A 20×20 cream-and-charcoal checkerboard with 4×4 blocks. Simple, geometric, and a useful base pattern for testing yarn tension and colour pairs.
Stitch
Single crochet (SC)
Size
20×20 sq
Colours
2
Difficulty
Beginner
Time
4–8 hours
Finished
~4×4 in (10×10 cm) in DK-weight yarn
Palette
Checkerboard isn't just a finished pattern — it's a test pattern. Crocheters use it to check that two yarn colours have similar tension, to practise carrying yarn neatly behind the work, and to size up a graphghan stitch on a swatch before committing to a full blanket.
The 4×4 block size is small enough to keep colour changes frequent but large enough that the blocks read as squares rather than dots. Pick any two contrasting colours — black/white, navy/cream, charcoal/gold. The pattern works in any palette.
If you want the same idea bigger, open it in Bobble and stretch the dimensions. The block size will scale with it.