Welcome to the free pattern for Mary’s Moment, a floral crochet square. The pattern includes round-by-round photos, as well as charts by Masako Kawahara.
This design is a nod to the moment in Downton Abbey when Matthew proposes to Mary in the snow (Series 2, Episode 10). I feel like that was the moment we first glimpsed the softness beneath her guarded exterior. The floral element was inspired by a deep purple top she wore in one of the episodes – I am in love with that top and its crochet lace neckline!
As you have probably noticed, I am a little obsessed with flowers and colour-change yarn at the moment. To that end, I have designed this motif so that the flower can be made without cutting the yarn or interrupting the flow of the colour change. It also works beautifully in a single colour or in multiple colours (as you will see in the photos for each round).
This square joins my other two Downton-inspired designs: Daisy’s Bouquet and Rose’s Rebellion.
I was so excited about this design that I shared an unpolished, written-only version of it with my newsletter subscribers a few weeks ago. Thank you to those precious souls who reached out with clarifying questions, suggestions, and photos of their squares. I appreciate your help and enthusiasm :)
For this design, I used 8.5g of Yarnsmiths Pebble Haze Prints DK (2D350) for the Flower (Rounds 1 – 7) and 13.5g of Yarnsmiths Pebble Haze DK (2C010) for the background. I also used a 5mm crochet hook because I crochet tightly. My finished square is 20.5cm blocked and weighs 22g.
This specific colourway of Pebble Haze Prints DK is a gorgeous slow-colour-change rainbow yarn. You may recognise this yarn as the one I used for the Hearts in my Little Love Notes blanket.
Each Flower is different, with a colour gradient effect from the inside to the outside. I got 6 flowers from each full colour-repeat, and 17 from the entire 150g ball.
I also made one with 20g of Scheepjes Stonewashed Flow XL (12) for the Flower (Rounds 1 – 7) and 32.5g of Scheepjes Stonewashed XL (841) for the background. I used a 5.5mm crochet hook for this one. My finished square is 24cm blocked and weighs 52.5g.
This colourway of Stonewashed Flow XL is a gorgeous gradient of very light through medium pinks. It has a shorter colour-change, so as the rounds get bigger (and depending on how your colours fall), it may be more obvious that a colour-change has occurred somewhere in the round. I wanted to make more flowers in this colourway to show you how they change, but I’m afraid I got sidetracked by designing something specifically for shorter colour changes…
More about that in another post :)
Finally, I made one in Scheepjes Softfun for the photo tutorial below, using a 4mm hook. This one is 18.5cm blocked and weighs 21.7g. I will pop the colours I used for each round of this one at the bottom of this post.
Mary’s Moment (Free Crochet Square Pattern)
The proposal in the snow…
©Dedri Uys 2026. Charts by Masako Kawahara from Crochet_hmmm. All Rights Reserved.
Information
Resources
- Ravelry: Add this pattern to your Ravelry Queue
- Hashtag: #marysmomentcrochet
Materials
You can use any hook/yarn combination you are comfortable with. You can see some of the combinations I used (and how big they turned out) in the examples above.
I suggest:
- 4mm or 4.5mm crochet hook
- Double-knit yarn
Abbreviations
US Terminology
- Beg– Beginning
- Ch– Chain
- Dc– Double crochet
- FLO – Front loop only
- FP – Front post
- Hdc– Half-double crochet
- Rep – Repeat
- Sc – Single crochet
- SM – Stitch marker
- Sp/sps– Space/spaces
- St/sts– Stitch/stitches
- Tr– Treble crochet
- *– Repeat instructions between asterisks the number of times specified
- ()– Repeat instructions between brackets the number of times specified.
- [] – Used to indicate stitches made into the same st/sp
Chart Legend
Special Stitches
Extended double crochet (Edc)
Yarn over, insert your hook into the indicated st, yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over and pull through ONE loop. (Yarn over and pull through two loops) twice.
Popcorn
Make 5 dc in the indicated st/sp. Remove your hook from the last dc and insert it into the first dc of the 5-dc group. Grab the last st with your hook and pull it through the first st to complete the Popcorn.
