Morning Glory Square ~ A free Crochet Square Pattern

There is something so special and divine about the mother/child bond that his/her mere existence makes a woman complete. One year and a week before, on 24th of August, I was blessed with a boy whom I named Aahan. As sex determination in India is illegal, we didn’t know the gender till I delivered. All we were hoping for was a healthy baby and then he arrived, crying…!! We named him Aahan which means “morning glory”, born at 4:14 AM. And Morning Glory he is, thus the name for this pattern.

Motherhood taught me so many things and patience is one of them. Of course, I was patient enough earlier too but motherhood added an another dimension to it. When your child is very young, like mine, motherhood becomes synonymous with tolerance and patience. You have to have patience when your baby cries endlessly while you change his diaper… when you are dead tired and your baby just refuses to go to sleep.. When you have to start the process of putting your baby to sleep all over again because he is fast asleep when he is on your lap but wakes up as soon as you put him on his bedding.. But in the end it all worth because when I see him smile, my all worries, my stress, all negative emotions just disappear and I feel so refreshed and calm that everything just falls into its right place.

He is still very young to understand the notion of favourites and likes and dislikes but since I like flowers, I believe he too will like flowers and will handle them gently. So I have kept this afghan block flower centric ( I have attempted to give it a little 3D look..!!) and then worked in rounds with bead and puff sts, and then squaring off the circle and a border. Pretty simple but engaging.

Hope you will like my Morning Glory..!!

So here goes the pattern.

Morning Glory Square ~ an afghan block

Material Required:

Your favorite yarn and a matching hook, I used 3.5 mm hook with sports weight yarn
Tapestry needle to weave in the ends
Scissors

Level:

Enthusiastic beginner

Finished size:

9" with sports weight or DK yarn

Abbreviation and stitch guide (US terms):

st (stitch) sts (stitches)
ch (chain)
sts (slip stitch)
yo (yarn over)
sp (space) sps (spaces)
sc (single crochet)
dc (double crochet)
hdc (half double crochet)
tr (treble crochet )
dtr (double treble crochet)
fpdtr (front post double treble crochet)
fpsc (front post single crochet)
fpdc (front post double crochet)
bpdc (back post double crochet)
bphdc (back post double crochet)
bpsc (back post single crochet)
dtr2tog (double treble two together)
tr5tog (treble five together)
fpdc3tog (front post double crochet three together)

hhdc (herringbone half double crochet) - yo, insert the hook in the indicated st or sp, yo, pull up a loop, pull through one loop (2 loops on the hook), yo pull through both the loops.

Instructions:

Start with double magic ring. If you are not comfortable working with MR then you may chain 6 and ss in the first ch to form a loop.

1. Work 8 sc in the MR.   – 8 sc

2. Work mini puff (yo ×3) in the same st, ch2, *mini puff in the next st, ch2* around. Join with ss in the first puff. - 8 puffs, 8 ch2 sps

3. Join with ss in any ch2 sp, ch4, tr5tog in same sp, ch4, ss in same sp,*ss in the next ch2 sp, ch4, tr5tog, ch4, ss in the same sp* around. Join ss in the first ss. – 16 ss, 16 ch4, 8 tr5tog

4. Start with *fpsc around any mini puff that we made in round 2, work (2sc, 2hdc, 2 dc, 1 tr) around first ch4, fpdtr around tr5tog, work (1tr, 2dc, 2hdc, 2sc) around last ch4 (first petal made)* around. – 32 dc, 32 hdc, 32sc, 16 tr, 8 fpdtr, 8 fpsc

5. We are going to work dtr2tog in the unworked puff from round 2 (working behind our work, you will fold the petals slightly so that you will be able to work in that puff), start with standing dtr2tog, ch7, *dtr2tog in the puff from round 2, ch7* around. Join with SS on top of the first dtr2tog. – 8 dtr2tog, 8 ch7.

6. Start with standing sc in any ch7 sp, *9 sc in ch7, fpsc around dtr2tog* around. Join with SS on top of the first sc. – 72 sc, 8 fpsc

7. Start with standing dc in any of the fpsc from round 6, *ch2, (skip next st, hdc in the next st, sideways puff (yo ×4) around hdc ~ bead stitch) repeat 4 times, ch2, dc in the fpsc* around. For the last repeat, you don’t need to work that last dc as we have already done one standing fpdc. Join with ss in the first dc. – 32 bead stitch, 16 ch2 sp, 8 dc

8. ch1, *fpdc around dc, dc in the same st, fpdc around same dc, ch2, (skip next st, puff (yo ×4) between 2 bead sts from last round) repeat 3 times, ch2* around. Join with ss in the first fpdc. – 24 puffs, 16 ch2 sp, 8 dc, 16 fpdc

