Denim style granny square afghan

When I first decided to learn to crochet, I purchased a large amount of Red Heart Comfort yarn from Wal-Mart. It's a great price at $9.99 for 16 oz, it's a very thick and sturdy yarn - it doesn't split very easily, and perfect for learning with.  It is coarse and rough, but it fitted my needs.

Go big or go home...I can't jump into something like a dishcloth to learn, I have to jump into something I want right away. To heck with knowing what I'm actually doing! Now later, I love little projects like wash cloths also ...and I am just as proud of them, but back to this story....

My first attempt was going to be a simple queen sized afghan using a dc 3 ch1 on one row, sc ch 3, on the next. It all was going great and I learned a few things. 

1. The length of the starting chain will not be the final width...things stretch...like used underwear.
2. As a beginner, it's REALLY REALLY easy to add extra stitches without realizing it...without realizing how really really too late it is. 

I never finished the blanket. It ended up wide enough for a King sized bed and was slowly expanding over each row! I had about 4 feet in length. So I cut my losses and now I have a funny sized 7 or so  foot X 4 foot blanket that is perfect for camping ;)

Now, a year or so later, I came across a pattern for DenimStyle afghan by Bernat.

What can be easier than Granny squares? Well single colour squares, but I figured this pattern would work up quick regardless, and it does.

The pattern calls for a 5.00 mm hook, so I used a 6mm. I'm a bit wild and crazy like that :)

I knew I was going to run out of dark brown, so I focused on making the squares that used the most brown first and then slowly built up adding across a row from there.  I ended up with a 3 X 5 large square pattern with each large square = between 10.5 to 11 inches square.

Unblocked DenimStyle afghan

The original pattern is 5 X 7 squares with each large square measuring 9"X9" (small ones 4.5"X4.5")

Throw: 45 x 63 ins [114.5 x 159.5 cm]     Pillow: 14 x 14 ins [35.5 x 35.5 cm]

Mine ended up being 32 X 53 inches on the inside. I then added a row of 2 tone granny's on the bottom and single colour granny's on the side, bordered by 1 row sc, 1 row hdc in tan, and then a row of hdc in the cream (COL:3132), which brought it out to be about 40 X 61 inches finished.

 

I chose not to weave in the ends and just did simple knots on the backside to keep things secure. I figure the blanket is perfect for camping and will hold up better to abuse that way, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it and it's a lot more useful like this than as a few large 16oz skeins in my closet.

Granny's Attic - complete!

It's done and I think it's beautiful and bright and so wonderfully perfect for someone else's forever home! My evenings are free again!

I had the Granny's Attic afghan on my list of projects I wanted to do, but not for myself. Most afghans don't feel modern enough for me, but I still love the colors and patterns of all of them.

It really wasn't until it was complete that I can appreciate how much the colors pop, especially with a bit of sunlight coming in the window.

The afghan is a good size. and would be great as a large throw for the sofa or on a single bed. It almost fits my queen size bed as it is.  I think 4 X 6 squares would make a nice comfy sized lapghan for the one person. Chico's is 4 X 4 and it's wide enough, but I'd want it a bit longer if I was going to use it for myself.

 
I really hope Gina is happy with it and her daughter loves it.

ABOUT THIS AFGHAN

17 colors / 8 color combos  + black / 48 squares
Border: single crocheting through both loops, a row of single crochet around plus 2 rows of double crochet
5'4" X 4'1"
WEIGHT:
52 oz (a bit more than that, but close enough)

• 48 squares to round 6 (including tails) = 2.82 bs / 45.12 ounces
• 7 oz  black for joining squares by single crocheting through both loops, a row of single crochet around plus 2 rows of double crochet for the border.

COST: TIME
Approx 40 hrs

1 square (to round 6) takes approximately 35 minutes (without tying in tails)
24 tails to tie in per square = 10 mins

48 squares X 45 mins = 36 hrs
joining and border = 3 hrs

COST: YARN
 52 oz / 7 oz per skein = 7.43 skeins
7.43 X $10.11 = $ 75.00 (includes tax)

All the little blocks in a row - Granny's Attic Update

I finished all of 48 squares!  Yay Me! 2/3rds done! Around 20 or so squares in to it, I was thinking that I needed to make more than the pattern indicated and that 48 would make quite a small afghan, but now that I see them all together, I think it's a good amount. Probably a single bed size - definitely larger than what I thought of as a 'throw'. While I was doing the squares I decided I wanted to do a join as you go method of connecting them...which is going to add another round of black to each one. I'm just not a huge fan of sewing blocks together.  Bigger is better anyways ;)

Right now they are all in individual rows of color - it made it easier for me to keep track of how many of the each square I had. Some evenings I just got bored of working with a certain color, so I'd change it up to another color before having all 6 squares of the same color done. Is that weird?.

It makes me feel all happy inside looking at them now - even though I'm dreading sewing in the tails...but it can't be helped. Each square has about 24 tails to knot and weave in. So many tails...

