Cosmos Square — Square 3 of the Bláithín Blanket Stash Busting CAL

There is something quietly magical about the moment a crochet project starts to take on a life of its own. You begin with a hook, a handful of leftover yarn, and a pattern, and somewhere between the first chain and the final fastened-off end, something beautiful appears. That is exactly the spirit behind the Bláithín Blanket Stash Busting CAL, and if you have been following along since the very beginning, you already know how addictive this blanket is becoming. Today we are diving deep into Square 3 — the Cosmos Square — and I cannot wait to walk you through everything you need to know to make it, love it, and understand why it fits so perfectly into this growing blanket.

Whether you are new to the CAL and catching up, or you have been crocheting right alongside me from Square 1, this post will cover the Cosmos Square in full detail: what makes it special, how to approach it if you are a beginner or an intermediate crocheter, tips for colour choices, yarn suggestions for stash busting, stitch guidance, and a step-by-step breakdown of the design. So grab a cup of tea, get comfortable, and let us talk about the Cosmos Square.

What Is the Bláithín Blanket Stash Busting CAL?

Before we get into the Cosmos Square itself, let us take a quick moment for anyone who is just joining us. The Bláithín Blanket Stash Busting CAL (Crochet-Along) is a project designed to help you use up those yarn odds and ends that have been sitting in your stash for far too long. You know the ones — leftover skeins from finished projects, partial balls in colours you fell in love with but never quite used up, or that impulse purchase from a craft fair that somehow never made it into a finished object.

The name Bláithín (pronounced BLAW-heen) is an Irish word meaning “little flower,” and it reflects the floral, nature-inspired energy that runs through the entire blanket. Each square in the CAL takes its name from something found in nature — and the Cosmos Square is no exception.

The concept is simple: each square is worked separately, uses a manageable amount of yarn, and is designed to be achievable in a single sitting or spread across a couple of evenings. When all the squares are joined, they create a richly textured, colourful blanket that is uniquely yours because the colours you choose come entirely from whatever you already have at home. That is the beauty of stash busting — no two Bláithín Blankets will ever look exactly the same.

Meet the Cosmos Square

The cosmos flower is one of those plants that feels simultaneously delicate and wildly abundant. It grows in great billowing clouds of colour — pinks, purples, whites, oranges — and it has a simplicity to its form that belies just how striking it is in a garden. The petals are broad and slightly cup-shaped, radiating out from a small, cheerful centre. It self-seeds freely, comes back year after year in unpredictable places, and reminds us that beauty does not always require effort or planning. It just needs a little space to grow.

All of that translates beautifully into crochet. The Cosmos Square is a granny-style square at heart, but it has been given a more structured, floral shape by working extended stitches and cluster groupings that give the finished square the distinct petal-like quality of the real flower. The centre is worked in a tight magic ring that forms the heart of the bloom, and from there the petals build outward in rounds that maintain the circular momentum of the flower shape before being squared off in the final rounds.

The result is a square that reads as botanical and detailed but is actually quite accessible once you have the rhythm of it. It is the kind of square that looks impressive in a finished blanket and prompts people to ask how long it took, to which the honest answer is: not nearly as long as it looks.

Skill Level and Techniques Used

The Cosmos Square sits comfortably at an intermediate beginner level. If you have completed Squares 1 and 2 of the Bláithín Blanket, you are absolutely ready for this one. If you are coming to the CAL fresh with the Cosmos Square, you will want to be comfortable with the following techniques before you begin:

Working in the round is central to this square, and all rounds are joined with a slip stitch and begun with a standing stitch or turning chain, depending on your preference. Knowing how to start rounds cleanly makes a significant difference in the finished appearance of the square, and I always recommend using a standing double crochet where possible rather than the traditional chain-three substitute, which can leave a slightly loopy gap at the join.

Cluster stitches appear in the petal rounds. A cluster is a group of partially completed stitches that are all finished together with a single yarn over and pull-through, creating a gathered, pointed shape. In the Cosmos Square, clusters of three double crochets are used to form each petal unit. They are not complicated once you have made the first one, and they create that lovely raised, defined look that makes the floral character of the square so recognisable.

