Four Square Doily

I've been collecting doily patterns that I want to do in the future, and have been doing a few with the "Crochet-A-Long group". One that was in my file is this Four Square doily, and several people in the group suggested it for our next thread project. I started it this week, and it's been a real experience. For one, it doesn't start with a chain that you join to create a ring and then work the first round into the ring. The very first thing you do is creat a picot! Then a treble grouping, repeat 3 times for a square hole center. The next two rounds are just as unusual, round two includes (chain 20, sc) and you create an octopus-like creature! Maybe I was just in a silly mood.
Anyway, Tuesday evening I was working on the doily at our "crochet in public" at Borders. I got to round 10 which has a flower on each of the corners, and is not the best written pattern I've ever worked. The flower looked atrocious, and I decided that it was late and I had been working for 3 hours, I'd put it down and start fresh in the morning. Wednesday I frogged the flower and tried again, I talked to myself a lot about what the designer might have been trying to say, and frogged that flower, also. Then I sent an email to the group begging for help, and got several replies. Today, armed with the 3 pages of the pattern, the 2 page Word document I created with others comments on the progress, and the 4 page tutorial with pictures from Hilary, I started on the flower again. Well, Hilary interpreted the directions the same as I did, and I got almost the exact same flower. The flower is large, and gaudy on a delicate doily, and it's barely attached, just a single crochet before the large flower and a single after the flower.

Click on the picture for a close up. BTW, the flower doesn't look too bad in this picture. Maybe when I've added another 5 or 6 rounds of lace, the flower will look more in proportion.