Tag: afghan squares

Testing the Wheel of What Square by A Yarn of Serendipity

I had the pleasure of testing the Wheel of What Square by A Yarn of Serendipity – a beautifully textured Afghan block that’s easy to customize with colours and perfect for mix-and-match patchwork blankets.

A new design by Pam Knighton-Haener

A few months ago, back in August, I had the pleasure of testing another pattern for Pam Knighton-Haener of A Yarn of Serendipity. Pam has just released her beautiful new design: the Wheel of What Square.

The Wheel of What Square is another lovely Afghan block that perfectly complements all of Pam’s other designs. Like most of her squares, this one is designed in Aran / worsted weight yarn (#4). It measures about 11 or 12 inches, depending on whether a 4.5 mm or 5 mm crochet hook is used. All of Pam’s 11–12 inch squares share the same stitch count per side, so you can easily mix and match them to create a gorgeous patchwork blanket.

About the pattern

The pattern is rated as intermediate, but as always, Pam provides detailed, round-by-round photos that make it easy to follow along – even if you’re not an advanced crocheter.

Pam also includes two different colour versions in her pattern:

  • Version 1 uses four colours
  • Version 2 is worked in a single colour for a clean, classic look

My Test Version of the Wheel of What Square

For my test version I used Stylecraft Special DK from my stash and a 4 mm hook.

I opted for some light, summery colours.

As I used five colours in my version, it was difficult to stick to Pam’s original colour scheme.
As so often, I created my own combination – the one you can see on the left in the photo.

My finished square measures about 25 cm (10 in). It’s a little smaller than Pam’s sample simply because I used DK / light worsted yarn (#3), while she used Aran / worsted weight yarn (#4).

I‘m totally happy with how it turned out!

A Spark of Inspiration

I have to confess, after my square was finished and blocked, it was still lying on my desk for quite a while — I just didn’t get around to taking pictures. But seeing it every day sparked a new idea in my mind:

Every time I looked at it, I thought “This design would look amazing in Christmas colours!”

So of course, I had to try it!

My Wheel of What Christmas Version

For my Christmas version, I again used yarn from my stash – a mix of Stylecraft Special DK and Yarnsmiths Create DK, with the same 4 mm hook.

This time, I followed Pam’s Colourway 1, but replaced her shades with my own festive choices:

  • Colour A: 3090 Claret Red – Yarnsmiths Create DK
  • Colour B: 1824 Cypress – Stylecraft Special DK
  • Colour C: 3045 Off White – Yarnsmiths Create DK
  • Colour D: 1834 Lincoln – Stylecraft Special DK

And the result?

I absolutely love it!

The colours give the design such a warm and festive touch – perfect for the holiday season.

Final Thoughts

The Wheel of What Square is another beautifully written and well-thought-out design from Pam. It’s fun to crochet, looks amazing in any colour combination, and fits perfectly with her other squares.

If you’d like to try the Wheel of What Square yourself, you can find Pam’s pattern on Ravelry.

Discover the “Around the World Square” Afghan Pattern

Some weeks ago I had the pleasure to test another design by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity.
The Around the World Square is another lovely Afghan square with an intermediate skill level. As almost always in Pam’s patterns there are also a few special stitches this time. But everything is well explained and there are plenty of detailed pictures to help. I therefore think that even an ambitious beginner can work the pattern.

The size and the number of stitches per side, of course, fit perfectly with Pam’s other squares.
The pattern is available on Ravelry, and if you hurry, you can still get a 30% discount until the end of July. The discount also applies to all other patterns by Pam. It’s worth a look!

For my version I used Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/6 from my stash.
It is 100 % cotton and has 105 m / 50 g (115 yards / 1.76 ounces).
Hobbii classifies it as a fine/sports weight yarn. I personally find it to be more on the thicker side, almost a DK weight. I have therefore mostly use a 3.75 or 4.0 mm hook to work with it. This time I decided on my 4.0 mm Clover Amour hook and I am happy with the result.

My finished square is about 26 cm (10.5 in)

These are my colours.

Unfortunately, by now, some of them are discontinued in the 8/6 quality.

Pam offers two different colour schemes in her pattern. One uses seven colours and the other uses five.

