designs Please do not post this pattern on the internet. Posting a link to my website – www.julieyeagerdesigns.com, or to my Ravelry store – where you can see all my patterns – http://www.ravelry.com/stores/Julie-yeager-designs, is appreciated. Contact me via e-mail at [email protected]
