I love crochet. I taught myself in 2006 and though I have tried many other crafts in the past I do believe crochet has to be my very favourite.
Yet I never thought I would love granny squares and granny blankets so much.
Growing up I would see these lying around, made up of all the scraps of yarn leftover from other projects. I don’t know if my memory is jaded or whether there were just less colours and yarn choices around in the 80s but all I remember is rather dull looking blankets.
So when I first tried crochet for myself I was amazed at all the variations of stitches and patterns available. And I vowed to steer clear of the granny blanket.
Yet over the past year or two I have really learned to love the simplicity of the granny square. Once started, you can just crochet away, without a care in the world. This is much more pleasurable than some of my previous projects.
My first blanket was this basketweave one, and though simple enough, it took forever due to switching from back to front post stitches and making sure I switched the order after every nth row to get an even look.
This blanket was actually completed during my pregnancy and has been used a fair bit since Little Man was born. I just totally forgot to take a photo of it before logging on to complete this post, so dug up an old photo.
My second blanket was this ripple one. I started both these blankets long before my pregnancy but only sat down and finished them due to the imminent arrival or our little one. I just found it tedious counting the stitches/rows. Oh and the fact the pattern I used made for a rather ridged blanket also affected my love for making this particular blanket.
I made another ripple blanket for our nephew using Lucy’s Neat Ripple pattern, but made a mistake with my counting in the first few rows that led to the blanket becoming misshapen (which I didn’t realise until halfway through). So I had a lot of improvised adjustments to make on the border to make it look and hang right again. That was annoying and put me right off the ripple design (two attempts and both went wrong… I’ll get it right one day!)
One day I’ll also remember to take photos of all my crochet projects once completed before sending them on to the recipient!!
But during my pregnancy I made this small snuggle blanket to Alice’s Granny Mandala pattern and fell in love with the granny style big time. The circle takes a little concentration in order to remember to make increases in the right rows, but still simple enough.
Because of how snuggly and perfect this blanket was for taking out and about with us, I made another snuggle blanket with some more fluffy yarn I had hanging around and I think that was when my love was sealed! It was just so quick and easy to work, a true pleasure. And with a son who loved to throw a blanket over his head and run around the room while “hiding” it was perfect to have a blanket with “holes” in so he could actually see where he was going!
So when I found this gorgeous varigated yarn, I decided to make a hexagon blanket. The hexagon is an adaption of the traditional granny square and very easy to make. I am following another of Lucy’s designs, which is perfectly simple and easy to follow. It’s just that I find that with this particular yarn I am constantly counting stitches again as they aren’t so distinct, and it is rather tedious attaching them together, though of course much less tedious doing it as I go along than having dozens to stitch together at the end!
Please excuse the edge of my PJs and my foot in this photo… the blanket was a really hard size to get a good shot of. I think I’ll have to start standing on a chair to take photos of my blankets in future!
I wouldn’t say I have lost my love for this style as I think it will be gorgeous once finished. However, with Little Man wanting so much attention and trying to crochet for pleasure of an evening as I watch a film with TJ, it is just a little bit too demanding of my attention. It needs to be worked on in those rare moments I have when I am all alone with no distractions.
So once again I move back to my beloved granny.
I started making this for someone special just a couple of weeks ago and it is coming along marvellously. I can pick it up and have a go, knowing that even if I am distracted or interrupted it will be easy to put down and pick up again later without forgetting where I am in the pattern or round. And as such it is a very relaxing way to spend an evening.
I look around ravelry and see so many blankets I’d love to make (seriously, you should see my favourites list). I want to fill our home with blankets of every colour for every occasion. I do believe that when Little Man is older and less dependent on me I may well choose a more consuming pattern again. But for now I am happy to simply granny away until I run out of yarn (which isn’t going to happen as I plan on keeping well stocked up!!)So, here’s to the granny. What a wonderful thing she is!
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