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!