How to make the Two of Wands Traveling Seasons Afghan Square 7

It is finally my turn to present to you my free crochet pattern for square 7 of the Traveling Seasons Aghan (2021). This free pattern centers around the coziest time of the year: fall. What comes to mind for you when you hear fall? For me it’s warm colors, family time, and back to school! Square 7 features an adorable crochet pencil applique giving is a little 3D effect. You can even use crochet appliques on baby blankets, afghan patterns, other crocheted items, or as a crochet embellishment on your back-to-school bag.

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Traveling Afghans

Last year, Lion Brand Yarn began what we now know as the Traveling Afghans. The 2020 Traveling Afghans (knit and crochet) was hosted by my ever-talented friend Alexi from Two of Wands whose creative genius never fails to inspire me! The project set off in January 2020 and flew across the globe to different designers, adding their own little piece to the afghan. You can read more about it and even see my design in my Traveling Aghans (2020) Square 8 post. My square was a great tribute to my grandmother who fought ALS.

The Traveling Afghans received a huge amount of success and sparked another round in 2021! My guess is that the Travelling Afghans would be a yearly thing! It is such a great opportunity to connect, learn, and share stories with other creatives. It truly is an amazing feeling being a part of the afghan and I am so lucky to share another story with everyone in this year’s Traveling Seasons afghan hosted by my good friend Angie from Whistle and Wool. You can read all you need to know about the traveling seasons afghan in my post here.

You can find all the completed crochet patterns on for the afghans on their landing pages linked inside my posts above.

Fall Inspired Design – It’s Time for Back to School!

When Angie began curating the squares for the Traveling Seasons Afghan, I immediately thought of Fall and how I wanted to share about back to school. For many families, Fall is marked by soaking in family time and preparing to send children back to school. It is a time when summer ends and lives start to – literally and figuratively – cool down.

School can be many things to different children. It could be a place of fun and excitement, where we play and sing and dance, or where our favorite toys are and messy play is allowed. However – more often than what we want to believe – school can also be a place of great stress for children. Especially young children with special needs. It is a place where they are challenged, filled with foreign concepts and loud noises, or expectations to share and wait.

Being a mental health professional, I have spent lots of time working with children, their families, and schools to help carve out a better quality of living. Through my time working with children, I saw a great need to increase awareness of the challenges children deal with in school. That is why I chose to design a pencil applique for Square 7.

I have created a little freebie for you to use with your kids this summer as we cherish this sweet and sunny time before fall comes. Behavior and Play is my up and coming site where we can continue the conversation and build awareness towards the challenges that both children, parents, and educators face. Sign up to join the newsletter below to know when the site launches and grab your 9 FREE PLAY-DOH MATS.

Traveling Seasons Afghan Square 7 [2021]

This crochet pattern is written in US terms. The pattern is written in rows, turn at the end of each row.

To begin making the square, you are going to need the following:

• CYC 4 Worsted Weight Yarn (1 ball or 197 yards)- the afghan supports Lion Brand Yarn’s Wool Ease
• 6 mm hook
• tapestry needle
• stitch markers (optional)
• scissors

Abbreviations:

• ch – chain
• sc – single crochet
• Yo – yarn over
• dc – double crochet
• FPdc – double crochet in front post
• BPdc – double crochet in back post
• sc2tog – single crochet 2 together (decrease)
• st/s – stitch/es

Gauge: 12sc x 15rows

Crochet Square Pattern

This may be the easiest crochet square in the Travelin Seasons Afghan! It is so simple and is amplified by adding the pencil crochet applique. That is what I love about crochet appliqués and crochet motifs, they are such a fun way to make crochet projects stand out.

The square is single crochet block. Start the simple pattern by chaining 39 +1

Row 1: sc into the second ch from the hook. Sc into each ch down the row. (39 sts)

Row 2: ch 1 (this serves as your first sc), sc into next st, sc into each st down the row (39 sts)

Row 3-48: repeat Row 2 (39 sts per row)

Made a mistake? You might find this post about fixing crochet handy.