I decided on a version with 5 colours. At first, however, I wasn’t so sure whether my colours would really go together. That’s why I didn’t simply replace the colours of the five-colour version with my own. I have once again created my individual colour placement. Even though I had doubts at first, I think the colours match quite well.

I have listed my colour placement here.

And this is the result. I’m really happy with it!

Tested Pattern Review: Dahlia of Yore Square

Last week I showed you the new design by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity: the Dahlia of Yore Square.
Today I‘d like to show you my version of this design. I had the pleasure of helping to test the pattern and am absolutely happy with the result.

I have tried to do justice to the name with my choice of yarn. I therefore decided on Drops Muskat. I think it looks a bit vintage due to the somewhat muted colours and the silky sheen.

I have to admit, though, that I had to look up the name of the design first. I wasn’t familiar with the word yore. So, in case you feel the same way since English is not your native language either, here is the explanation I got from Google:

Yore means “long ago” and is used in the same way as “yesteryear”, “days gone by” and “old times”. Yore has a sentimental or nostalgic undertone and implies that the old times described are in some way superior to the present.

But back to my yarn and colours. Drops Muskat is a mercerised cotton and has about 100 m / 50 g. It is rated as a Double Knit (DK) / light worsted yarn weight (#3), great to work with a 4 mm hook.

I had originally bought this yarn for another project. That was so long ago that I can’t even remember what exactly it was for. In the past I have used it for another of Pam’s designs, the Sage Advice square. (Different colours but also a very nice vintage look.)
Unfortunately, Muskat is not quite easy to crochet with. You have to be very careful not to pull any threads. But the result is fantastic, isn’t it? And as I said, I like these muted colours.

Here my choice:

Drops Muskat
– 87 Pomegranate
– 09 Nutmeg
– 82 Silver Orchid

Unfortunately theses colours are very hard to capture in a photo. So, in  my photos, the Silver Orchid looks a little more silver than it is in reality.

I followed colourway 1 from the pattern and replaced
– colour A with Silver Orchid
– colour B with Nutmeg and
– colours C and D with Pomegranate

The only change I made is that I worked rounds 15 and 16 in colour C instead of B.

My finished and blocked square measures about 26 cm, that’s about 10 1/4 inch.

The pattern is available on Ravelry. Of course, the size and stitch count match Pam’s other squares perfectly.
The skill level is rated as mid-intermediate. As usual in Pam’s designs there are a few special stitches. But they are all well explained. Additionally, detailed photos for each round help in case something should be unclear. It‘s definitely worth trying!

Another new design by Pam: Dahlia of Yore

Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity just released a lovely new design: Dahlia of Yore Square, a beautiful afghan square – just look at that …

Dahlia of Yore

My test-version of this lovely square will follow in a few days. I am just preparing the photos!

Beautiful 6 Inch Squares – designed by Pam

I was just going through my emails and came across a slightly older email from Pam. It was from September last year and she was telling me that the book 60 Quick Granny Squares would be available on Amazon from the beginning of November 2024. Ugh, I had completely forgotten! Time to catch up!

60 Quick Granny Squares – The Book

I don’t normally write book reviews and I don’t want this to be one either. Actually it is more about some desings by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity – a designer for whom I sometimes test.

Back in 2023 she was asked by a book publisher if she could design some 6 inch squares.
She said yes and five of her designs are now presented in this book.
I would like to introduce them – or rather my test versions of them.  But first a word about the book

Unfortunately I don’t own it yet, so I can’t say too much about it. But I took a look at the extensive reading sample on Amazon. So I can at least give a brief summary:

In the preview I especially love the fact that all 60 designs – created by different designers – are shown there at the beginning! (A lot of books don’t offer this.)
All designs feature Cascade 220 Superwash yarn. It is a DK (#3) yarn, 100 % wool, with a yardage of 200 m / 100g. AND all designs look very beautiful!

The patterns are both, written and charted. Some of the squares are more beginner friendly, others a little more challenging.
In addition to the patterns, the book also describes various techniques and gives helpful tips. E.g. how to start a square, how to change colours, how to join the squares, and so on.
And there are some projects at the end for which the squares can be used.
A book that is definitely worth a second look!

