So we are in the midst of December already, and I thought I would share what I did with my Making Stitches 2025 CAL squares. Once I had laid them all out, I realised that 15 squares didn’t make for a great blanket shape. As I had gone to the trouble of designing 3 extra squares this year in addition to the 12 monthly ones, I decided to use them all.

There was the extra July ‘Tutti Frutti’ square, the ‘Bonus Birthday Bunting square’ and the ‘Bonus Granny Square Day square’ as well as the ones through from January to December. I figured I’d better knock up another one quickly to make a round 16! So now I’ve created the Bonus 2025 square as well for anyone wanting to do the same as I have!

I have included 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’s the pattern for my Bonus 2025 Making Stitches 2025 CAL square!

Bonus 2025 Square

Using Stylecraft Special DK:

(A) Black (1002) 

(B) Silver (1203)

(C) Turquoise (1068)

(D) Bright Green (1259)

(E) Jaffa (1256)

(F) Bright Pink (1435)

Size 4mm crochet hook

Scissors

Stitch Marker

Yarn Needle

A small amount of toy filling

Abbreviations (in UK terms): BBL = Bobble Stitch, blo = work in back loop only, ch = chain, dc = double crochet, dc2tog = double crochet 2 together, dc3tog = double crochet 3 together, dtr = double treble crochet, fyo = final yarn over, htr = half treble crochet, mc = magic circle / magic ring, rep = repeat, RS = right side, slst = slip stitch, st = stitch, tr = treble crochet.

To make a 5 Tr Bobble: Bobble coloured yarn over hook (eg Red for the first fairy light), insert hook into st, yarn over, pull up loop, yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook – repeat this another 4 times so you have 6 loops on your hook and all are worked into the same st. Yarn over with Black yarn (Fairy lights wire colour) and pull through all of the Red loops to close the bobble. Chain 1 to lock the bobble closed. If the bobble is poking through the back of the work, gently poke it back through to the front. [When you come to work the next round, make sure you work into the first st (the one that was pulled through all the loops and leave the 1ch unworked.

To make the square:

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. Pull the central yarn tail tight to close MC. (12tr)

Round 2 Ch2, 2tr into each st around. Slst into the top of the ch2. (24tr)

Round 3 Ch1, (2dc in first st, 1dc in next st), rep around.  Slst into top of Ch2 (36dc)

Round 4 Ch2, (2tr in first st, 1tr in next 2 sts) around. Slst into top of ch2. (48tr)

Round 5 Ch1, (2dc in first st, 1dc into next 3 sts) rep around, slst into the top of the ch1 to close the square. (60 dc)

Round 6 Ch1, (1dc in next 3 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1dtr + 2ch + 1dtr in next st, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1dc in next 3 sts) rep around. Fasten off and break yarn. 

Round 7 Join Yarn B into any st. Work 1dc into every st around and 1dc ch2 1dc into every corner space. Slst to top of 1ch. Fasten off and break yarn. (72dc)

Round 8 With Yarn A, join into the blo of the final st of one of the sides of the square, 2ch 1htr into every st around working 1htr 2ch 1htr into each corner space. (80 htr)

Round 9 Ch1, 1dc in every st around plus 1dc + 2ch + 1dc into each corner space. Slst into top of first Ch1. (88 dc)

Round 10 Ch1 & 1dc in same st, 1dc 2ch 1dc into corner space and work 1dc into first 3 sts of the next side changing to Yarn C with fyo, make a 5tr BBL into the next st using Yarn C, change to Yarn A with fyo of BBL, with Yarn A, work 1dc into next 4 sts changing to Yarn D with fyo, with Yarn D make a 5tr BBL into next st, change back to Yarn A with fyo of BBL, using Yarn A work 1dc into next 4 sts changing to Yarn E in fyo, with Yarn E make a BBL into next st changing back to Yarn A in fyo of BBL, work 1dc into next 4 sts changing to Yarn F in fyo, with Yarn F make a BBL changing back to Yarn A in fyo of BBL, 1dc in remaining 3 sts of side, 1dc + 2ch +1dc into corner space repeat this process around the remaining 3 sides, slst into top of 1ch to close round. (Total of 80 dc and 16 bobbles).

Round 11 Continuing with Yarn A, ch1 & 1dc into same st, 1dc into every st around (being careful to only make 1dc into the top of each BBL) plus 1dc + 2ch + 1dc into each corner space. Slst into top of 1ch to close round. (104 dc)

Round 12 Ch1 & 1dc into acme st, 1dc into every st around and 1dc + 2ch + 1dc into each corner space. Slst into top of 1ch to close round. Fasten off and break yarn. (112 dc)

Round 13 Join Yarn B in any st, ch1 and 1dc into that st, work 1dc into every st around and 1dc + 2ch + 1dc into every corner space. Fasten off and break yarn. (120 dc)

To make the numbers:

Number 2 (Make 2) With Yarn D & Yarn F, Ch 17, 2dc in 2nd ch from hook, 2dc in next 3 ch, 1dc in next 5 ch, dc2tog, dc2tog, 1dc in next 3 ch. Fasten off.

