I have found a way to eliminate the awkwardness of the starting chain on an Elmer Square.

The sample on the left is made with a starting ch5 in the corner, which equals a dc, ch2. The sample on the right is made with a different method, which I will describe below.

In the square on the left, the holes in the joined corners are larger than the other holes on the same square. The square on the right has more uniform holes.

In the square on the left, the starting chain makes the bottom of the stitch hide behind the last stitch of the round, so it appears that the bottoms of the two stitches are crossed over each other. In the square on the right, the bottoms of all 4 stitches are visible, just like all the other corners.

Here’s my preferred method for the Elmer Square.

Ch4. Sl st to form ring.
Rnd 1. Do not ch1. Work a sc, ch1 (equals 1st dc),dc, ch2. [3dc, ch2] three times. Then work final dc.  To join this round, slip stitch in the top of the regular dc, not in the chain stitch at the beginning of the round.
Rnd 2. Do not ch1. Work sc in ch-2 sp, ch1 (equals dc). Dc, ch2, 2dc in same space. First corner is made. Dc in next 3 sts. ([2dc, ch2, 2dc] in ch-2 sp, dc in next 3 sts) three times. Sl st as in Rnd 1.
Continue with as many rounds as desired.

First corner is made.

Last stitch of each round goes here.

Slip stitch to join in top of first regular dc of round, not in chain above beginning sc.

Round is complete. Note that first [sc, ch1] looks like a regular dc, now that the round is properly joined. Use an invisible join (a.k.a needle join) on final round.

Have you ever wanted to crochet a hexagon shape and make it into a square shape by adding rounds? Here are some photos that show my experimentation with that.

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with that process.

These photos accompany the full written pattern, which is available in my Ravelry and Etsy stores.

The first slide show demonstrates the procedure through the Optional Overlay Round 1 and then the full hexagon through the last round.

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This second slide show demonstrates the procedure for the Optional Overlay Round 2.

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These diagrams represent various possible arrangements of my snowflake hexagon patterns. I have yet to write patterns for all but the full and half hexagons.

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I’m still learning all about WordPress and blogging. I’ve gotten lots of inspiration from Sara Duggan, Momwithahook, of CrochetBusiness.com. Her 31-day challenge gave me lots of thoughtful and helpful information.

Additionally, I’m the happy owner of her e-books: Create Crochet Patterns and Hooking for Cash. Sara has packed so much information into these books that reading them is like drinking from a fire hose!