The crochet swap squares are coming along, slowly and steadily. As I mentioned before, I am can procrastinate when it comes to swaps (a big no-no!), and then get stuck the last week madly crocheting every free second to finish in time! So I’m trying to keep myself on a regular schedule.

I’ve made some progress so far, and I’m over halfway done with the squares. First, here’s a little background info on the crochet swap I’m in. The process begins with colors schemes selected and voted on. The winners have signups and then square sizes (usually 12”) and quantity are decided. Some swaps have themes, such as texture, or Halloween (more on that later!). After all the decisions have been made, we select squares, make them accordingly and then send them off to the other members in the group. Finally, we receive the squares and put them all together and voila! Swap complete.  At the bottom of this post is more information on crochet swaps.

This swap that I’m in right now is called Sprouting Hues. The colors are, as can be expected, colors of sprouts and dirt, perfect for spring. The yarn is from the Vanna’s choice line and includes Chocolate, White, Taupe, Fern, Lime and Linen. It’s very spring like, and after this long winter, I’m definitely ready for some green in my life!

The first three squares I talked about here, but I haven’t updated on those that I’ve done since then.

Fluted Flower Square

First, this is called Fluted Flower Square. One chilly day a few weeks back, a good friend of mine came into town for a weekend. She brought a couple of crochet books with her and we sat around and crocheted and caught up on life for a couple of days. I had fun going through her book, The Big Book of Granny Squares: 365 Motifs* and picked a few squares to make.   I’m still working on a couple of them, but this one I finished while she was still here. The petals are a great texture, although they needed a bit of blocking so that they weren’t puffing out too much.

Floral Kaleidoscope Afghan Square

The next square that I finished was a random find. I was just randomly pinning on my crochet boards on Pinterest and this square popped up and instantly caught my eye. So I headed on over to the pattern page and thought I’d make it up right then and there. Serendipity, yes? The pattern, called Floral Kaleidoscope Afghan Square, is really pretty and was very easy to make. However, it turned out a lot smaller than the 12 inches I needed to be for the swap,so I added a bunch of extra rounds while trying to keep the integrity of the pattern. Here are the extra rounds that I added:

Round 8: followed the pattern as instructed, but did 3 fptrc in the six trc around each corner. Corner as 2dc, ch2, 2dc. (linen)

 Round 9: continued this pattern with dc around and fptrc in the 6 fptrc below. For corner, ch1 after the last fp, 2dc, ch2, 2dc, ch 1. (taupe)

 Round 10: continue as previous rounds around, with fp stitches from the round below. For corner: dc in each two corner stitches, 2dc, ch2, 2dc in corner space, dc in next 2 corner stitches. (chocolate)

 Round 11: hdc in all the dc, and in the fptrc’s, I put a bptrc into each. For corner: 3sc in space, with sc in all other stitches. (linen)

 Round 12: bptrc around, with 2dc, ch2, 2dc in corner space. (fern)

I think that the resulting front posts kind of look like leaves coming out from the flower pattern, and makes a nice border.  The original pattern can be found here , and my Ravelry project page is here.

Spiro Square

The third square that I’ve finished in the past couple weeks is the same filler square selected for the BAMCAL. I had so much fun making it and it turned out so well that I decided it would make a great swap square. I love how different the square looks depending on where color placement is, and the small fun stripes of green around the border make a nice frame for the center motif, which really stands out with the dark brown background against the light lines. The pattern is a free Ravelry download here, and here is my project page.

How does a crochet swap work?

 I’ve also had some questions on how to join in a crochet swap, and I can only speak of one with any certainty, because it’s the only one I’ve participated in. If you’re a Ravelry member, check out Vanna’s Choice Fan Club. You will need to register to be a Ravelry member in order to join this group, but Ravelry is free. The VCFC group hosts several swaps a year. There are also some very strict and important rules to ensure commitment and avoid getting scammed. The average cost for a swap is averaged around $60 for price of yarn (with the Vanna group, it’s always Vanna yarn) and shipping costs. So if you’re interested in joining a swap, join the group and take a look around the files, you’ll get the hang of things. Of course, there are several other crochet swap groups on Google; just do your research to make sure they have a good policy in place so that everyone gets their squares.

blocking in progress

VCFC also offers a crochet-along (CAL) option for swaps too! For example, they’re having a swap that has a Halloween theme. I know that I won’t have enough time to participate in this swap, but I still love the idea. So instead of actually swapping with others, I’m participating as a CAL-er. That means I’ll make my own squares and keep them for myself without sending any out. This way, I don’t have to abide by the timeline but I’ll still be able to share my squares with the group and participate in the discussion. This is a great option if you’ve never been in a swap but want to get a feel on how it works within the timeframe.

I still have about six more squares to do for my current swap though, so I’d best get back to work. Have a great day, and happy crocheting.

~Mellie ★

*affiliate link if you would be so kind!