Instructions
Round 1
Into a magic ring: ch 1, make 6 sc, join to the first sc with a sl st. {6 sc}
Round 2
Ch 2 (doesn’t count as a st). Make a Popcorn in the same st as the sl st join. (Ch 2, make a Popcorn in the next st) 5 times. Ch 2, join to the top of the first Popcorn with a sl st. {6 Popcorns and 6 ch-2 sps}
Round 3
Ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st). (FPhdc around the Popcorn, [hdc, 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc, hdc] in the next ch-2 sp) 6 times. Join to the first FPhdc with a sl st. {12 hdc, 24 dc, 6 FPhdc, and 6 ch-2 sps}
Round 4
(FPhdc around the FPhdc, ch 4, make a Popcorn in the next ch-2 sp, ch 4) 6 times. Join to the first FPhdc with a sl st. {6 FPhdc, 6 Popcorns, and 12 ch-4 sps}
Round 5
If you are using a different colour for this round, you can start this round with a standing FPdc around the first FPhdc of the previous round. If you are using the same colour for this round, we are going to start the round with a ‘fake’ FPdc as follows:
FPsc around the FPhdc {Photo 1}, ch 1 {Photo 2}. Inserting your hook from top to bottom into the FLO of the FPsc you just made {indicated with an arrow in Photo 2 and illustrated in Photo 3}, make a sc {Photo 4}. Mark the top of this sc with s SM. This counts as your first (fake) FPdc.
(Ch 3, FPsc around the next Popcorn, ch 3, FPdc around the next FPhdc) 6 times, omitting the last FPdc on the last repeat. Join to the top of the first FPdc with a sl st and remove the SM if you used one. {6 FPsc, 6 FPdc, and 12 ch-3 sps}
Round 6
Ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st). ([Sc, hdc, dc, ch 2, dc, hdc, sc] in the next ch-3 sp) 12 times. Join to the first sc with a sl st. {24 sc, 24 hdc, 24 dc, and 12 ch-2 sps}
Round 7
Ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st). (FPdc around the next st from Round 5, skip the first st of the next Petal from Round 6 and hdc in the next 2 sts. [Hdc, ch 2, hdc] in the next ch-2 sp. Hdc in the next 2 sts, skip the last st of the Petal) 12 times. Mark the last ch-2 sp with a SM. Join to the first FPdc with a sl st. Fasten off and work away your ends. {72 hdc, 12 FPdc, and 12 ch-2 sps}
Round 8
Join your yarn by making a standing sc in the marked ch-2 sp from the previous round. Remove the SM. (Ch 6, sc in the next ch-2 sp) 12 times, omitting the last sc on the last repeat. Join to the first sc with a sl st. {12 sc and 12 ch-6 sps}
Round 9
Ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st). *Make 7 sc in the next ch-6 sp, [2 hdc, 2 dc, 2 edc] in the next ch-6 sp. [2 tr, ch 2, 2 tr] in the next st. [2 edc, 2 dc, 2 hdc] in the next ch-6 sp.* Rep from * to * 3 more times. Join to the first sc with a sl st. Fasten off and work away your ends.
Stitch Count per Side: 23 sts {7 sc, 4 hdc, 4 dc, 4 edc, and 4 tr, not including ch-2 corner sps}
Round 10
Join your yarn by making a standing hdc in any ch-2 corner sp. [Hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc] in the same ch-2 corner sp. This is your first corner made.
(Hdc in the next 23 sts, [2 hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc] in the next ch-2 sp) 3 times, omitting the last corner on the last repeat. Join to the first hdc with a sl st. {27 hdc, not including ch-2 corner sps}
Round 11
Sl st in the next st and the next ch-2 sp. Ch 3 (counts as dc). [Dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in the same ch-2 sp. This is your first corner made.
*Skip the first (hidden) st, dc in the next 26 sts. [2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in the next ch-2 sp.* Rep from * to * 3 more times, omitting the last corner on the last repeat. Join to the top of the beg ch-3 with a sl st. {30 dc, not including ch-2 corner sps}
Round 12
Sl st in the next st and the next ch-2 sp. Ch 3 (counts as dc). [Dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in the same ch-2 sp. This is your first corner made.
*Dc in the next 30 sts. [2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in the next ch-2 sp.* Rep from * to * 3 more times, omitting the last corner on the last repeat. Join to the top of the beg ch-3 with a sl st. Fasten off and work away your ends. {34 dc, not including ch-2 corner sps}
Colours per Round Used in the Photo Tutorial
Scheepjes Softfun (60% cotton/40% acrylic), 50g/140m/153yds
- Rounds 1 and 2 – Bumblebee (2634)
- Round 3 – Pumpkin (2651)
- Round 4 – Soft Coral (2636)
- Rounds 5 and 6 – Pink (2480)
- Round 7 – Hot Pink (2495)
- Rounds 8 and 9 – Apple (2516)
- Round 10 – Emerald (2605)
- Round 11 – Cool Blue (2603)
- Round 12 – Dark Turquoise (2511)
I hope you enjoy making Mary’s Moment. Whether you choose soft, romantic tones or something a little more unexpected, I would love to see your versions take shape.
If you share your squares, please tag me so I can admire them (#lookatwhatimadedotnet and #marysmomentcrochet). It is always such a joy to see your creativity bring these designs to life.
This square forms part of my growing Downton-inspired collection, alongside Daisy’s Bouquet and Rose’s Rebellion – each one capturing a moment, a mood, or a memory.
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