January Crochet Along Squares

 So the first squares of January are made!  Hooray!  I can’t tell you what a nice feeling it is to take a break from the bright colors of last year’s crochet along and get back into some colors that are more… me.  The yarn colors I chose for this year are soft and pretty, and I’m having a lot of fun with them.  These yarns are from Caron’s Simply Soft brand, and the colors are persimmon, light country peach, off-white, and the light green is pistachio.  The darker green color is similar to dark sage, but it’s a little more olive-ish.  I picked it up in a bin at one of my local craft-stores for “factory yarn ends”.  

 Anyway, the way the 2015 Block-a-Month crochet along works is that there are three squares picked for each month: the main, 12-inch square, a 6-inch square, and then everyone votes on a filler square.  The photo at the top of the page is the filler choice for January.  it’s called “Prince Protea Square” and it can be found for free here.  I made it previously just a few months ago as an extra square for my bright 2014 blanket, so it wasn’t too hard to whip up another one.  My Ravelry project page for this is here. 

 The 6-inch squares were a nice break from the intricacy of the 12-inch squares.  These were called simply “Granny Square #4.  These were really fun to make.  I hand planned to make each of them using all the colors but in reverse order, but as I was making them (I made both at the same time: round 1 on both, round 2 on both, etc) the colors just seemed to flow better.  Anyway, I’m happy with how they turned out.  In the past, I’ve usually made four of the 6-inch squares, but this year, I’m just going to make two.  If I make another blanket resembling last year’s, then there will be enough variety as it is.  Here’s my Ravelry project page for Granny Square #4. For some reason, I’m having trouble pulling up the link to share the pattern, but as soon as I am able to, I’ll update here. 

This is the square that was chosen as the main square for this year.  It was designed for the crochet along by Melinda Miller, and it’s called Pizzazz.  This was a super fun square to make!  I admit that I got lost a little bit on the overlay round, but maybe that was more because I made this right after midnight on New Year’s and may have had a couple of glasses of wine!  Anyway, I just love how it turned out.  The pattern is a free Ravelry download; and  my project page is here. 

Usually by the time the first month’s crochet along squares are done, I’m all gung-ho to start on the next month’s.  If you’re interested in joining in the crochet along, just click on the link above – there’s still plenty of time in January to jump in!

~Mellie ★