March Cat
March Cat is our 3rd pattern in the “2022: A Year of Cats” eBook and it does double duty as the “L” in the Love mini-series as well! You’ll have to wait until June to get the “O”.
Interlocking & Mosaic
Each square in this year’s series of large squares can be made using one of two colorwork techniques: interlocking crochet or overlay mosaic crochet.
Learn more about these techniques at https://ashleeslint.com/tutorials/interlocking-and-mosaic-crochet/.
Size
All the squares in this series are large squares.
These squares begin with 40 windows when you use the interlocking crochet technique.
The overlay mosaic crochet version has a chart size of 77 x 77 and begins with 79 stitches in the foundation row (to account for the chart stitches and the Joining and Ending Stitch on each side).
Original Blog Entry
I know that typically “March-themed” things are green for St. Patrick’s Day but this series of cat squares is not going to follow a monthly theme.
This square is just another cat. You can make it green if you want. Or you can pick any other color.
I also really like the design that shows up on the wrong side of the interlocking version where the hearts meet (in an almost 4-clover type image).
Showing off the wrong side of the interlocking crochet version of March Cat.
But, this square does give a bit of a spoiler for the upcoming squares… there are right- and left-handed instructions for this pattern.
What!? Why would it matter which direction a cat is facing?
Did you already hear about this in my YouTube live from February 12, 2022?
I love my daughter’s little fingers in this photo!
Love Mini-Series
“March Cat” does double-duty as an “L” and there will be 3 other squares that go in a mini-series to spell “Love”.
They will not be released one after another though. You’ll need March, June, September, and December’s cat squares.
And the “o” and the “v” don’t have left-handed instructions (because those letters are legible regardless of which direction they face).
Left-handed Crocheters Rejoice!
And, because of these letter-cat squares I will also be including left-handed instructions for the all-in-one blanket pattern which will be released in December when all the squares are out.
That all-in-one blanket pattern will be added to your eBooks but not available separately on its own, by the way.
My colorful blanket made from 12 different interlocking crochet cat squares.
How to Fix a Mistake in Interlocking Crochet
I created a new photo tutorial this month!
I made a few mistakes that I needed to fix and figured it was as good a time as any to show you how I do it!
Reminder, interlocking crochet also goes by the title of locked filet mesh or LFM.
Thank you, testers!
I am so appreciative of my testers! They make my designs look so good!
I’m also thankful my cats were very cooperative this month as I took pictures!
I had to remake January because the yarn I originally used was just not what I wanted. All of my squares will be done using Premier Yarns Home Cotton. I will keep black as the main color and then use an assortment of striped yarns and solid yarns.
CrochetCarob is using the overlay mosaic technique – you can see the fringe on the sides where the yarn gets cut and joined for each row. You can hide those tails with an envelope border later.
CynCityCrochet used white as the first color (Main Color / MC) in her interlocking crochet sample of March Cat.
Maja Serec’s interlocking crochet sample of March Cat has been approved by quality control.
Pattern Details for “March Cat”
As always, you have your choice between using interlocking crochet or overlay mosaic crochet. I love both of these techniques for colorwork.
Please note, I have removed the interlocking mesh dots and extra border lines from the mosaic versions of ALL these cat squares.
All 12 mosaic cat squares will be the same size (77 x 77) and all 12 interlocking squares will be the same size (81 x 81; 40- window square). This deviates from most of my other squares of this size where the chart is 81 x 81 for both techniques.
Interlocking crochet sample of March Cat by Maja Serec.
Interlocking crochet / LFM crochet file includes:
- line-by-line written pattern
- a one-page chart
Details
- Chart is 81 x 81
- Gauge: 16 stitches x 8 rows = 4”
- 20″ x 20″ / 51cm x 51cm
- 4.5 mm hook (US7)
- Worsted weight yarn (460 – 485 yards total)
- Main color (MC) (the cat) – 230 yards plus 25 for optional SC border
- Accent color (AC) (background) – 230 yards
Wrong side of my interlocking crochet sample of March Cat. Black used as Main Color (MC).
Overlay Mosaic Crochet file includes:
- line-by-line written pattern
- instructions for optional envelope border
- instructions for reading a chart
- a two-page chart marked with X’s
Details
- Chart is 77 x 77
- Gauge: 14 sc blo stitches x 15 rows = 4”
- 20″ x 22″ / 52cm x 56cm
- 5 mm hook (H-8)
- Worsted weight yarn (600 – 850 yards)
- Main color (the cat) – 300 yards
- Contrasting color (background) – 300 yards
- Optional envelope border – 250 yards