Pam’s Designs and my test versions

As said before Pam designed five squares for this book: Shift, Sunflower Sizzle, Wriggle, Running Routes and Sol. I had the opportunity to test these designs back in 2023.

Even though the squares are actually designed for a Double Knit yarn, I used a different yarn for my tests. Two to be precise:
Drops Safran and Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4.
Both are sport weight (#2) yarns in 100 % Cotton and have a yardage of 160 m / 50 g.
Unfortunately I had not noted the hook size I was using. I assume it was a 2.75 mm hook, I’m not sure though. Due to the thinner yarn my squares turned out about 4.5 inches, which is about 11.5 cm.

For all 5 designs I used the same three colours:
Dark Taupe and Orange from Drops Safran and Apricot from Hobbii Rainbow Cotton.
A bit 70s style but I still like them!

And here the colour details …

My new versions of Running Routes, Wriggle and Shift

I lately reworked three of the squares with a different yarn. Just to see how the squares will look in 6 inch / 15 cm and – to be honest – first of all to try a new colour combination.

I used Stylecraft Special DK and a 3.75 mm hook for the new versions. They became pretty much exactly 6 inch / 15 cm tall.
The colours are completely different though – using pink and grey tones instead of brown and orange.

Here my new colour combo in Hint of Silver, Pale Rose, Parma Violet and Powder Pink:

Lovely aren’t they? I especially love the combination of Pale Rose and Parma Violet. What do you think?

To catch up completely I will now hop over to Ravelry to add my versions to the projects. I just saw that the book is also presented there. Some designers have already added their designs.

By the way Ravelry: if you take a look at Pam’s designs there you will probably notice that these 6 inch squares combine really well with her 12 inch squares. Perhaps this will lead to ideas for a new project? I’ve had something in mind for a while, but unfortunately haven’t found the time to realise it yet. Hope to manage it soon! I will let you know!

Have a lovely time 💕

Mystified Square

I’m happy to finally be able to show you my version of the Mystified Square.
It is the new design from Pam Knighton-Haener / A Yarn of Serendipity. The pattern has just been published. AND: it has been chosen by the Ravelry BAMCAL group as their block of the month for November.

Ravelry BAMCAL

Have you heard of BAMCAL on Ravelry?
If not, BAMCAL stands for Block-A-Month Crochet-A-Long. This is a Crochet-Along organised every year by a special group on Ravelry.

The CAL runs throughout the year. Each month 3 different Afghan squares are featured. Two squares, a 6 inch and a 12 inch, are chosen by the mods. A third is chosen by the group members in a poll. All patterns are free – at least for the month they are chosen for.
You can choose to do one or all of them – it’s up to you. At the end of the year you can combine all your squares into a blanket. Or make anything else you can think of.


I absolutely love this idea! Maybe I should join in next year?

Mystified Square – The Pattern

The Mystified Square is designed for Aran / worsted weight yarn (#4). But it will also work very well with other yarn weights. Of course, using a different yarn weight will affect the final size.

With worsted weight yarn, the finished square will be 11 or 12 inches (28 or 30,5 cm). This depends on whether a 4.5 or 5 mm crochet hook is used.

The pattern is classified as mid-intermediate. It uses various stitches, including some special ones. But no worries, they are all very well explained. And a picture tutorial helps with each round.

The design comes in two colourways, each with 5 different colours. Of course, you can also create your own colour scheme. I bet it would also look great in just one colour!

The pattern is available on Ravelry.

My Test Version

I already tested this pattern for Pam some weeks, or rather months, ago. I think it was in early August.
Of course, everything had to be kept secret until the pattern was finally published. Hard time :-)

As always, I did not use the suggested Aran yarn. I still don’t like working with it and feel a bit uncomfortable using a 5 mm hook. So, this time I decided to use up some Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/6 (a #3 yarn) from my stash.

I used colourway 2, but replaced the colours as follows

  • Hobbi Rainbow Cotton 8/6 (50 g / 105 m)
    • A – 065, Apricot (discontinued?)
    • B – 73, Pearl Gray
    • C – 047, Dark Old Rose
    • D – 049, Peach (discontinued?)
    • E – 012, Volcano Gray

Unfortunately it looks like two of my colours are already discontinued. At least I couldn’t find them in the actual Hobbii shop.

