Four Square

Remember playing four square as a kid?  Or two square?  I don't actually have to remember that far back because we have a two square court painted on our driveway.  Our son used to love to play two square and would draw a chalk court onto the blacktop.  One day I suggested he paint one instead.  I guess that's a little atypical for the average home, but it provided lots of fun times, and we even repainted it after the driveway was recoated.  A couple of weeks ago, the son (now 20) and I played a rousing game of two square.  You won't be surprised to hear that I lost.  I mean, how hard is it for a 6'3" strong young guy to beat his middle-aged mother?  Not very.

The four square I'm writing about today, though, has nothing to do with asphalt and a rubber playground ball.  I want to show you the first four squares I have crocheted from the 200 Crochet Blocks book by Jan Eaton that I told you about in April.

They're pretty wonky because I haven't blocked them yet.

In 200 Crochet Blocks, Eaton developed a difficulty ranking system for the different blocks.  One hook is a beginner block, two hooks means some experience required, and three hooks is designated as challenging.  Two of the blocks I crocheted are very simple, one-hook-rated patterns -- the Openwork Square (#10 of the 200) and the Traditional Granny (#18).  The other two were a little more complicated.  Italian Cross (#24) is a two-hook pattern, and it taught me the puff stitch, which is really fun.  And Waterlily (#16), a three-hooker, is my first three-dimensional square.

Italian Cross puff stitches

Waterlily

I still have a ways to go on the quality of my crochet -- tension, even stitches, etc. -- but it's fun to learn new stitches and techniques.  I plan to eventually have enough squares to put together a throw for my daughter.  She is a fabulous knitter, but luckily she doesn't crochet, so maybe she will be a tiny bit impressed with a little blanket of squares.  After all, if I can't wow the kids with my playground two-square skills anymore, I'll have to take what little glory I can.