Pumpkin Inset Mosaic Tile

A 21 × 21 inset mosaic pumpkin — a small two-colour tile worked flat in rows. The ribs and stem appear as you drop stitches down into the rows below, so the picture builds itself out of plain stitches. I designed the tile and crocheted the sample in the photos myself. Stitch counts are verified on every row, so the chart and the written rows always agree. It makes a coaster, a mug rug, a pocket panel, or a block to join into a larger Halloween throw. Inset mosaic is an intermediate technique, and this tile is its simple end — a good first mosaic project if you already crochet. You hold one colour at a time and change every two rows: no bobbins, no floats, nothing carried across the back. The only stitches are chain, single crochet and double crochet (US terms). The pattern gives you both a chart and written row-by-row instructions. Size One tile, 4.3″ × 7.1″ (11 × 18 cm). There are no size options as such — the tile is a module, so join as many as you like and the finished piece grows by whole tiles. Gauge 19 sts and 24 rows = 4″ (10 cm), measured on the finished tile. Treat this as a starting hint rather than a promise — tension varies between crocheters and between days. What matters is the finished size, so use whichever hook gets you an 11 × 18 cm tile. Materials · 4-ply milk cotton, weight 2, in two colours — black (MC) and orange (CC) · 2–2.5 mm hook · Yarn needle Yarn amounts About 55 yd (50 m) in total for one tile — roughly half in each colour, since the technique alternates two rows at a time. A single 50 g ball of each colour will make several tiles.