I like the way the colours come together. I just noticed that they are a bit difficult to capture in a photograph. The Dark Old Rose in particular is a little reluctant to show its true beauty…

Using a 3,75 mm hook my square turned out to be about 25 cm / 10 inch.

I really enjoyed working on this pattern and am happy with the result!

Are you going to try the pattern? If so, have fun 💕

Tied Up with a Bow: Crochet Square by Pam Knighton-Haener

Finally I can show you a square that I made some weeks ago.

In August I had the pleasure to test another one of Pam’s lovely designs: Tied Up with a Bow. She now released the pattern and it’s available on Ravelry and in all her other shops.

In case you don‘t know Pam yet: Pam Knighton-Haener is an American designer and the person behind  A Yarn of Serendipity. Most of the beautiful Afghan squares you can find here on my blog are designed by here.

The original pattern is made with Aran / worsted weight yarn. The final size will be 11 or 12 inch, depending on the hook size you use. The skill level is mid intermediate.

As with all of Pam’s designs, many different stitches are used. Of course everything is explained in detail and there are clear pictures for each round!
And of course the final size and the final number of stitches per side match all the other squares Pam has designed.

Talking about the pictures: Especially for the modified star stitch I found them very helpful! For this special stitch, it was much easier for me to work from the pictures than from the written instructions. However, that may be just personal.

My test version

During the test I made a version with Drops Safran, a sport weight yarn that has a yardage of 160 m / 50 g. Usually I use a 2,75 mm hook when working with this yarn, but this time I didn’t feel comfortable and switched to a 3 mm hook.

I had actually chosen 5 colours for this design. For some reason I couldn’t find a matching spot for two shades of green I had chosen, so in the end I only used 3 of my colours

71 – Marzipan
22 – Light Brown
28 – Orange

Can you see the little bows?

My colour placement

My finished square measures about 22 cm / 8 1/2 inch. I have to admit that using a 3 mm hook made it a bit loose.

My second version

After testing, I just had to make a second version. I lately fell in love with the colour Lincoln from Stylecraft Special DK. I have had two balls in my stash for ages but have never used them. Inspired by Pam’s single coloured version, I thought that the Tied Up with a Bow square would certainly look nice in this colour too. I didn‘t get disappointed …

For this version I used Stylecraft Special DK in the colour 1834 – Lincoln. Only round 11 is made with colour 1822 – Pistachio.

I used a 4 mm hook and the final square is about 26 cm / 10 inch.
I am absolutely happy with the result!

Time flies …

I don’t know where the time is. This year just seems to be flying past me … We’ve just been on holiday, got a new car, celebrated Easter and now it’s already May – my birthday month …

To be honest, I haven’t done that much crochet recently. At least not much I am able to show right now.
I am still playing around with Tunisian crochet. So far I have never worked with two colours in Tunisian crochet. So I am just practicing different techniques and I’m curious to see what effects you can achieve with it.

Besides, I am currently working on a shawl in Tunisian crochet, designed by Rachel Henri.

Comme un Air de Printemps

means Spring is in the Air in English and is available on Ravelry.

I love the construction of this shawl! It is more ore less worked in strips that are connected as you go. Therefore you even don‘t need a Tunisian crochet hook. A normal hook is absolutely sufficient as long as it is long enough to carry 12 stitches or so.

I am using a 4-ply sock yarn with 76% Cotton. The colours are a soft mixture of grey, pink and lilac. Unfortunately they do not show so well in my picture.

And I was also able to do two small tests.

Easy Come Easy Go

is the new pattern by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity that was just released. Her the link to Ravelry, but it’s also available her other platforms.

I was happy to test this pattern a few days ago and am very pleased with the result.

My version is made Stylecraft Special DK and a 4 mm hook. I followed colourway 1 – Pam offers two different ones in her pattern – and replaced the colours as follows

  • Colour A – 1067 Grape
  • Colour B – 1026 Apricot
  • Colour C – 1240 Soft Peach
  • Colour D – 1832 Mushroom

First I was a bit unsure about this colour combination but I think it worked quite well. However, I am sure this square will also look great in just one colour.

