Hello and welcome to Part 4 of the Making Stitches 2025 CAL! I decided this month to follow the weather theme and opted for April Showers. It felt a bit silly to be honest during the beautiful sunny spring days we have been enjoying of late to think about the rain, but it is normal at this time to year, in my part of the world to experience a little precipitation!

The whole point of this CAL is to be a stash buster project to help you get rid of some of your odds and ends of yarn left over from previous projects. I am certainly using it for that purpose!

I have made my squares using my own stash of Stylecraft Special DK yarns and I will include the names and numbers of the shades I’ve used in case you want to replicate what I have done exactly, but you can use any yarn you like. The only thing you need to do is make sure it’s all the same weight, ie all DK or all Aran or whatever yarn you choose, and if you are making the whole project along with me, make sure all your squares are made using the same weight and the same size of crochet hook to make sure they all measure the same size so they can be joined together easily at the end.

Here goes for April…

2025 Making Stitches CAL Part Four : April – April Showers

As I said before, this pattern is meant to be a stash buster project however, if you would like to use the same yarn as I did, here’s what I used to make this square: Stylecraft Special DK in (A) Silver ( 1203), (B) Cloud Blue (1019), (C) Wisteria (1432), (D) Violet (1277), (E)Aster (1003), (F) Grass Green (1821), (G) Citron (1263), (H) Clementine & (I) Matador (1010).

Abbreviations (in UK terms): blo = work in back loop only, ch = chain, dc = double crochet, dtr = double treble crochet, flo = work in front loop only, fyo = final yarn over, htr = half treble crochet, mc = magic circle / magic ring, rep = repeat, slst = slip stitch, st = stitch, tr = treble crochet.
Tension: Tension isn’t important for this project as long as you maintain the same tension throughout the project so all your squares are the same size. Once blocked this square will measure approximately 20cm x 20cm. The stitch count of the final round of each finished square will be 120 plus corner chain spaces.

Note: when working the dc rows to form the border it can tend to make the tension of the stitches a bit tighter thus making this square a bit smaller than the others. If you relax and don’t work too tightly or even move up a hook size, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Please note, this pattern is written using UK crochet terms

Central cloud motif

Using Yarn A, make a MC.

Round 1 Ch2 (not counted as a st throughout), 12 tr into MC. Slst into top of ch2 to close the round. (12tr)

Round 2A Working in FLO (2dc, 2htr, 2tr, 2dtr, 2tr, 2htr) x2. (24 sts)

Round 3A slst into next 2 sts, (2dc, 1dc) x9, slst into next st. Turn. (27dc + 3 slst)

Round 4A 1dc (2dc, 1dc, 1dc) x3, 1dc in next 6 sts, (2dc, 1dc, 1dc) x3, 1dc. Turn. (32dc)

Creating the square

Round 2B With Yarn A, join yarn in one of the back loops of Round 1. Ch2, 2htr into every BLO around. Slst into top of first 2ch to close round. Fasten off and break yarn. (24 htr)

Round 3B With Yarn B, join yarn into any st. Ch2, (2tr, 1tr in next st) rep around. Slst into top of ch2. (36 tr)

Round 4B Ch1, (2dc, 1dc in next 2 sts) rep around. Slst into ch1. (48 dc)

Round 5B Ch 2, (2tr, 1tr in next 3 sts) rep around. Slst into ch2. Fasten off and break yarn. (60 tr)

Note: when working the dc rows to form the border it can tend to make the tension of the stitches a bit tighter thus making this square a bit smaller than the others. If you relax and don’t work too tightly or even move up a hook size, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Round 7 With yarn C, join in any st. 1dc into every st around and work 1dc +2ch + 1dc into every corner space. Slst into top of 1st st, fasten off and break yarn. (72 dc)

Round 8 With Yarn D, join in any st. Rep Round 7. (80 dc)

Round 9 With Yarn E, join in any st. Rep Round 7. (88 dc)

Round 10 With Yarn F, join in any st. Rep Round 7. (96 dc)

Round 11 With Yarn G, join in any st. Rep Round 7. (104 dc)

Round 12 With Yarn H, join in any st. Rep Round 7. (112 dc)

Round 13 With Yarn I, join in any st. Ch2, 1htr into every st around, and work 1htr + 2ch + 1htr into each corner space. Fasten off and break yarn. (120 htr)

Sunshine (make 1)

Using Yarn G, make a MC.

Round 1 Ch2 (not counted as a st throughout), 12 tr into MC. Slst into top of ch2 to close the round. (12tr)

Round 2 Ch2, 2tr into every st around. Fasten off and break yarn. (24tr)

Raindrops (make 3)

Using Yarn E, make a MC.

Round 1 Ch1, 6dc into MC, 2ch, slst into 1st of 2 chains to make a picot. Slst into top of 1st dc. Fasten off and break yarn, pulling the central tail tightly to close the middle.

Once you have completed the sunshine and raindrops, lie the sunshine partially under the edge of the cloud and sew the sunshine into place using the yarn tails. Then, carefully attach the edge of the cloud to the square and over the top of the sunshine. Pin the three raindrops into place underneath the rain cloud and once you are happy with their positioning, sew them securely into place.

Finally, weave in any loose ends on the back of the square and the rainbow border.

And your April Square is complete.

Thank you so much for joining me on this CAL adventure. It’s been quite a ride so far. I have to admit that this month’s square had me for an April Fool. Despite being, arguably, the simplest square to create, I just couldn’t get it right. Initially it was going to be an umbrella, then, once I’d settled on the cloud, I couldn’t get the shape right. Then I struggled to find the right border for it. I got there in the end! I hope you like it.

Thank you to everyone who has joined in so far and shared their makes on social media with the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL, it was so lovely over the past few weeks to see lots of March ‘Spring Flower’ squares blooming all over the place!

If you join in with the April Shower’s square, please do let me see your makes – it makes my day to see them!

Enjoy!

Lindsay x