Something completely different

As a change from coffee and knitting, may I present tea and crochet.

This #GiantGrannySquare has been on go for ages (actually I checked back and I started it in 2020) and I was originally doing one colour for each round using scrap sock yarn leftover from other projects.

Then I stalled as each round started to take over 15g - meaning that a lot of my leftover yarn balls wouldn’t stretch to a full round. But there were still a heck of a lot of them to use up.

So last week I bit the bullet and made a magic ball with all my scraps (in colours that worked). I hand wound them into a mahoosive 240g ball and am now going to just whizz round and round trying very hard not to stress about colour placement. I figure that now it has reached a sufficient size (it was a 40” square last time I checked) it won’t be as obvious if there are colour changes mid-round.

This is quite a big deal for me as I normally fuss about how colours line up and embracing a devil may care attitude does not come naturally.

YARN JOINING: I used this tutorial for the magic knot technique but others methods are also available. An alternative would be to just tie a good sturdy knot leaving sufficient ends - and just work those in for a few stitches at the yarn join.

But in the spirit of #HaveAGoFriday (my recently made up thing - and something I talked about last week) I shall be adding to my blanket today and just going with the flow.

Oh - and the tea is a necessity as another handy menopause side effect has been a dramatic reduction in my caffeine tolerance (deep joy).

Granny Square Love

The finished blanket drying in the sun

I’ve done giant granny square blankets before but this is the first time I have done a traditional granny square, seamed crochet blanket and let me tell you I am smitten, absolutely head over heels smitten with it.

I thought that I would struggle and procrastinate over the sewing up at the end but I was so keen to get it done that I powered through a few sewing and netflix sessions and had a finished blanket in no time.

If it weren’t for the unfeasibly warm weather we have had in the UK during July and August this would have been finished a whole lot sooner, let me tell you.

I’ll put the full details below if you want them but for this I used Stylecraft Special Chunky (144m/157yds per 100g) and a 6mm hook - and my word - chunky yarn works up very quickly doesn’t it.

For each square I did 4 rounds and then finished off with a round of a neutral shade (Parchment). This was also the yarn that I used to seam it all together - just using mattress stitch. I did experiment with using various crochet methods for joining the squares together but in the end I just decided to stick to what I knew best.

Placement: A little too late into proceedings I came across this Permutations blanket idea. I love the idea of sequentially working your way through each possible colour permutation but it would have required a lot more time (and yarn). But I am definitely bookmarking this for a future project. In the end I just tried to keep the colour distribution as even as I could and to fiddle around with the placement of the squares to avoid too much colour clustering. But the idea of a more methodical approach is very appealing - so many potential projects, so little time.

Border: Once I’d sewn the squares into a 5x6 grid I knew that I wanted a border and by happy coincidence I had 2 balls of the neutral Parchment left over. So I just decided to work a (UK) treble stitch all the way round and kept going until I ran out of yarn. This gave me 4 full rounds in total.

I haven’t ruled out the possibility of adding more to it - possible more of the neutral to make a super large border or maybe even tiny, coloured granny squares around the edge. But for me, that’s the beauty of blankets like this. You can make one, live with it for a bit, and then decided to add to it at a later date - if you want.

Or maybe…just start another one :)

Finished size: 5 squares by 6 squares plus a border of (UK) treble crochet - 43” by 38” (a comfortable, small lap-sized blanket)

Colours used: 1 ball of each colour and 4 balls of Parchment

Graphite 1063

Copper 1029

Mocha 1064

Duck egg 1820

Lime 1712

Sage 1725

Teal 1062

Parchment 1218

New Year, New Blanket

I think everyone needs a good dose of colour at this time of year, and bright cheerful colours were very much the order of the day when I was planning this simple crochet blanket.

My youngest son (now 15) asked for a replacement stripy blanket as his old crochet one was showing distinct signs of wear and tear after many years of faithful use. He wanted stripes - “quite thick and not too holey” so we settled on a crochet blanket using simple UK treble stitches.

After a lot of faffing over yarn choices we opted for Stylecraft Special Acrylic DK, mainly because of the amazing colour range. My preference was strongly for natural fibres but it proved difficult to find a range that offered the colours he was looking for at a price point I could afford :)

When starting the blanket I asked for advice online - as the looong foundation chain needed for straight blankets is always my undoing with crochet. I was recommended this superb method for avoiding the foundation chain altogether. It was so straightforward to do and got me off to a flying start in no time - highly recommended if you haven’t tried it before. The video is from the very talented Sarah who is @yarnandblarney on Instagram.