The finished square has 39 stitches per side. Of course the final size will depend on the yarn you use. Mine measures about 26 cm / 10 inch.

At the moment I’m thinking about making a wall hanging from different afghan squares. This one would be a good start. Let’s see….

Dream, Sparkle, Shine

I also helped testing a new pattern designed by Ana. Her lovely Dream, Sparkle, Shine.
Ana had chosen a great colour combination from Hobbii Mocktail yarn.

The pattern is available on Ravelry too.

I had no suitable colour changing yarn in my stash so I had to experiment a bit with my Stylecraft Special DK.

Photo credit: Ana Morais Soares / One Skein of Love

This turned out to be more tricky than I thought and I was not quite able to achieve the effect I had in mind. That‘s why I made only a smaller piece over a few repeats.

I used Cream as background colour and always used the 5 contrasting colours in the same order. I love the colour combination! (Although I didn’t get the desired effect and although a bit more contrast might be better for mosaic crochet.)

  • Background – 1005 Cream
  • Colour A – 1064 Mocha
  • Colour B – 1844 Toy
  • Colour C – 1832 Mushroom
  • Colour D – 1218 Parchment
  • Colour E – 1240 Soft Peach

Originally I wanted to make a cushion out of it, but then I had another idea. I had a simple cotton bag, a promotional gift from a pharmacy, with logo on one side. My patch had the perfect size to fit on the front side. So I made a small border – just one round of single crochet – and sewed it on. Voila – a new project bag.

And that’s all there is for today! Have a lovely time 💕

Pinwheel Square

Another test for Pam

I recently had the opportunity to test a new design from Pam Knighton-Haener / A Yarn of Serendipity: The Pinwheel Square.

The pattern was just released and is available on Ravelry.
The skill level of the pattern is categorised as mid-intermediate. As always, the written instructions are very clear and accompanied by detailed photos for each round.
Made with Aran / Worsted Weight yarn (#4) the final size of the square will be 11 or 12 inch / 28 or 30,5 cm – depending on the size of the crochet hook used. And of course, the final stitch count matches all the others from Pam’s squares.

My yarn and colours

As you may know, I often use a light weight (#2) cotton yarn for these tests. Something like Schachenmayr Catania or Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4. The reason is just that I have accumulated a lot of these yarns by crocheting amigurumi and can go with my stash. Besides they have a great colour range and a good stitch definition.

Somehow this time I decided to go with my stash of Stylecraft Special DK.

I have just used a similar colour combination for another test in overlay mosaic. Just all in neutrals. I loved the result and was curious how it would look in regular crochet.

Well, I am more than happy with the result!

I used a 4 mm hook and the final size of my square is 26 cm – about 10 1/4 inch.
If you are interested in my colour way, here my notes.

Happy hooking 💕

Progress with my Legacy Blanket

YAY! It took a while because of all my doubts about the colours and the colour placements … But finally … all 12 squares are done! All tails worked away and all squares are blocked.

These are the three that have been missing in my collection so far.

Lauren Rose

Brood of Angels

Macey Ann

I have just prepared the first squares for joining and spent some time on the layout.

After some arranging and rearranging of the squares, I decided in favour of the layout shown on the left. I hope it will look nice!

The Zipper Join

In the Justyce Destany Border pattern for the Legacy Blanket Pam recommends to use the Zipper Join for joining the squares.

I have to admit, I am not a professional when it comes to joining squares. I once used the “Join as you go-method” for joining some granny squares – but I think that was it. So I had my first attempt on the zipper join when testing the Justyce Destany border.
The pattern contains a helpful link to a video tutorial that shows how to do this join. But, if you prefer written tutorials like I do: I also found a very clear and helpful one from Raffaella from Raffamusa Designs.
Nevertheless, the beginning is a bit fiddly – at least I think so … But I am slowly getting the hang of it.
I initially experimented a little with the hook size and finally decided on 5.0 mm hook. The squares are made with a 4 mm hook but with the larger hook size I find it easier to make the stitches even and not too tight. So far I am pleased with the result. It’s a very nice and flat join. Now on to the next ones!

Have a lovely time 💕