Remember way back at the beginning of the month (I can't believe we've made it this far so quickly!) when we were learning how to stitch into the chain and I said that the chain was often the downfall of many beginning crocheters? Well I have to say that I believe the Granny Square is also a stumbling block, but not in the same way. The Granny square is really easy. So easy in fact that a person who has never picked up a crochet hook or yarn can learn how to make one in a short amount of time and be pretty successful with it. Why is this a problem? Because the granny square will be the only thing that person will know how to crochet until they seek out more instruction. I'm aware that many of you have been in this boat so thank you for seeking out that further instruction through this class! I'm proud of you.
That is why I have waited until you have learned all the basics of crochet before I taught you the awesomeness of the granny square!
I hold granny squares very near and dear to my heart. My mom has a granny afghan that my great-grandmother made (or had made for her, we're still not completely sure) that I absolutely love and I admire often.
I have even been doing a granny square a day since January this year as my 365 project. I'm behind on blogging them because of teaching all of you this month, but my granny squares are coming along quite nicely. In fact, if you decide you don't want to do anything else with crochet and just make granny afghans for the rest of your life, I would be ok with that, because once you have the basic knowledge of crochet you'll begin to see that all of what we've learned so far and even more advanced techniques can be found in granny square patterns. Granny squares can be simple like what I'll teach you today or super complex like this granny square that I made last month:
FYI this square took close to 3 hours. FOR ONE SQUARE! That's pretty crazy. It's definitely the most complex square I've ever made.
Now that I've written a dissertation on how amazing granny squares are, I guess I should tell you how to make them. Note: This is my preferred way of making granny squares. I know there are a million ways to make them and I'll touch on a few of the variations as I go, but I probably won't cover them all. Just do what works best for you. I'm using worsted weight yarn and an I hook for my squares. Use whatever hook your yarn calls for. Gauge isn't super important with granny squares, but you don't want them tight and stiff. You want a nice soft and cozy fabric. Granny squares do make blankets after all!
Granny squares are all about color, but you can most definitely make a one-color granny. And here's how to do it:
See what I mean about granny squares being easy? You've probably already got the bug. Please don't ignore the rest of the videos though haha. You still have a lot to learn!
(oops this assignment is too big for my normal chalkboard!)
- Make 4 granny squares. We'll use these in Lesson 22 on Seaming.
- Make them all the same size with the same amount of stitches on each side. Make at least one color change granny and one monochrome granny.
- Post a photo of your granny squares to the flickr group.
So it's probably pretty obvious that we won't be ending the class before the end of the month. Right now it's looking like it will go until the end of next week. These last few lessons have a HUGE amount of information so I'd rather they all be thorough and of the quality of all the other lessons instead of being rushed to finish the class "on time." The schedule was really more of a hopeful time-line anyway.
I have been working really hard on the textbook and it is pretty cool! Instead of making a pattern book for purchase through ravelry, I have decided to format the textbook into a private password-protected blog so it can be interactive like our lessons. Each pattern will have the directions, along with videos to explain new techniques not covered in crochet school and other tips for each pattern. Each pattern will also have a printable version so you can print out your own little "textbook" I'll share more info when it is ready. I'm hoping to have it ready for purchase on the last day of our lessons. Here's a little peek of some of the patterns that will be in the "textbook:"
Credits - Chalkboard backgrounds: Kitschy Digitals by Danielle Thompson Chalkboard Paper Kit. Fonts used: school script dashed, Rudiment and Homemade Apple.
