Four-color sunburst: Sunburst Granny Square Generator

Give every round its own construction identity

This four-color study uses twelve center repeats and stops after its first square round. Blue marks the foundation, gold the puffs, coral the clusters and green the frame. The purpose is to label four different construction jobs with four yarns, not merely alternate decorative stripes. The cluster uses five partial posts rather than the baseline's four, and the twelve-repeat center requires a three-space squaring sector.

Prepare compatible yarns and exact inputs

Choose four shades of the same smooth DK cotton range and begin with a four-millimeter trial hook. Have scissors, a tapestry needle, four markers and a ruler nearby. Set twelve center repeats, three puff loops, five cluster partial posts, one puff-spacing chain, two corner chains and one square border round. Use US terminology. Enter blue #243BCE, gold #C29524, coral #C44833 and green #526B45 in that order. The record contains one yarn slot for each actual round.

Recognize the two shared-top operations

Begin with twelve double crochets in a magic ring. At each old post, draw up three puff loops, close through seven loops, chain one to secure and chain one for spacing. The next round works a five-post cluster in each spacing arch. Each unfinished double crochet leaves another loop, so six loops remain before closing the cluster. Follow it with two spacing chains. The puff and cluster each create one completed top despite their different internal operations.

Complete record and source diagram

Download the exact primary JSON into the Sunburst Granny Square Generator.

1. Magic ring: ch2 (not counted),12 dc; sl st to first dc. Tighten ring. Count 12 completed units; chains separate.
2. Join puff color. In each dc make one puff:[yarn over, insert and draw up a loop] 3 times; yarn over and pull through all7 loops; ch1 to secure, then ch1 for spacing. Join to first puff. 12 puffs and12 spacing arches. Count 12 completed units; chains separate.
3. In each spacing arch work one 5-dc cluster, ch2. Cluster:[yarn over, insert, draw up a loop, yarn over and pull through2] 5 times; yarn over and pull through all6 loops. Join to first cluster. 12 clusters and12 ch-2 spaces. Count 12 completed units; chains separate.
4. Join in a ch-2 space; ch3 (not counted). Repeat four sectors:[3 tr, ch2,3 tr] in corner space; 3 dc in each of next2 spaces. Sl st to first actual stitch. 48 counted posts and8 corner chains. Count 48 completed units; chains separate.

Use color joins as deliberate checkpoints

Finish each round's stated join before fastening off and introducing the next yarn. Locate the first actual completed stitch and keep uncounted starting-height chains separate. Do not work an extra puff into a join or a cluster into the puff's securing chain. Before changing to green, confirm twelve cluster tops and twelve chain-two arches. The yarn transition is a useful opportunity to recount, but it does not itself add another fabric stitch.

Square three arches per sector

In the first arch of each sector, work three trebles, two chains and three trebles. Work three double crochets in each of the next two arches. Four sectors use all twelve arches and produce twenty-four trebles plus twenty-four double crochets: forty-eight posts. Unlike the sixteen-repeat frame, this conversion has no half-double group along the side. Mark each corner space to avoid mistaking its two chains for two separate corners.

Audit the workload and color record

The working counts are twelve foundation posts, twelve puff units, twelve cluster units and forty-eight frame posts:84 completed units. The puff round has twelve securing and twelve spacing chains. The cluster round adds twenty-four chains and the frame eight, giving fifty-six chains outside the completed-unit count. Starting chains and joins are additional operations. The five-post clusters require sixty partial legs, but those legs do not create sixty separate cluster tops.

Evaluate before extending the palette

Wash and measure the completed four-round specimen before choosing a finished project size. If a color boundary appears misplaced, check the round record rather than altering the next sector. If the square tilts, verify the three-arch grouping. Can another square round be added without another color? Repeat a deliberate palette slot and save that changed record. Is colorfastness or finished flatness physically verified? No physical sample is claimed. Consult the color guide when selecting the actual dyed yarns.