For the last three years I have participated in the Moogly Blog Crochet Along (Moogly CAL). Every two weeks a new square is released. At the end of the year, there are 24 squares to sew together and make a twin-sized blanket.

I have participated in 2016, 2017, 2018, and now 2019. Unfortunately only one of those has become a blanket. Below is my 2017 square.

The center square is Sophie’s Garden. It is a lot of fun to work on a square that is so intricate and changes color almost every row. All of the squares are intricate and interesting. Most of these squares would be beautiful as their own blanket, but that’s a lot of ends to weave in. When each block is different, the blanket is visually appealing and eclectic.

I decided to do a center square again this year. Partly because I wanted to try out my color palette, and partly because it’s a lot of fun. I didn’t want to do Sophie’s Garden again, so I began the search for another 24″ square.

I found it on Ravelry. The Amanzi Block by Jen Tyler had the right amount of intricacy and challenge, so I did something I don’t often do: I paid for the pattern. At $2, it was a good deal. I finished parts 1 and 2 for my 24″ block, but she continues the instructions to make a full blanket.

This pattern had a few challenges. It had written directions and lots of pictures, but it also had videos. I chose not to watch the videos, so there were some things I had to study the photos and instructions to figure out. I would categorize this pattern as advanced.

I learned some new techniques. To go from a circle to a square, I had to do what the designer called, “independent rounds.” This simply meant that it was a partial row and did not go around the entire blanket. Each corner was worked independently. It was a new idea for me, and I was very thankful for the designer’s careful calculations. It would be hard to make sure all of the stitches ended up in the right places without them.

I did skip some flowers on the outside and added a row of half double crochet around the outside, but other than that, I followed the pattern.

The color scheme

I decided I wanted to use Caron Simply Soft yarn this year. I used it two years ago and liked it. They offer a lot of colors and one skein goes a long way (or so I thought! I already went through two skeins of yarn in the process of making the center square.) So, I got on Pinterest and searched “Simply Soft yarn color palettes.” It brought up quite a few.

I decided on a combination of gray, black and green as found here.

The moment my yarn arrived, I was undecided. It is a different color palette than I would normally use. The dark gray was nearly the same color as the black, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t find a better alternative.

My colors are: Chartreuse, Off White, Gray Heather, Charcoal Heather, and Black.

Posting the question about the colors on my Facebook page got mixed results. In the end, I decided to keep them.

Blocking

Blocking is something I had never done until a couple of years ago. I never even knew it was a thing. When you block a crochet square, you basically moisten it and pin it to the correct size. Once you shape your square, it should hold it’s shape without needing to be blocked again.

The Amanzi square needed blocked.

Here is is before blocking.

See how the inner green petals folded down on themselves and how the gray edging doesn’t look quite even? These are things that blocking will help.

If your square is a few inches too small, blocking will not help. Your piece will only stretch a small amount, so it’s best to make sure your work is the desired size before blocking.

I pinned around the outside edge and also pinned each of the petals in place.

The blocked piece is much nicer to look at and much nicer to work with.

Now, this square will wait for the rest of the squares to join it. We’ve already finished square #1. I’m hoping to block it and join as I go this year. That may have been my goal last year, too. We’ll see how things turn out.