By Leaps and Bounds

I had forgotten how fast crochet goes.

And how greedily it consumes yarn.

I had some reservations about this pattern.  They were confirmed when The Princess looked at the first four squares and opined that they looked like they came from two different projects.  True enough, the pattern alternates predominately green squares with predominately rose ones. While it seemed a good idea when I chose the pattern, looking at the first four squares? Well, maybe not. 

We also discovered that some of the colors just do not play well together.  In fact, some of them need to be kept on opposite sides of the playground, or at least have a fence between them. The navy and the slightly brighter blue there in the foreground are the worst offenders.  Since they really needed to be separated, and I really needed all the squares to match, I've added an additional row of single crochet in the arbtrary color of my choice to every square. Which, of course, means I have to adjust the pattern for the final two rows, the ones that square the circles.

Then we devised a Plan. Rather than repeating the same four squares until we had enough for the blanket, we would opt for a freer, more eclectic approach. Each square will continue to contain the main color - the navy, although that may not make it as the background color -- and the two neutrals as written up in the pattern.  The other colors would be movable. I drew up a list of the colors from A to H as I had assigned them for the first four squares, then set up seven more series where I successively bumped each color down. So A became B, B became C and so on, skipping when the color choice was navy, taupe or oatmeal.  

I think I'm going to like it.

And did I mention that crochet is fast?