What a wonderful way to start the new year—with a cheery colorful crochet square! It’s a new decade as well as a new year, and I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely ready for a breath of fresh air in our troubled world.

As I planned this square, I kept returning to the idea of doing something visually iconic, graphically simple and joyously colorful. The 1970s slogan Flower Power kept popping into my thoughts. So I just went with it, cranked up the Creedence Clearwater Revival and settled in with some neon metallic yarn colors. The square just flowed into place as if it were meant to be! All I can say is….  groovy, man.

Flower Power was created as the first square of the always-awesome yearly Moogly Crochet Along! Today is just the beginning and I can’t wait to see everyone’s color choices for Flower Power as well as all the other fantastic squares from participating designers as the year progresses. You can see the gorgeous 2019 Moogly CAL and find out everything you need to know about the 2020 project here. I hope you’ll join the private Facebook group and catch up with everyone on Instagram as well using the hashtag #mooglycal2020

The pink, purple and green square was made with size J hook.

The square below was made with size I hook and various colors  of worsted/aran-weight yarn.

I hope you enjoy it! Peace.

Flower Power Square

Designed by Carolyn Christmas

 

Size

12” square when made with worsted/aran-weight yarn and size J hook. Size will vary with different yarns and hooks.

 

Materials

For pink, purple and green square, I used Red Heart with Love Metallics:

A: Fuchsia

B: Lime

C: Purple

J hook or your preferred hook size to use with your chosen yarn

 

Abbreviations

Bpsc back post single crochet

Bpdc back post double crochet

 

Notes

Magic circle and chainless starting double crochet  If you prefer, you can use the Magic Circle method instead of the starting chain, and you may also want to use Moogly’s Chainless Starting Double Crochet method instead of ch-3 to start the double crochet rounds.

Needle joins are something I highly recommended for this square, specifically for rounds that are followed by rounds of back post stitches. The needle joins allow the round’s stitches to appear as a smooth and unbroken round of stitches, with an indiscernible beginning and end.

Here is an excellent video tutorial for doing the needle join. I call it needle join but it’s often  called invisible join or invisible finish, as in this video.

This is another excellent needle join tutorial. 

Back post single crochet and back post double crochet stitches are important elements of this design. Here are some videos and tutorials for you:

Back post single crochet video

Back post double crochet video

Yarnspirations Ultimate Guide to Crochet Post Stitches

It’s important to note that in some videos, the crocheter is working back and forth in rows rather than the rounds we have in the Flower Power design. The videos show very clearly how to do the back post stitches, but the look of the row is different from what we have in Flower Power because the rows have been turned and with Flower Power, you are going round and round.

Instructions

Rnd 1: With first color, ch 5, join with sl st in first ch to form ring, ch 3 (counts  as dc), 15 dc in ring, join. Fasten off. (16 dc)

Rnd 2: Join next color with bpsc around any dc, bpsc around each st around, join. (16 bpsc)

Rnd 3: Ch 3 (counts as dc), dc in same st, 2 dc in each st around, join. Fasten off. (32 dc)

Rnd 4: Join next color with bpsc around any dc, bpsc around each st around, join. (32 bpsc)

Rnd 5: Ch 3 (counts as dc), dc in same st, dc in next st, (2 dc in next st, dc in next st) around, join. Fasten off. (48 dc)

Rnd 6: Join next color with bpsc around any dc, bpsc around each st around, join. (48 bpsc)

Rnd 7: Ch 3 (counts as dc), dc in same st, dc in next 2 sts, (2 dc in next st, dc in next 2 sts) around, join. Fasten off. (64 dc)

Rnd 8: Join next color with bpsc around any dc, bpsc around each st around, join. (64 bpsc)

Rnd 9: Ch 1, sc in same st, (skip next 2 sts, 7 dc in next st, skip next 2 sts, sc in next 3 sts) around ending last repeat with sc in last 2 sts, join. (Eight 7-dc petals with 3 sc between petals)

Rnd 10: Ch 1, sc in same st, sc in next st, (hdc in next st, 2 dc in next st, 3 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, hdc in next st, sc in next 5 sts) around ending last repeat with sc in last 3 sts, join. Fasten off.