Number 0 (Make 1) With Yarn E, Ch 16, then work into the first chain you made in order to close the loop making sure you don’t twist the chain, 2dc in that first ch, 2dc into the next 4 ch, 1dc into next 3 ch, 2dc into next 5 ch, 1dc into next 3 ch. Slst into top of first dc to close round. Fasten off.

Number 5 (Make 1) With Yarn C, Ch 20, 1dc in 2nd ch from hook, 1dc in next 3 ch, dc3tog, 1dc in next 2 ch, dc3tog, 2dc in next 7 ch. Fasten off.

Once you have woven the ends in from your numbers, place them in the centre of your square and once you are happy with their placement, sew them securely onto it.

That’s your Bonus 2025 square finished! Time to join the squares all together.

How I joined my squares:

Once I’d completed all of my square and they had all been blocked, I realised that in order to do a 3tr cluster join-as-you go, I would need a different stitch count to make the joining rows evenly spaced. By adding a 14th round to each square gave me the basis for this particular join-as-you go method.

Round 14 With Yarn B, Ch1, 1dc into every st around (1dc + 2ch + 1dc into corner spaces), slst into top of first st to close round. Fasten off and break yarn. (128 dc)

Once all 16 squares had Round 14 added, it was time to get cracking with the joining. I am not a fan of sewing when it comes to crochet, so if at all possible I will join any pieces I have by crocheting them together. In order to do this, it’s helpful to have a plan of how you are going to do this. Below is my plan for joining the squares. I started at number 1 (highlighted in red) and followed along each side as shown with the arrows.

Begin at the bottom left hand side of square number 1, work 3tr cluster in corner square, (miss next 2 sts, and work another 3tr cluster) rep along bottom of square to corner. Work 3tr cluster + 2ch + 3tr cluster into corner space and continue in the same fashion up to to the top of the 2nd side. At this point we need to join to square number 2. Ch1 and then work 3tr cluster into the corner space of square number 2 as shown in 3rd photo below.

At this stage, take your hook out of the loop and put it through the gap between the last 2 tr clusters on square one. Pull the loop up through that gap, miss the next 2 sts and work a 3tr cluster into the next st. Continue down the side making sure you pull your loop through the gaps on the side of square 1 until you reach the bottom corner. In the corner work a 3tr cluster, ch 2 remove loop from hook and pull it through the corner ch space on square 1 before making a 2nd 3tr cluster in that corner space on square 2 then continue along the bottom of square 2 as shown in the JAYG plan above as arrow 4.

Turn the corner of square 2 as you did on square 1 and work back up to the top before joining square 3 in the same fashion. Repeat the process to join Square 4 but once you have worked along the bottom of square 4 (arrow 10), you need to slst into the top of the first st of the first 3tr cluster, then turn your work to join square 5 along the bottom edge.

When you reach the end of the top of square 5, in the corner space work 3tr cluster ch 1, take loop off hook and pull it through the opposite corner on square 3, ch1 and work 2nd 3tr cluster in the corner space of square 5 before working back down the side edge of square 5 (arrow 12). Join square 6 and work back up to the top right hand corner of square 6 before joining the final 4th corner to the opposite corner space as shown above.

Continue joining the 6th, 7th & 8th squares as shown in the plan above, then work along the bottom of all 4 squares before embarking on square 9 as detailed in the plan.

Once you have joined all your squares, work back along the bottom edge (arrow 34), up the side (arrow 35), along the top (arrow 36) and back down to where you began on the bottom left corner of square 1 (arrow 37). In the corner space, work 3tr cluster, ch2 and slst into the top of the first st.

Fasten off and weave in all your ends. After this, I worked another 3 rounds of 3tr clusters then changed to a darker grey (Graphite 1063) for a round of 1dc around.

And that truly is it for this Making Stitches 2025 CAL. I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has joined in with this, my first ever CAL. It’s been a real learning experience for me and one which has been such a lot of fun. I’m thrilled that together we have made it through to the finish – there’s nothing more satisfying than having a finished project!

So as this year comes to a close, thank you for keeping me company throughout 2025 with this fun crochet adventure. I am not going to be starting a new CAL in January for next year, I think I need a little break to give my brain room to ponder some ideas I have for future crochet projects, but as soon as I’m ready to share my next crochet adventure with you, I will let you know!

Have a lovely Christmas and I hope 2026 brings you lots of happiness & creativity.

Happy hooking,

Lindsay x

PS If you do decide to make a Bonus 2025 Square, or for that matter, any of the Making Stitches 2025 CAL square, please, if you share it online, I would love it if you could use the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL so I can see any squares when they appear!