pattern available here:
https://tinnacrochet.com/collections/all

AZUL is an interactive mosaic crochet pattern, inspired by the beautiful azulejo tile tradtion of Portugal. The pattern includes 72 different tile designs that you can arrange as you please. It has the look of squares, but is all worked flat and in one piece!

I wanted to make an interactive pattern, with lots of tile designs, that you can then play with. I like the random look of using all of them placed sort of mismatching, but you can of course arrange them in an orderly fashion if that’s more your style.
This is an all chart pattern and you can work it either flat or in the round. Lots of possibillities, I‘ve made a cushion to start with and am now working on a blanket. I include some size recomendations for blankets. Or you can work it in the round and make a cushion, bag or cowl as well.

Yarn & hook:

You can use any yarn you like for this pattern and a hook that suits your yarn. Azul can be used to make various projects, both worked flat and in the round.

I’m made the original Azul cushion worked flat, using hand dyed fingering weight yarn from Madeline Tosh on a 2.50 mm hook.

This yarn is fingering weight, 100% wool that comes in 100 g = 385 m skeins. I did a 5 x 5 tiles collage and used 1 skein of each color for the front side. You could do the same for the backside, but I just made a basic granny square for the back side, using up the extra yarn I had from the frontside plus one extra skein. each side of the tiles, plus some for the borders. The cushion measures 40 x 40 cm including the border.

Gauge:

Approx. 28 ST & 28 rows = 10 cm (4 inches)
Using recommended yarn and a 2.5 mm hook.

Abbreviations (US terms):

ST = stitch/stitches
SS = slip stitch
CH = chain stitch
SC = single crochet
DC = double crochet
FPDC = front post double crochet

Sizes:

Azul is an interactive pattern where you can arrange the 36 tile designs as you like. It is worked in repeats of 22 stitches and 22 rounds or rows, so you can really use this to make a project in any size you like.

To decide on how many repeats, you need for you project, the best way is to start by making a small swatch (just 1 repeat or 1 tile) of the pattern, using the yarn you have chosen. Then you can measure how large your repeat is and take it from there, adjusting this to the size you want your project to be.

If making a cushion, note that I like to make my crocheted covers a bit tighter than the actual size of the cushion you will use for the filling. This way the result will be neater.

Colors

You will need at least two colors and I recommend using contrasting colors. For this design I actually recommend only using two colors, since that really makes the pattern pop. You can also change color A for each new row of tiles, but again then I recommend sticking to the same color B for the whole piece, so that the grid of the tiles remains in the same color, that way you get a more coherent look. An ombre effect would work too, using slowly gradient color for both A and B. This is obviously your call though.

General Instructions

This pattern consists of various “tile” designs made in a mosaic pattern, which can be arranged as you please and worked for any size you like. This is an ALL CHARTS PATTERN and comes with user-friendly charts for all the tile versions.

I wanted to get back to the basics, so no slanted stitches or other extras this time, just all straight forward classic mosaic crochet joy!

If lefthanded, you can follow the chart from left to right no problem, it´ll look the same.

Azul tiles arrangement & blanket size guide

You can either just work the tiles in the random way I give in the charts, or you can choose your favourite ones and just use those. It would be cool to make a more orderly piece as well, for example by arranging the same tile designs always diagonally vertically. Really there is just lots of room to play here and for you guys to get creative!

If making an Azul blanket you can obviously do it any size you want, just decide on how many tiles you want to have on the width and length and take it from there. I know it’s good sometimes to have some guidance, so here are my recommendations for blanket sizes.

The actual blanket size will vary on the type of yarn weight and hook you use.

Azul Blanket sizes

Small = 6 x 8 = 48 tiles
Medium = 8 x 12 = 96 tiles
Large = 12 x 16 = 192 tiles