Oceanic Rose: My first 12” afghan square design

Overlay crochet has been keeping my crochet life for 2 years already. I just cannot stop creating intricate designs with lots of front post stitches and multiple changes of colours. Most projects in overlay crochet are rated as intermediate and some of them are truly advanced. And I have always wanted to come up with something simple, and beautiful at the same time. The beauty is in simplicity. That’s true, indeed. So this time I decided to give it a try and to stream my creative energy into a little bit different direction.

Well, I should say that designing simple things is quite difficult. And I have been always jealous for designers who can come up with genius and so simple designs at the same time. But I didn’t want to give up.

At first I started to create a mandala. I wanted it to look as a flower with petals reminding of waves. And then when it was large enough, I thought: what if I try to square it up. This part took a little bit longer, and I rejected 3 versions before I was satisfied with the final look. I used Sport weight yarn Catona* by Scheepjes, which is 100% cotton (you can read my review about this yarn HERE) and 2.5mm (C) hook. And when I finished my square and measured it, I found out it is exactly 30cm (12”) large. YAY! It seems like I’ve created my first ever afghan square without even having it in mind!

This pattern is available HERE on Ravelry and HERE on Etsy. If you are in US you can check Catona yarn on Paradise Fibers*.

My squares are made with thin yarn and small hook, and of course if different weight of yarn is chosen (like DK or worsted) the square will become larger. But it is very easy to adjust its size. To make it smaller, you can just leave out a few outer rounds – to make it of exact size you need.

12” afghan square is a classical size for making blankets, afghans and throws. But I believe they can be used in many other different ways. For example if you take thick yarn and make a larger square, it can become a wonderful decoration for your pillow cover. And I decided to try to make a stool cover from mine. And it suites my stool perfect.

I just continued to crochet with double crochet stitches (US terms) on each of 4 sides and made 1 dc in each of 4 spaces in the corners. I changed the colour on every round and made 6 rounds in total. And ta-dah! Here is the result :)

I believe this pattern is very easy to follow and is aimed to advanced beginners. As always I added lots of progress pictures to illustrate every round (the attachment of new yarn and placement of the stitches). But there is also a print friendly copy of the pattern available for download – with text only.

I used yarn in 4 colours, but you can express your own creativity and use more shades if you wish. And you can also think of your own colourway to make your square unique and exactly like you want it to be.

I will be happy to see you finished project.

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