Hi and welcome to the pattern for my Sue Square.  It is a simple, small square that lends itself really well to on-the-go work.  I think it would make a wonderful blanket in all sorts of colours.  Alternatively, it is a great addition to existing patterns.

I designed this square on our recent Summer Holiday camping trip to Newquay in Cornwall.  We only went for a week, but it was a week in the (mostly) sun, without access to my computer!  I have come back home tanned (yes, Mom, I did wear sunscreen), rested (body and soul), and excited for what the next few months will bring – family, work, AND play.

I am dedicating this square to a new but very dear friend, Sue-Anne.  I met Sue and her husband on the cruise I did with Crafty Adventures back in February.

Sue bought me my first ever Bloody Mary.  She also shared her ‘Look At What I Made’ journey with me as we strolled along the deck of the ship, reminding me quite viscerally about why I share my patterns and why I share/write them in the way that I do;  to uplift and empower, to bring joy when life is already good, to facilitate distraction, should it be needed, and to provide solace, should THAT be needed.

With this square, I am also celebrating Granny Square Day 2019, which I will tell you more about in an upcoming post :)

The Chatty Bit

Our week-long holiday started with a gorgeous sunny day, followed by two very stormy days.  That left us with four more glorious days, three of which were spent (with friends and their boys and their dogs) on our favourite beach:  Whipsiderry.

If you don’t live in the UK, here’s a little background information.  The cliffs in the UK are notoriously unstable, so if you go to a beach with cliffs, you have to make sure that you stay clear of the cliff-face in case of rockfall. Whipsiderry Beach is surrounded by cliffs and yesterday there was a rockfall disturbingly close to where I sat when I designed and shared this square on my Instagram stories just a week ago.

When I was growing up, we used to visit our 8th generation family farm every weekend.  If someone asked me to paint a picture of my soul, I would have shown them a photo of ‘Kruisrivier’ and ‘The Man’s Head’ in the mountains (also known as Lord Gladstone) that framed my grandparents’ house.  I mentioned this view before, when I shared the Autumn Clusters Square for the Block a Week CAL 2014.  (You can see more photos HERE on my Uncle and Aunt’s website for the Kruisrivier Guest Farm)

Walk straight forward 400 meters (ish), and you would have bumped into the (now renovated) house I lived in somewhere between one and three years of age.  It had no electricity and no running water.  To this day, it remains my favourite place on earth!  Not just the house, but also the river we had to walk down to to fetch our drinking water, and the reed tobacco barn that sat to the right of the house (not featured in this photo) that smelled like dried tobacco and corn (a scent very few people will recognize or appreciate unless they spent their youth playing hide-and-seek with it underlining every fibre of their being).

I just Whatsapped my mom to send me a particularly favourite photo of my dad, standing in front of a zoomed-out painting of ‘my house’, with my Mom’s Sophie (now living in my sister’s house in New Zealand) draped over the sofa.  Why?  Because!!  I wish I wasn’t as nostalgic as I am, but I just am!!!

This feeling of kinship with a location is not something that I have experienced since… until we discovered Whipsiderry by accident last year on our previous annual camping holiday.  We had initially wanted to go to Porth, but the friends we holiday with have dogs, and dogs aren’t allowed on Porth beach.  A local resident told us to try Whipsiderry, so we traipsed up a steep hill and down a VERY steep stairway set against the cliff-face, only to discover a little piece of heaven on earth.

Whipsiderry is an enclosed alcove with a giant rock in the middle (perfect for climbing on and running through – yes, it has a hole in it… more than one, actually).  The current is gentle enough for little boys (and Yours Truly) to swim without fear, there are rock pools for catching crabs and fish (none were harmed), and so many mussels you can feed an army.

My favourite spot is a secluded alcove-within-an-alcove, where I could sit and imagine that nothing else existed except me and the sand and the sea (and Eckhart Tolle on Audible).

To hear that the beach had actually been closed since March (naughty NAUGHTY person who removed the barriers and warning signs!!!) and to realise that we might not be able to go there again is a devastating blow.  You all know how sentimental I am.  I just want to find (and keep) a place that makes me feel completely me!

And after that rant, I am going to say that sharing this square, however simple, means even more to me now than it did a week ago.  The photos are not posed on clear backgrounds and they are probably (likely) less clear than you are used to when following my patterns.  BUT, they were taken on holiday as I attempted to share (in real-time) some of my (real-life) joy and the glorious scenery with you.

You can find my photos of Whipsiderry HERE on Google Maps.  You can follow our holiday HERE in my Instagram Highlights.

Just before I start, you will notice different nail polishes in varying degrees of peeling.  What can I say?  Since I overcame my onychophagia three years ago, I am as obsessed with my nails as I am with crochet.  I painted my nails A LOT on holiday.  Some brands (Rimmel, cough, cough) didn’t last as well as others.

Sue Square Pattern

Materials

• Yarn A – Scheepjes Cahlista (130 – Cream)
• Yarn B – Scheepjes Cahlista (074 – Grey)
• 4.5mm crochet hook

Abbreviations

US Terms

• Beg – Beginning
• BP – Back post
• Ch – Chain
• Dc – Double crochet
• Hdc – Half-double crochet
• Rem – Remaining/ remains
• Rep – Repeat
• 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.

