I’m making this square for my “Be of Good Cheer” Samplerghan. :o)

This didn’t take as long as the start/finish dates would seem to indicate-- but it did take longer than necessary. I needed to add some rounds to bring it up to size, so I spent some time looking around for ideas… then tried them… and finally decided they didn’t work, so I had to rip back 2+ rounds and rework them in classic granny style. Well, sometimes experiments work. Other times you’re better off sticking with the tried and true methods.

I’m not completely, totally thrilled with how this square turned out, unfortunately. I think it looks ok, but it’s lacier and limper (in the middle) than I’d expected. Joining it to some sturdier blocks will help stabilize it.

I decided I didn’t like the way the center of the rose looked, so I added a small, flat crochet disc. The disc is simply this: Rnd 1-- 8 sc in magic loop (or desired starting method). Rnd 2-- 2 sc in each st. Pause to weave in tail left at the beginning of the disc. (It will be almost impossible to tidy it up later.) Rnd 3-- Attach the disc to the center of the flower. I did this by alternating between slip stitches through one of the disc’s sc and around one the 8 dc in the center of the rose and slip stitches into just the next st in the disc. (If that makes sense…) If you’d rather, you could just fasten off, leaving a long enough tail to stitch the disc on with a needle.

May 2013--
I decided to go back and make an “underlay” (would be an overlay, except it’s attached to the back of the square) to add a little heft to the floppy portion of this block. I pretty much winged it, and it’s not beautiful or perfect, but it’s not that visible from the front, and it does make the block a bit more substantial in the middle.

49 sts per side on last round (not counting corner ch sp).