Pixie Square crochet pattern

Materials

Yarn:  If you are making a square for the Granny Life art exhibit, then you must use a very specific yarn called Malabrigo Rios, in two colors:  a medium-to-dark color of your choosing for the main color of your square, and the specific color "Ivory" for the white parts of the motif. 

Hook:  We recommend a Clover Armour size "7" crochet hook (4.5mm). If you are a particularly tight or loose crocheter then you may want to go up or down a size. The goal is to have each completed square measure just under 6" across, without blocking.

Miscellaneous:  You will also need scissors and a basic darning needle for working in ends.

Terminology

This pattern uses American teminology and the following stitches and techniques: 

• Single crochet (sc):  Pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through both loops.

• Half double crochet (hdc):  Yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through all three loops. 

• Magic ring:  It's easier to show this than explain it, so please look this up on YouTube if needed. 

• Wrapped standing single crochet (wssc): At the start of a round with loop already on your hook from the previous round, turn the work twice clockwise to wrap the working yarn around the bottom of the loop. If you prefer, you can also just wrap the yarn around the loop manually. Then insert yarn into work, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through both loops. (See the first tutorial video below and the closeup photo at the bottom of the page.)

Motif

The Pixie Square can be used with any motif. However, if you are following this pattern for the Granny Life project, then you need to obtain your motif from the interactive online app at www.mathgrrl.com/granny-life. Press the "Paris" button to see different designs, and choose one that you like. You can also choose any generation of "Rule 6" that you like, subject to these requirements for the Paris artwork:

• Must be "Rule 6" (set this yourself or use the "Paris" button)

• Must have between 35-50% alive/white clusters (the app will report this percentage to you)

• Must be something not already claimed or made by someone else (please check the "In Progress" and "Completed Squares" sections at the bottom of www.grannylifecrochet.com to make sure)

Once you select a generation for your "Rule 6" motif, subject to the requirements above, please fill out the Contact Form to claim it. 

Handedness:  Do you crochet left-handed? That's fine; it's no problem if you crochet the other way, since all the designs are symmetric.   :)

Pattern

This is a basic pattern for a 12-round Pixie Square with border. The main stitch throughout the work is a 2hdc "pixie cluster" (a smaller version of traditional 3dc granny clusters). 

Additional details about catching carried yarn, changing colors, and starting/ending rounds are given after the pattern description, in both video and written form.

• Setup:  Make a magic ring and start carrying the second yarn immediately, laying it over the working yarn in the back. 

• Throughout:  Work over the carried yarn in all rounds, even one-color rounds. Change colors as needed according to your motif by dropping the working yarn and picking up the new yarn (see details below). 

• Round 1:  Standing sc into the ring (same as wssc but without the wrap), hdc; (2ch, 2hdc) x 3; pull the ring tight and join with hdc into the left top of the first stitch of the round, being sure to catch the carried yarn in this joining stitch. All "Rule 6" motifs will have the main color in the first round, and white starting in the second round or later.

• Round 2:  wscc, hdc into the gap, catching the left side of the vertically carried yarn (see video and closeup photo below),  to make half of the first corner. (2hdc, 2ch, 2hdc) in each of the next three corner gaps, then 2hdc to finish the first corner; join with hdc as in round 1. If the magic loop has opened up a bit then pull to close.

• Rounds 3-12:  wssc, hdc in the first gap, again catching the left of the carried yarn and also catching one strand from inside the previous corner (see video and closeup photo below). This extra step of catching one strand can be skipped in early rounds and if the corners are not sticking out too far. (2hdc) into each edge gap, also catching the carried yarn from the round below (this step is crucial to the shape of the work; see details below). In round 3 there will be one of these edge gaps, in round 4 there will two, and so on, until round 12 where there will be 10 edge gaps. (2hd, 2ch, 2hdc) in each corner gap, also catching one strand from inside the previous corner, as needed. Join with hdc as in previous rounds. All "Rule 6" motifs will have only the main color in the final 12th round; be sure to carry the non-working yarn through this and all other one-color rounds.

• Border Round:  The final 13th round is the white border, which is worked the same as previous rounds except without carrying the second yarn. Be sure to remember to catch the carried yarn from the previous round in each gap and at the corners. Join at the end with 2ch and slip stitch. 

• Finishing:  Work in the yarn tails from the beginning and end of the work, being careful that the woven-in yarn does not show on the front or back of the work. When working in the initial magic ring starting yarn, pull the yarn tightly to close the loop, and work into the loop itself in two directions to make it very secure. Snip off yarn ends after working. Please do NOT block the square; without blocking it should be very square and measure just under 6" (about 15 cm) across. Finally, please attach some kind of removable tag or label to your square that says "Rule 6, Generation 00" (fill in the generation number of your motif), and your name/nickname. 

• Send it in!  If you want to submit your square to be included in the Granny Life art exhibit, please complete the Contact Form to declare that you have finished your square. Within a day or two of filling out the form you will get a reply email with information about how to mail in your square (and practice/fail pieces). 

• Do it again?  If you want, you can start all over and submit more squares to the project! 