REQUIREMENTS:

Stylecraft Special DK - 15x100g (colours listed in order below)

Hook: sized to give a fabric you like. I used 3.5mm as I am quite a loose crocheter

Terminology used is UK throughout - Treble (tr) and Double (dc) stitches are used.

STARTING:

Start with 200 stitches in the first colour - Grape

Row 1: continuing with Grape ch3 (counts as 1 tr). Tr into each stitch all the way across. At the end be sure to work the last tr into the top of the last st of your starting row.

Row 2: Turn. Ch3 (counts as 1 tr) and continue to work tr st all the way back. Break yarn and join next colour.

Following colour repeat below, continue to work 2 rows of each colour.

Repeat until blanket measures 66” or until desired length.

BORDER

I used 3 colours, working 1 full round of each. Join yarn and work 1 round of dc stitches. At each of the 4 corners, work 1dc, ch2, 1dc. When you get back to the first stitch, join with a slip st to complete the round.

COLOUR ORDER

1067 Grape
1432 Wysteria
1188 Lavender
1302 Denim
1003 Aster
1841 Cornish Blue
1708 Petrol
1062 Teal
1722 Storm Blue
1019 Cloud Blue
1820 Duck egg
1842 Spearmint
1712 Lime
1065 Meadow
1203 Silver

This pattern is offered for free here with love. If you would like a PDF with all the information clearly laid out along with tips and tricks that I, as a by-no-means proficient crocheter found helpful, then you may use the button below to purchase a copy at nominal cost.

Credit: Full credit for the colour choices go to my son, Joseph Tilbrook who dreamt up and then laid out the design. All proceeds from the sale of the PDF go to his college fund.

A tale of two blankets

Top: knitted mitered square blanket, Bottom: crocheted granny square blanket

A tale of two blankets

Both are sock yarn blankets and both are well loved. 

But the crochet one took a fraction of the time (about 3 months vs 3 years) and weighs a heck of a lot more. I haven’t done the exact maths but my knitted mitered square blanket weighs about 400g (that’s approx 1600m sock yarn). The crocheted one is a bit smaller in size and weighs over 650g (well over 2500m sock yarn)

As much as a mitered square blanket will always be my first love there's no denying that a crochet blanket is a speedier way to work through my leftovers. I know that there is some debate on whether crochet does actually use more yarn than knitting but at least in my experience, the giant crochet granny square has freed up a lot more space in my leftover yarn drawer than the mitered square one ever did.

Just to seal the deal further I’m now contemplating a crochet blanket holding yarn double for even more stashbusting potential.

Our February theme for the Stash Appreciation Society is going to be holding yarn double/triple so I think I'm going to have to give this a go - in the interests of scientific research if nothing else.

If you are interested in what we are up to in the group you can find out more information at the link below - or just pop me a question.

One is never enough

Giant granny square blanket - Number 2

So it seems that granny square crochet blankets should come with an advisory health warning. After finishing my blanket last week I found myself sitting in bed on Sunday morning feeling slightly bereft and not sure what to do with myself. So of course I did the only acceptable thing in these circumstances and started another one.

Addicted, nah, not me.

Apologies by the way if you were under the string impression that this is a knitting blog. I promise that normal service will be resumed shortly.

And if you are tempted over to the way of the crochet you might like to know about a CAL over on Instagram. Run by @martushkaknits the #crochetfromyourheart CAL is for any crochet project that you are undertaking this summer. Lots of people are doing scrap yarn granny squares or similar long term projects and it’s really wonderful to see all of their progress. If looking through their fabulous projects doesn’t get you reaching for the crochet hook then nothing will.

A Crochet Success

It’s always a happy day when a finished object coincides with a Finished Object Friday so it’s definitely time for a happy dance as I declare my giant granny square blanket done. Even more so as it’s one of the first crochet projects of mine that I’m truly happy with.

After much deliberation about the border I opted for just 2 rounds of double crochet after the final round of dark purple. I tried a picot edge and it didn’t look right so I opted for the ‘less is more’ approach.

It's based on the Purl Soho Giant Granny Square pattern on Ravelry and I used just over 2000m leftover sock yarn on a 2.5mm hook. No matter what I do I always seem to crochet quite tightly so in the end I just embraced it and I really like the relatively tight fabric it produced. It feels pleasingly substantial without being too heavy and I can see this lap blanket getting an awful lot of use over the coming months.

The only downside is that I can’t share it in my own Everyday Knitter FB Group without breaking our strict ‘no crochet rule’ - which is pretty funny really.

I feel oddly bereft to have finished this now - and I have a strange urge to cast on another one. I think I may be mildly addicted.