Pencil Crochet Applique Pattern

Note: for this portion, I tightened my tension just a tad bit for tighter stitches.

ch 12+1

Row 1: sc into the second ch from hook, sc down the row (12 sts)

Row 2: ch 1 (this serves as your first sc), sc into next st, sc into each st down the row (12 sts)

Row 3-4: repeat Row 2 (12 sts per row)

Row 5: work in the back loops only. Insert hook into the back loop of the next st. Yo and pull through. You now have two loops on your hook. Insert hook into the back loop of the next st. Yo and pull through. You now have 3 loops on your hook. Continue doing this until the last st. You should end with 12 lops on your hook.

Row 6: ch 1, *yo pull through 2. Repeat from * until end of the row. (12 sts)

Row 7: pass hook through the vertical bar of the next st (right to left), yo pull through. Repeat until the second to the last st. For the last stitch, look at the sid of the row and insert your hook through the two vertical bars instead of one. Yo pull through. You should have 12 loops on your hook.

Row 8-10: Repeat row 6, 7, 6 respectively.

Row 9: ch 1. sc in between the vertical bars of the next st. Repeat until the end of the row (12 sts)

Row 10: ch 2, dc into back loops in each st down the row. Note, back loops according to the right side, this row is worked across on the wrong side so you are dc’ing into the loop facing you. (12 sts)

Row 11: ch 2, dc into next 2 sts, FPdc, dc into next 4 sts, FPdc, dc into next 3 sts (12 sts)

Row 12: ch 1, dc into next 2 sts, BPdc, dc into next 4 sts, BPdc, dc into next three sts (12 sts)

Note: at this point you may see at you are creating a raised portion where you double crochet on posts. Isn’t that some beautiful texture? 🙂

Row 13-21: repeat Row 11 and 12 respectively. (12 sts)

Row 22: ch 1, sc into each st down the row (12 sts)

Row 23: sc2tog, sc into next 8 sts, sc2tog (10 sts)

Row 24: ch 1, sc into each st down the row (10 sts)

Row 25: sc2tog, sc into next 6 sts, sc2tog (8 sts)

Row 26: ch 1, sc into each st down the row (8 sts)

Row 27: sc2tog, sc into next 4 sts, sc2tog (6 sts)

Row 28: sc2tog, sc into next 2 sts, sc2tog (4 sts)

Row 29: sc2tog, sc2tog (2 sts)

Row 30: sc2tog (1 st)

Fasten off with a long tail

Having trouble with the pencil? Don’t worry! I made a video tutorial for you here:

How to sew the crochet applique on

Place the pencil applique on the square. If you want it diagonally like how I placed mine, align the center of the pencil with the center of the square then rotate the pencil so that that tip is pointing to the upper right corner of your square.

Using a whip stitch, seam down the triangular portion or head of the pencil.

When you reach the body of the pencil and “metal” part (double crochet and tunisian simple stitch portion), start using a running stitch. I chose this stitch to define the shape of the applique and boosts it’s 3D effect.

Switch back to using a whip stitch to seam around the eraser portion (single crochet rows). Use the same method as you seam along the opposite side of the pencil.

When you reach the tip of the pencil again, use a satin stitch to embroider a triangle over the last three rows of the applique as shown below.

Seaming Square 7 to the Afghan

Square 7 begins the 3rd row of the afghan so you will only be seaming one side. Place your square under the previous row and attach your yarn. Flip the square on top of square 4 so that the right sides face each other. You will notice the braided edges of both square being exposed.

Please note, the stitches on both squares will not align perfectly because the squares use different pattern. For this reason, make sure to align the corners of the squares together. Use the braids as a guide to seam the squares together using a whip stitch.

Weave in your end and fasten off!

And that’s it! Now it’s off to the next designer. Let me know how your afghan is going in the comments! I would especially love to see those done in different yarns .