9. ch1, *fpdc around fpdc, 3 dc in the next st, fpdc around last dc, ch3, (skip next st, puff in between 2 puffs from previous round) repeat 2 times, ch3* around. Join with ss in the first fpdc. – 16 puffs, 16 ch3 sp, 24 dc, 16 fpdc

10. ch1, *fpdc around fpdc, dc3tog over next 3sts, fpdc around last dc, ch5, (skip next st, puff (yo ×4) between 2 puffs, ch5* around. Join with ss in the first fpdc. – 8 puffs, 16 ch5 sp, 8 dc3tog, 16 fpdc

11. Start with standing *fpdc3tog around any fpdc-dc3tog-fpdc group, ch5, long sc in ch5 from round 10 and ch3 from round 9 together, ch3, fpsc around puff, ch3, long sc in ch5 and ch3 of round below together, ch3* around. Join with ss in fpdc3tog. – 32 ch3 sps, 8 fpdc3tog, 8 fpsc, 16 long sc

In this round we will be squaring off the circle.

12. Start in any fpdc3tog, *(dtr, ch1, dtr2tog, ch2, dtr2tog, ch1, dtr) in fpdc3tog, tr ch3 sp, ch1, 4 htr in next ch3 sp, 4 dc in next ch3 sp, (2 hdc, 2 sc) in next ch3 sp, fpsc around fpdc3tog from previous round, (2 sc, 2hdc) in next ch3 sp, 4 dc in next ch3 sp, 4 htr in next sp, tr next ch3 sp, ch1* around. Join with ss in first tr. – 8 tr, 8dtr, 8dtr2tog, 16 ch1 sp, 4 ch2 sp, 32 htr, 32 dc, 16 hdc, 16 sc, 4 fpsc

13. Start in ch2 corner sp, *(puff, ch2, puff), fpdc around dtr2tog, puff between dtr & dtr2tog, puff between dtr and tr, dc in between tr & first htr, bpdc around next 4 sts, bphdc arounf next 4 sts, bpsc around next 9 sts, bphdc around next 4 sts, bpdc around next 4 sts, dc between last dc & tr, puff between tr & dtr, puff between dtr and dtr2tog, fpdc around dtr2tog* around. Join with ss on the top of first puff. – 24 puffs, 8 fpdc, 4 ch2 sps, 8 dc, 32 bpdc, 32 bphdc, 36 bpsc

14. Start in any ch2 corner sp, *(2 herringbone hdc, ch2, 2 hhdc) in ch2 sp, hhdc in every st across.* Join with ss in first hhdc. – 156 hhdc, 4 ch2 sp

Round 15 to round 18 will be worked between the stitches (not in the stitches). ~ Moss stitch round.
15. Start in ch2 corner sp *(sc, ch2, sc) in ch2 sp, (skip the st, ch1, sc in the next st ) repeat  till next corner* around.  – 84 sc, 80 ch1 sp, 4 ch2 sp

16. Start in ch2 corner sp *(sc, ch2, sc) in ch2 sp, (skip the st, ch1, sc in the next st ) repeat  till next corner* around.  – 92 sc, 84 ch1 sp, 4 ch2 sp

17. Start in ch2 corner sp *(sc, ch2, sc) in ch2 sp, (skip the st, ch1, sc in the next st ) repeat  till next corner* around.  – 100 sc,  88 ch1 sp, 4 ch2 sp

18. Start in ch2 corner sp *(sc, ch2, sc) in ch2 sp, (skip the st, ch1, sc in the next st ) repeat  till next corner* around.  – 108 sc, 92 ch1 sp, 4 ch2 sp

This round you will work in sc’s as well as in ch1 sps, both will be mentioned as sps, so please place your st accordingly.

19. Start in ch2 corner sp *(sc, ch2, sc) in ch2 sp, sc in next 8 sps (that includes 4sc’s and 4 ch1 sps from previous round, {one split (dc-tr-dtr) cluster, skip one st, sc over next 5 sps} repeat 5 times, one split (dc-tr-dtr) cluster, skip the next st, sc over next 8 sps* around. Join with ss in first sc. – 24 (dc-tr-dtr) cluster, 172 sc, 4 ch2 sp

20. Start in st after ch2 corner sp *hdc in 8 sts, (fphdc over cluster, hdc in next 5 sts) repeat 5 times, hdc over next cluster, hdc in next 8 sts, ch1, puff in the ch2 sp, ch1* around. Join with ss in the first hdc.  – 24 fphdc, 4 puffs, 8 ch1 sp, 172 hdc

Done and dusted..!!

I hope you enjoy the pattern.

And now is the time for our today's WoW (Words of Wisdom), it is taken from one of my favorite novel, "Looking for Alaska", a teen fiction by John Green. Green has presented us with so many beautiful & thought provoking quotes and following is the one I love the most.

So that's all for the day, see you soon somewhere again in Crochetland, till then happy crocheting and be kind and considerate..!!

Love,

Jessica