Special Stitches

Standing Stitches

Standing stitches are used to start the round when using a new colour (or starting in a different place from where you finished the previous round).  They are exactly the same as regular stitches, except that they are made ‘in air’, without being attached to a previous stitch.  With a slip knot already on your hook, and holding the knot in place with your index finger, make your stitch as normal.

As an example, I will show you how to do a standing double crochet.

1. With a sl knot already on your hook, yarn over.
2. Insert your hook into the indicated st/sp. Press the slip knot against your hook with your right index finger (left, if you are left-handed) to prevent it from spinning around your hook when you yarn over.  Yarn over again and pull up a loop {3 loops on hook}.
3. Yarn over and pull through 2 loops {2 loops on hook}.
4. Yarn over and pull through both remaining loops.

Gauge

At the end of Round 4, your motif should measure 8cm and weigh 4g.

Size

Your finished motif will measure 14cm and weigh 20g.

Instructions

Round 1

With Yarn A and working into a magic ring, ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st throughout), make 8 hdc. Join to the first hdc with a sl st. Fasten off .

Stitch Count:  8 hdc

Round 2

With Yarn B and starting with a standing st:  make 2 hdc in each of the 8 sts around.  Join to the first hdc with a sl st.

Stitch Count:  16 hdc

Round 3

Ch 2. Skip the st at the base of the ch-2.  (3 dc in the next st, sl st in the next 2 sts, 3 dc in the next st) three times.  Make 3 dc in the next st and sl st in the last 2 st.  Make 3 dc in the same st as the sl st join.  Join to the first dc with a sl st, ignoring the initial ch-2.

Stitch Count:  24 dc – not including the sl sts

Round 4

Ch 3 (counts as dc).  Dc in the same st.  (2 dc in the next st) twice. Sl st in the next st, which will be the first sl st between Petals.  Skip the next sl st.  *Sl st in the first st of the next Petal, (2 dc in the next st) 5 times, sl st in the next sl st, skip the next sl st.*  Rep from * to * twice.  Sl st in the first st of the last petal.  (2 dc in the next st) twice.  Join to the top of the beg ch-3 with a sl st. Fasten off.

Stitch Count:  40 dc – not including sl sts

Round 5

With Yarn A and starting with a standing st: *[Tr, ch 1, tr] in the second sl st between Petals. BPdc in the next 2 sts, BPhdc in the next st, BPsc in the next 4 sts, BPhdc in the next st, BPdc in the next 2 sts.*  Rep from * to * 3 times. Join to the first tr with a sl st.

Stitch Count:  4 sc, 2 hdc, 4 dc, and 2 tr per side – not including ch-1 corner sps

Round 6

Sl st in the next ch-1 corner sp. Replacing the first dc with a ch-3: *[2dc, ch 2, 2dc] in the ch-1 corner sp. Hdc in the next 3 sts, sc in the next 6 sts, hdc in the next 3 sts.*  Rep from * to * 3 more times. Join to the top of the beg ch-3 with a sl st.

Stitch Count:  6 sc, 6 hdc, and 4 dc per side – not including ch-2 corner sps

Round 7

Sl st in the next st and in the ch-2 corner sp. Replacing the first hdc with a ch-2: *[2 hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc] in the ch-2 corner sp. Skip the first (hidden) st. Hdc in each of the rem sts across.*  Rep from * to * 3 more times. Join to the top of the beg ch-2 with a sl st. Fasten off.

Stitch Count:  19 hdc per side – not including ch-2 corner sps

Round 8

With Yarn B and starting with a standing st: *[Sc, ch 2, sc] in the ch-2 corner sp. BPhdc in each st across.*  Rep from * to * 3 more times. Join to the top of the first sc with a sl st. Fasten off.

Stitch Count:  2 sc and 19 BPhdc per side – not including ch-2 corner sps

Round 9

With Yarn A and starting with a standing st: *[2hdc, ch 2, 2hdc] in the ch-2 corner sp. Hdc in each st across.*  Rep from * to * 3 more times. Join to the top of the first hdc with a sl st. Fasten off and work away ends.

Stitch Count:  25 hdc per side – not including ch-2 corner sps

And there you go :)  One simple little square all done.  If you share photos of this square, please use #suesquare and #notacal3 so that I can find them.

Oooh, before I go, may I recommend a good Summer make?  My friend Pat made me this gorgeous Indigo Shrug by LillaBjorn in the colourway Green Tea Tipple (754).  I wear it all the time and practically lived in it when we went away!  Here you can see me using it as an impromptu bag (folded double, arm stuffed through both sleeves, all the goodies inside).  You can see me wearing it properly HERE on Instagram.

You can find my previous #notacal patterns here:

• #notacal:  Mandala 21 (here on my blog)
• #notacal2:  Funky Necklace (on Instagram)
• #notacal4:  Kinship Mandala (on Oombawka)

This blog post contains affiliate links. I only link to products I personally use or would use.  All opinions are my own.