Fall Flower Squares

The problem with posting a pattern on a geocities site is that a little extra traffic and the whole thing goes poof! The first day Lesson 3 was up, this poor page crashed, but I managed to get it the next day and resolved to crochet it right away.

Fall Flower from Craft Daisies' Learn to Crochet Lesson 3 (left and right)
Shell Stitch Square from Craft Daisies' Learn to Crochet Lesson 3 (center)

I am beginning to think of myself as a slightly tight crocheter, which is no surprise given the way that I knit I guess. Most of my squares have needed an extra row of hdc or sc to get them up to the 7" size. But the author of this pattern totally puts me to shame. The square to the left is the first one I did. I started with the recommended I hook, but by Row 8 it was clear that we were going to be too big. I changed Row 9 from dc to sc, and skipped Row 10 completely.

Then for the square to the right I went down to an H hook. Still my square would be big according to the directions. I actually got Row 9 in as written, but replaced row 10 with a round of sc. Am I up to another version of this square? I'll decide after I do the rest of the squares from this lesson.

I have to say though that the popcorn stitch, which makes up the "petals" of the fall flower is really fun. Ugly as all get out and apparently crochet's answer to bobbles, but still quite fun to do. The shells on the otherhand (center) are quite simple and elegant. This is something that crochet does really well that you wouldn't try to do with knitting.