This year we decided to participate in the Moogly Blog 2025 Crochet a Long, or CAL for short. At that link you can find the previous years’ CALs and the most current one. The goal is to have a blanket by the end of the year! There are 20 squares in total and each one is a mystery until it is released. We get 2 or 3 squares released every month, every other Thursday. The first square was released on January 9th, and the last square will be released on November 26th. You can find the complete schedule on Moogly Blog. Be sure to join their Facebook group too! You can find lots of other people also participating in the CAL there and get lots of great ideas!
I will update this post every other week with my square and thoughts on it! If you want to join us in person on Friday mornings from 10am-12pm at the shop to work on your squares, you are most welcome! Our shop is at 122 E Alfred Street, Tavares, FL 32778. If you are at a distance and want to join us on Zoom please comment below to let me know! If there is interest in meeting virtually I can definitely set that up!
Yarn Selection
I decided to do mine in the colors of the new shop so that at the end of the year I have a nice throw blanket to keep there.
The description of the CAL says that you can use either worsted weight (size 4), or DK weight (size 3) to make your blanket. If you go with a worsted then your squares will be about 12 x 12. If you choose Dk then your squares will be about 10 x 10. I chose Sarasota Worsted from Cascade Yarns. This felt a little lighter than a typical worsted, but I really wanted to use it. Sarasota is an acrylic/cotton blend that feels just perfect for Florida! I figured it would be a nice feel for a blanket at the shop, not too hot, not too lightweight. I chose 4 colors, you can use as few or as many as you like! The colors I chose are Salmon Rose, White, Baby Turquoise, and Dusty Turquoise.
Hook Selection
Moogly says that you need a size J hook, however I felt that my yarn was on the thinner side so I went with an H hook instead. This was more comfortable for my gauge and the yarn. You may find that you prefer a different size entirely! However make sure you use the same hook throughout. Because my yarn was lighter and I used a smaller hook, my first square blocked out to be 11″ x 11″.
Square #1
You can find the instructions for the High Tide Square by Jessie at home here. This one was really interesting! It is done in the corner to corner technique, and uses surface crochet. Due to the chevron nature of the stitch, the corner to corner was a little tricky and the video tutorial was a big help! I’ve never successfully done surface crochet until I gave this square a try and it was so fun! I’m excited to try that technique out in other projects. In the photos above you can see the High Tide square I did; Photo on the left is unblocked, and photo on the right is after blocking.
How to Block
There are several ways to block, and it does depend on the project, but I prefer to wet block. That means I soak the project completely, very carefully ring out the majority of the water, lay it in a towel and roll it up to get even more water out, and the pin it to my blocking board. I left it overnight to dry and it was perfect by the morning.
Square #2
The Christine Quilt Block by Linda Dean Crochet is inspired by a traditional quilting square. This square was beginner-friendly, and a fun technique I hadn’t tried before! It was very enjoyable and worked up much faster than the first square.
The only change I made to the original pattern is that Linda ended the square on round 8, the last split color row. When I compared this square to the first one it was too small so I added 2 rows of single crochet border to make up for that.
Then I blocked this new square and the original square again. The original square was still a little “slanty”. It looked much better after a second go on the blocking board and the second square is now equal in size.
Square #3
Square number 3 is the Snow Covered Garden Square by Oombawka Design. This is an easy mosaic square; a nice introduction to the mosaic technique. Her sample square is only 3 colors and I definitely wanted to utilize all 4 of mine, so I followed Moogly’s color changes and it came out really nice that way. You can see her finished square here.
This square really didn’t need blocking as it was super close to the correct size, but I blocked it anyway since I had done so with the first 2. Below is all three squares completed so far. I absolutely love how this is coming out!
Square #4
The Solace Square by Pink Mambo is square Number 4! I really enjoyed this one! The star pattern in the middle is so fun and eye catching! You can see Moogly’s square in her own colors here. I love how much of the darker teal is on my version of this square. It is coming together so nicely!
Below is a photo of all 4 squares so far. Loving it!
Square #5
This is the Hibiscus Afghan Square by Julie Yeager Designs. I love how this square incorporated elements of mosaic crochet and overlay crochet. It definitely needed to be blocked! This square came out the right size, but because of the front post triple crochet 2 together in row 12, the square wanted to pull inwards on each side a little. Blocking fixed that issue right up! You can see how Tamara from Moogly did hers here.
Square #6
The Graduated Cables Square by MBT Creates what a challenge, but it came out so good! The cables are done with front post triple crochet stitches. For the color changes she recommends using bobbins, which is when you wind an approximate amount of yardage onto a bobbin (or empty toilet paper roll) so that your yarn doesn’t get as tangled and you don’t have to carry your yarn. I don’t care for that technique so I just pulled from my skeins and carried my main color across. Below is a photo of what the back of my square looks like. The bobbins would have kept the back much cleaner looking had I gone with that. You can see how Moogly’s square came out here. I also feel like if the return rows had been back post DOUBLE crochets instead of Triple crochets the work may have been a little cleaner. I thought about swapping to back post double crochets for the return rows, but decided it might affect my square’s size too much so I left it be.
There was also a big difference between the size of this square and the others, but it seemed stretchy so of course I blocked it. Below is a photo of before and after blocking.
Square #7
Square 7 is called the Baby Bobbles Blanket Square by Stitch & Hustle. This one was easier than the last 2, but I love how the stripes worked out! The only change I made is I ended up doing 2 extra rows of border to make the square big enough. You can find Moogly’s square 7, along with all her notes here.
See you after April 17th for the next square! Don’t forget to comment below and tell me whether you are participating in the Moogly CAL this year, if you plan on coming in person to work on your squares, or if I need to set up a Zoom call!