Granny square crochet blanket

This little (well, quite big actually!) crochet project has been a long time in the making. The date on my first work-in progress photo of it tells me that I started it in February 2016. I haven't exactly been working on it flat out, and I know quite a few months went by last year without me picking it up at all, but I decided that finishing it would be one of my #2017makenine projects - and now I can tick it off my list!

This colourful beauty was made using a pattern from the book Granny Squares by Susan Pinner - it's actually the project featured on the cover of the book and is listed as the 'Double-bed or sofa blanket'. Looking back at the book as I write this, I'm cheered by the fact that the intro to the pattern says it "is a big project, one to be picked up and put down often. But by making a few squares at a time you will eventually create a fabulous family heirloom." So that obviously justifies the fact that it took me over 18 months to make this!

The blanket is made up of 196 individual granny squares joined together in 14 x 14 rows, and finished with a border of 3 rounds of granny shells (although I actually did 2 rounds in the dark blue rather than 1, so I have 4 in total). The squares aren't the traditional granny square, but instead have colourful circular centres which are turned into squares in the white outer round.

The book gives instructions for making the blanket up either using the join as you go method or sewing the squares together. I chose (without much hesitation) to use the join as you go method; I've got a pile of granny squares sitting in a drawer somewhere which are testament to the fact that I get bored of a blanket if it's sitting in piles of squares rather than looking like a blanket. And why spend the time sewing squares together if you can join them as you go? I made up batches of 14 squares at a time and then joined them on to the blanket so that it gradually grew as the months went by.

Now, let's talk about all of that colour! The squares are all different colour combinations - well, some of them use the same three colours in the centre but in a different order (if that makes sense). I used 14 different colours, so I decided half way through making the blanket that I wanted each horizontal and vertical row of the blanket to have each of the 14 colours used in the outer circles of the granny squares like some sort of giant crochet Sudoku. I think that would have been possible if I'd thought about it and planned it from the start, but it didn't quite work out without the planning. Never mind, I think the random arrangement works nicely!

The yarn I used is Stylecraft Special DK. While 100% acrylic yarn may detract slightly from the heirloom status that the book claims for its 100% wool version, it did make this a much more affordable project and means that I can use the blanket without being too protective of it.

The colours I used are Pomegranate, Royal, Turquoise, Sherbet, Wisteria, Sunshine, Lipstick, Fondant, Emperor, Kelly Green, Aspen, Spice, Cloud Blue and Magenta, with White for the joining rounds and border (I did find that I needed quite a bit more white than the book suggests - I used over 400g), and Midnight for the contrast row in the border. I really enjoyed putting together different combinations of colours as I worked up the squares, and it make me rethink some of my ideas on colour - I'd never realised before quite how nice pink and green can look together!

This project may have taken a fair while to complete, but I'm really glad that I put in all that work and that I now have a lovely snuggly blanket ready to use once autumn arrives!

Crochet Giant Granny Scarf

After I posted about the headband that I knitted my sister for Christmas, Sheila, who I bought the pattern from, very kindly got in touch with me and asked if I'd like to try one of her other patterns. Sheila has lots of lovely knitting and crochet patterns in her Etsy shop, so I jumped at the chance and, after a bit of deliberation, chose the Giant Fall Granny Scarf  crochet pattern. Here's my version...

You may have noticed from this that I've also already knit myself the same headband that I made for my sister (albeit in a different colour) and I'm just as pleased with it second time around, possibly even more so because this time I get to keep it! 

Anyway, back to the scarf! As the name suggests it is a bit of a giant, but in a very good way. Chunky, oversized scarves are lovely and cosy, and working with thick yarn and a large hook (or needles when knitting) obviously means that projects grow satisfyingly quickly. 

The cosy factor is definitely the most important thing for me at the moment though. I may have managed to find one of the rare moments of sun that we've had in the UK recently to take these photos, but (as you can probably tell from the state of my hair - thank goodness the headband is keeping it at least vaguely under control!) it was crazily windy and freezing cold so a huge snuggly scarf was definitely a very welcome companion on this walk.

The pattern was simple and easy to follow and I'm really pleased with the results. The scarf is intended to be worked in stripes of 6 different colours, which looks great, but for once I decided to be a tiny bit sensible when it came to picking what yarn to use and stuck to one lovely colour which should hopefully go with any of the coats/jackets I might want to wear it with.

I'm also pleased that I've started 2014 off with a crochet project under my belt because one of my aims this year is to keep building on my very limited crochet skills, so this is a good start to getting that going.

And another fun thing about this scarf? If you can bear to unwrap it from around your neck in the cold, it looks nice and dramatic blowing in the wind...

What more could you want?!

Rainbow Granny Square Crochet Cushion

I had an enforced break from my current dressmaking craze last week while I was waiting for a new pattern to arrive, so I turned my attentions to some crochet instead and finally finished my rainbow-coloured granny square cushion. I first blogged about this project back in August, when it was just one lonely little square. That has now multiplied into 18, which have come together to create this little beauty that is now brightening up my living room...

I made up the 18 squares first (I used Rico Creative Cotton Aran), then spent a very dull evening fastening in all the ends. Lesson learned: for future projects like this, I will sort all the ends out as I go along to spread the boring job out a bit!

I then joined them up into six lines of three...

Then I joined three lines up to make a nine by nine square for the front...

For the back, I joined two lines together to form a two by three rectangle, attached this to bottom of the front and attached the last line of three separately to the top of the front to leave an opening a third of the way down the back of the cover. I popped the cushion pad inside, and threaded ribbon through the holes in the squares to fasten them together...

I finished it just at the right time as well, because the rainbow colours brightened up a very gloomy and rainy Sunday, and it's a lovely snuggly cushion because of it being crocheted. I've got a load of dressmaking plans that I want to put into action at some point, but I think there will be some more knitting and crochet going on too - it's nice to be able to snuggle up on the sofa with some wool now that it's getting a bit colder! I'll leave you with one last blast of colour, and I'll see you again soon...