Rnd 11: Join next color with bpsc in center sc between petals, bpsc around every st around, join. (112 bpsc)

Rnd 12: Ch 1, sc in same st, sc in next 3 sts, (hdc in next st, dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, 3 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, dc in next st, hdc in next st, sc in next 7 sts) around ending last repeat with sc in last 3 sts, join. Fasten off. (144 sts)

Rnd 13: Join next color with bpsc around first hdc on any petal, bpsc around next 10 sts, *(skip next st, bpdc around next st) 3 times **, skip next st, bpsc around next 11 sts; repeat from * around ending last repeat at **, join.(112 sts — 11 bpsc on each petal with 3 bpdc between petals)

Rnd 14: Ch 1, sc in same st, *ch 9 (for best results chain loosely, or at least not tightly), skip next 9 sts, sc in next st, hdc in next st, dc in next 7 sts, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in next st, dc in next 7 sts, hdc in next st**, sc in next st; repeat from * around ending last repeat at **, join. (two groups of 11 sts–or 22 sts–on each side, plus ch-9 in center of each side and ch-2 at each corner)

Note: Rnd 14 involves working ch-9 loops and skipping 9 stitches on each of the four petals that lie at the center of each side. When you work rnd 15, with the ch-9 loop behind the petal, you will work into those skipped stitches as a part of the round. In order to keep the ch-9 loops from rnd 14 from remaining free at back of work, rnd 15 instructions require you to catch a strand of some of the chain stitches as you work across the skipped stitches from rnd 13. Most instructions would have you simply work over the chain (and you can do this if you prefer), but to me this causes these rnd 15 stitches to appear too thick. To alleviate the thickness and still catch the chain into the working stitches so the chain doesn’t just lay free at back of work (ready to hang on an unsuspecting toe in the finished blanket!), just insert your hook under one strand of a chain stitch every other stitch as you work in the skipped stitches.

Here’s a view of the back showing the chain loops.

Rnd 15: Ch 3 (counts as first dc) (or if you are changing colors for this round, work a standing dc or join in same st and ch 3 for first dc), working in skipped stitches on rnd 13 and catching one strand from chain stitches as directed in note above , *skip next st on rnd 13, hdc in next st, sc in next 5 sts, hdc in next st, skip last skipped st on rnd 13; working in sts on rnd 14, dc in next 11 sts, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in next ch sp, dc in next 11 sts; repeat from * around ending last repeat with dc in last 10 sts, join in top of ch 3. (33 sts on each side with ch-2 at each corner)

 

Rnd 16: Ch 1, sc in same st (or if you are changing colors for this round, join with sc in any st along side), sc in each st around with (2 sc, ch 1, 2 sc) in each corner, join. Fasten off. (37 sc on each side with ch-1 at each corner)

Depending on your choice of yarn and hook size, your tension and the measurements you wish to achieve, you may wish to add rounds. There are several serviceable options for one additional round:

• a round of double crochet with (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in each corner
• a round of half double crochet with (2 hdc, ch 2,  2 hdc) or (hdc,  ch 2, hdc) in each corner
• a round of single crochet with (sc, ch 2, sc) or (2 sc, ch 1, 2 sc) in each corner

The following two rounds also create a very attractive option:

Rnd 17: Join with bpsc in any st along side, bpsc around each st around with ch 2 in each corner (do not work sts in corner ch-lps but leave them free), join.

Rnd 18: Ch 3, dc in each st around with (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in each corner, join.

If your square is pretty close to your desired measurement, I think it’s a good idea to set it aside and make more of your project or crochet-along’s squares to see how they are coming out. It’s more important that they end up about the same size than that they end up a certain measurement. It’s also helpful, but not necessarily critical, for squares to end with the same, or almost the same, number of stitches and corner chains in the last round.

This post is a guide to the process of getting a collection of blocks to the same size.

Whatever you decide for your squares, I hope you enjoy the process.

If you enjoyed this square pattern, you might like some of my other squares:

Dream Circle

Harlequin Shells

Posy Wheel