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We first used this idea in 1997 when we created Square Deal. The original afghan was bought by the London Science Museum.

In March 2011 a book called Crafting by Concepts, by  sarah-marie belcastro and Carolyn Yackel, was published. In it Susan Goldstine mentioned Square Deal and commented that a crochet version would be interesting. We decided to take up that challenge!

The maths was indeed challenging. The numbers needed to make squares of the correct sizes are in conflict with the numbers usually needed to make squares that will lie flat and fit together. We could not find any other kind of square that would work exactly without making an afghan that was much too big for practical use.

The maths of the arrangement could not be compromised so the result is a fairly dense fabric with squares that undulate very slightly. Unlike most of our designs these squares do not automatically lie flat. Once they are joined together they help to keep each other flat and blocking helps still further.

There are 21 squares and every square is a different size. We tried to show this by starting every square in the same way. The smallest square is two units so it has two rounds of crochet. The next smallest is four units so begins with the same two starting rounds then has two more in a different colour. The six-unit square has another two rounds in a third colour. There are four colours in total but any number of colours could be used.