Chain spaces are used throughout to create the airy gaps between petals and at the corners. These are simply chains that sit between stitch groups and are worked into in subsequent rounds. They give the square its lace-like quality and also make it slightly stretchy, which helps when it comes time to block and join.

Colour changes are built into the square naturally because of how the rounds are structured. Each new colour is introduced at the start of a new round, which means you are never changing mid-row or mid-stitch — it is all clean transitions. This makes colour management easy and tidy, and it also means you can use quite short lengths of yarn without any trouble.

Choosing Your Colours for the Cosmos Square

This is arguably the most fun part of any stash busting project, and the Cosmos Square gives you a lot of creative freedom in how you approach colour. Because the square is worked in distinct rounds, each of which can be a different colour, you have up to six or seven colour changes to play with depending on how you lay out your rounds.

Real cosmos flowers are almost always found in shades of pink, magenta, crimson, white, and purple, with yellow or gold at the centre. If you want to lean into the botanical inspiration, working your centre round in a warm gold or mustard, then moving through blush pinks and deep roses, and finishing the border rounds in a neutral like cream or sage green, will give you something that genuinely looks like a garden in miniature.

But the stash busting spirit of the Bláithín CAL means you absolutely do not have to follow a botanical colour palette. This is your opportunity to use whatever is calling to you from your yarn collection. A cosmos worked in cool blues and silvers with a white centre has a frosty, celestial feel that suits the name in a different way — after all, cosmos also means the universe. Deep jewel tones — emerald, burgundy, gold, cobalt — create a rich, maximalist square that feels almost like stained glass. Pastels in a rainbow of shades give something soft and dreamy.

The one guidance I would offer is to think about contrast. The petal rounds are where the detail lives, and if your petal colour is too close in value (lightness or darkness) to the background rounds around it, the floral shape can get a little lost. A simple trick is to squint at your chosen colours. If they blend into a similar grey tone when your eyes are half-closed, they may not have enough contrast. If one clearly reads lighter and one reads darker, you have got the contrast you need and the flower will pop.

Yarn Suggestions and Stash Busting Tips

The Cosmos Square is designed to work with DK weight yarn, which is one of the most common weights in most people’s stashes. If you have been collecting yarn for any length of time, the chances are good that you have plenty of DK to work with. The square uses a relatively small amount of each colour — typically between five and fifteen grams per round depending on the round’s length — which means even short leftover lengths are usable.

For the main petal rounds and the border, you will need the most yardage. These are the rounds I would recommend choosing first based on what you have the most of, and then building the rest of the colour story around them. The centre and smaller transitional rounds are excellent opportunities to use up tiny scraps — even just a metre or two can complete a short round if you are working with a contrasting accent colour.

In terms of yarn fibre, almost anything works well for this square. Pure cotton gives a crisp stitch definition that really shows off the cluster petals beautifully. Wool blends are wonderfully cosy and have a slight elasticity that makes the stitches even and enjoyable to work. Acrylic yarn is practical, easy to wash, and comes in every colour imaginable, making it the classic choice for a stash-busting blanket that will get regular use. If you are mixing fibres within a single square — which is absolutely fine in a stash buster — just be mindful that different fibres may block and behave slightly differently, and blocking your finished square before joining will help even everything out.

A 4mm hook is the recommended size for DK weight yarn, though as always, your gauge matters more than the number on the hook. The finished Cosmos Square should measure approximately 15cm by 15cm (about six inches square) after blocking. If your square is coming up larger or smaller, adjust your hook size accordingly — going up a half size if you tend to crochet tightly, or down a half size if your work comes out looser than the pattern intends.

Working Through the Rounds: A Guided Overview

Rather than a line-by-line pattern (which you will find in the downloadable PDF accompanying this CAL), this section is meant to give you a conceptual understanding of how the square builds, which can be enormously helpful when you are learning a new design and want to understand the why behind each step.

The square begins with a magic ring tightened to close the centre completely. The first round establishes the centre cluster, working a series of chains and stitches into the ring that already begin to suggest the spiral heart of a flower. This round is worked in your centre colour and is small — it comes together in just a few minutes.