Failure and Practice

This is an "easy" granny sqaure pattern, but also it is not easy. There are a bunch of fiddly details that have to be done correctly in order to produce exhibit-quality work. I had to complete a lot of test squares and go through a lot of failures developing, and then perfecting, this pattern. And you might also have some partial or failed squares along the way. 

That is just fine, and in fact, part of the art exhibit we are submitting this piece to is a study of the artistic process of creating mathematical art. Please save any practice squares, partial squares, and/or failed attempts that you create along the way!

Tutorial Videos

The first video below illustrates how to get started stitching the first two rounds of the Pixie Square. The second video illustrates how to stitch edges and corners and provides advice on managing tension and color changes. These videos move quickly and assume you are familiar with basic crochet techniques, so if you are a beginner you may want to also watch some other videos on magic ring, single crochet, and half double crochet.

If other videos are requested then I will be happy to make them! Just fill out the Contact Form if you have a request.

Details, Tips, and Techniques

If you prefer to read instead of watch a video, and/or if you want more details closeup photos of the techniques used in this pattern, then this section is for you! 

Gauge check

If you are crocheting for yourself then you can make the gauge whatever you like; if you are crocheting a square for the Granny Life art project, then your square needs to match all the others. It is easy to start out too tightly, especially when learning something new.  You may want to start over after doing a small square like this and practice getting the tension/hand the way you want. The square should be puffy and happy; not tight and not loose.  Note also that the square is very square. As you work you can adjust the heights of stitches as needed to make this happen (in particular, making them tall enough in the middles of the edges).

After four rounds, your square should be just over 2" (or, equivalently, just under 6 cm) across; see the closeup photo. In this four-round sample square I have not yet caught the carried yarn inside the corners (see details on this below), because the corners were not yet sticking out. I will start to catch that corner yarn in the 5th or 6th round.

Starting and finishing rounds

Each round starts with a custom wrapped standing stitch (wssc) that catches one or more carried yarns, and ends with a hdc join into the top left of the first stitch of the round. 

• What the wssc?  The "wssc" (wrapped standing single crochet) used at the start of each round is a stitch we created to best mimic the other hdc stitches in the corner clusters. Perhaps this is an existing common method but we had not heard of it. The wssc stitch is a variation of some other types of standing stitches where the hook itself is rotated to twist the loop; in this case that was just too twisty, so we used wrapping/turning instead. For the very first round we omit the "wrapping" part because it is just too tricky to do with the magic ring, and because the stitch on the needle already has a little extra bit on the starting round. After turning or wrapping you should still have just one loop on the hook, and the work should not be twisted; all that you need is for the working yarn to wrap around the base of the loop (see "turn work twice" closeup photo).

• Catching yarns at the corner:  When starting a new round with the wssc, you need to insert your hook to the *left* of the vertically carried non-working yarn. Catching the vertical carried yarn on the left is essential because it hides that carried yarn inside all of the corner stitches. In addition, in all corners after the first few rounds, you should also catch *one* strand of yarn from inside the corner of the round below. Catching the strand from inside the previous corner helps pull the new corner down to the previous one, to better match the pulled-down edge stitches in the work. The mechanics of catching these yarns difficult to explain, but easy to see if you watch the second tutorial above (see also the "catch old and new" closeup photo for how things should look after catching both strands in the stitch). 

• Joining at the end of a round:  At the end of each round, join into the top *left* of the first stitch in the round. This is the "V" of yarn that is coming out of the first stitch and leading into the second hdc of the cluster. When you work a hdc into the left-top of the first stitch, you are replacing the 2ch used in the other corners. Be sure that you are also capturing the non-working yarn into this stitch; this is necessary so that the carried yarn will be in the correct place in the next round. The capture of the non-working yarn in the hdc join is what causes the "vertical carried yarn" we described in the previous bullet point (see the closeup photo "joining with hdc"). 

Color changes

When changing from one color to another, you need to switch the carried yarn and the working yarn. This needs to be done in the stitch just before the color change, and is a three-step process: 

• Check tension:  Before doing anything, make sure that the tension of the carried yarn is correct all the way to the last previous stitch where the carried yarn was used. You want to pull the carried yarn so it is straight but not tight, and make sure that there are no loops of yarn showing through the back of the work (see the "check tension" closeup photo). Then pull the work to loosen the carried yarn a little so that it is not cinching up the work.Remember you will have to pick up the carried strand in every cluster of the next row, so it needs to have a little bit of give and not be too tight.

• The switching stitch:  Now start the second hdc of the cluster before the color change, stopping before you pull through the three loops on the hook. Hold the about-to-be-dropped yarn tightly to the front of the work (see the "hold yarn" closeup photo) and then pull the new working yarn through the three loops. Doing the switch in this way will twist your yarns, and you'll have to untwist them as you go, when it becomes a nuisance. However it is necessary because this method is what forms the fourth back leg of the last completed hdc, and helps hide the color transition fully inside the hdc stitch. 

• Tug on the leg:  The last front leg of the stitch you just finished may be a bit loose, which will cause tension issues later with the carried yarn. Tighten this last leg by tugging on the now non-working yarn before continuing the next cluster in the new color (see the "tighten the last leg" closeup photo).