The second round is where the petals begin to emerge. Working into the chain spaces from Round 1, you build the first layer of petal clusters. Each petal is formed by a three-double-crochet cluster flanked by chains, which gives it a pointed, leaf-like shape. This round is typically worked in your petal colour — the star of the show — and it transforms the small centre into something that already looks unmistakably floral.

The third round fills in the spaces between petals and begins the process of building outward. Chain bridges and single stitches worked between the petals create a supporting structure that keeps the flower flat and even. This round can be worked in your petal colour again for a monochromatic flower look, or in a contrasting accent to make the petals pop even more.

The fourth and fifth rounds are the transition rounds — these are where the circular flower shape begins its journey toward being a square. Corner chain spaces are introduced, and the cluster pattern continues on the sides while the corners are anchored with longer chain loops. These rounds are satisfying to work because you can feel the geometry shifting beneath your hook, the square beginning to assert itself.

The sixth and final round is the border. It is worked in a single colour all the way around, smoothing out the edges and creating the neat, even frame that will make joining the squares together clean and straightforward. A simple pattern of double crochets and chains along the sides with a corner cluster at each corner gives you a clean, classic granny-square border that plays well with every other square in the Bláithín Blanket.

Blocking and Finishing Your Cosmos Square

Once your Cosmos Square is finished and all ends are woven in, blocking is genuinely worth the small effort it requires. Wet blocking — soaking the square in cool water, gently pressing out the excess moisture in a towel, and then pinning it to your blocking mat to the correct measurements — opens up all the lacy chain spaces, makes the petal clusters sit neatly, and gives the finished square a professional, polished look.

If you are working with acrylic yarn and wet blocking does not give you enough adjustment, steam blocking is an option, though you should hold the iron above the fabric and never let it rest directly on acrylic fibres, which can melt or become flat and lifeless under direct heat.

Blocked squares join much more neatly than unblocked ones. The edges are even, the corners lie flat, and there is no puckering or pulling when you bring multiple squares together. It is a step that is easy to skip and almost always regretted once the blanket is assembled.

How the Cosmos Square Fits Into the Bigger Picture

Part of what makes the Bláithín Blanket so satisfying is the way each square contributes a distinct personality to the whole while still belonging to the same visual family. The Cosmos Square, with its floral clusters and airy chain spaces, brings a softness and botanical warmth to the blanket that complements the more geometric character of earlier squares.

As the blanket grows, you will notice that the variety of textures — the raised clusters, the flat solid rounds, the open lace sections — creates a richly layered surface that catches the light differently depending on where your eye falls. The Cosmos Square is a key part of that texture story.

If you are keeping a CAL journal or working in a notebook, this is a lovely square to make a small swatch of in different colour combinations before committing to your main yarn choices. Sometimes the combination that looks strange as individual balls on a shelf is the one that sings once it is crocheted up. The reverse is also occasionally true, which is why swatching saves both heartache and yarn.

Joining the Community

The Bláithín Blanket Stash Busting CAL is as much about the community around it as it is about the finished blanket. Sharing your Cosmos Square progress — whether on Instagram, Ravelry, or in the CAL Facebook group — is one of the genuine pleasures of working alongside other crocheters on the same project. Seeing the same square interpreted in a hundred different colour combinations is endlessly inspiring and is a vivid reminder of how personal and individual crochet can be even when everyone is working from the same pattern.

Tag your posts so they can be found and celebrated. Leave a comment here with a photo link or a note about which colour combination you chose. Ask questions if a step is unclear — there are no silly questions in a CAL, only opportunities for the whole community to learn together.

Up Next in the CAL

Square 4 is coming soon, and it brings with it a whole new set of textures and techniques to explore. Without giving too much away, it continues the nature-inspired naming theme of the Bláithín Blanket and introduces a stitch you may not have worked with before — but by the time you have it in your hands, it will feel completely natural.

In the meantime, keep your hooks moving on the Cosmos Square, enjoy the process of choosing colours that feel like yours, and remember that every end you weave in is one less piece of leftover yarn taking up space in your stash. That, truly, is its own kind of satisfaction.

Happy crocheting — and as always, keep it cosy.