I am really drawn to the blue color on the far left end and the yellow white color blocks. Oddly I don't really like blue as a color and would never pick that as my color choice. They seem so much more vibrant than the other colors, although I think once they are randomly rearranged it will make the other colors stand out more also.  Haha - randomly rearranging, it doesn't sound so random anymore :)

There were other test blocks that I scrapped from this project because I didn't like the mix of yarn weights, color combinations, or gauge. I started out crocheting a few blocks a bit too tightly.

Now that I have all the scrapped ones together I think they look really pretty in a random pattern. And honestly, this really is random, I pinned them up where there was room. Not too say they will stay that way when I go to put them together.

For me, I love how bright the orange blocks stand out. 

I think I will make a couple more different color blocks - made the green one last night -  and make enough for a lap afghan (4X6 methinks).  I don't know what else I will use the squares for and I have enough half finished projects to deal with as it is. I'll either give it to my mom or perhaps cute little Chico will need a blanket of his own.

There is no time like the weekend for starting on tail tying and wet blocking squares. Guess if I get started and block as I finish tying then perhaps I won't have every flat surface in the house overrun with squares. Haha, I'm sure that will still happen, but I can hope!

Granny's Attic 18 squares and counting

I'm 18 squares mostly done since my last update just over a week ago.  Sure, the pic shows 20, but I think the two on the right are going to be history.

I'm not feeling the grey and white. I like this combination, but I don't want another 6 squares with a white half, so I'll replace that with a green square combo.

The tan and creme I do like, but I'm not liking the yarn for this project. I don't know what brand it is, but it has a different feel than the RedHeart. Dyana had left it here. She used it to make me an awesome beautiful scarf.  So, I'll use the tan/aran yarn I have for Jace's Hex afghan.

In actuality, I've made 26 squares so far, but I'm not happy with 8 of them. A few had a mix of Bernat Premium and Red Heart With Love and it made the squares a bit uneven.

Also, a couple of colour choices just didn't work for me, so I dropped them - Grey/Creme, Yellow/Creme, Red/Bubblegum, and HotPink/Bubblegum.

Granny's Attic update

I'm 10 squares in to the Granny's Attic afghan now and I think it will be a great looking afghan when complete.

I've figured out a way to make the squares in a way that I'm happy with.

I change colour in the diagonal corners in the ch2. One chain is one color and the second chain is the second colour.  Repeat. I have to start one colour mid row so that there is a chain in the corner to switch colours with, but I don't mind.  I find it leaves a cleaner look, the first squares where I followed the pattern and had ch2 in the same colour peaked through the stitches, and for me, that's very annoying.

There are 48 squares in the afghan, so the colour combinations will be repeated - but I need to get a few more colours - perhaps some green.

Grannys Attic for Gina

I have a love hate relationship with this afghan!

I love the design and colours, it reminds me of stained glass, but I really hate the amount of tail ends to deal with! It's like baking, I love making the food but I don't want to do the cleanup :)

I knot and weave in the ends. Some people only weave in the ends, but that makes me a bit worried. Little tails start to show with daily wear, washing, drying, finger plucking etc, and I don't want to look at something I've made or something I love and find a big hole where some stitches have been pulled out. I'd rather have a knot (or a tonne of knots) and feel secure in knowing my project can handle being loved. Sure, some tail ends will show, but they can easily be woven in again…it's not so easy to fix a hole.

The first square of this afghan was a bit frustrating, it would of been SO MUCH EASIER had they explained why they were switching colours where they do, but they don't, so I'll tell you why I think and what eased my frustration.

It seems easier to do the following 3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc, 2 ch switch colour 3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc, 2 ch, sl st closed, BUT…this is what I think - the reason they don't do this is because the slip stitch to close makes it almost impossible to insert the hook into the chain for the the next round of dc's.   Maybe I don't slip stitch correctly or too perhaps too tightly, but I'm happy with my reasoning.  Still not so happy with the amount of tails though!

Jolly Rancher afghan

It reminds me of Jolly Rancher candies in their packages - which is why I call it my Jolly Rancher Afghan.

I'm not in love with this, but I might end up liking it.  Once I get it lapghan size, I'll decide if I want to attach the squares in a different manner than just corner to corner.  Not undo what I've done…I attached as I went, so I'd have to unravel all the white down to the candies again…uh uh, no way.

It's a great way to use up yarn. The centre circles require 2 coffee table lengths (of my square table) to make. There isn't much else you can do with that length - and 3 lengths for the white outside. Technically I'm using yarn from the skien since I don't have any more scraps long enough and I don't have patience to sit around waiting for enough scraps to get this made! That would be a whole lot of other projects and a whole lot of really long tails just to keep working on this one.

I crochet slowly unless I'm rocking along a long row of stitches, so each candy centre takes me about 3.5 minutes. Great little on the go projects when you don't have any time. It's probably the same, or less to do the white.

Hrmm. I think I'm using a 4.25mm hook, guess I'll have to check that out again when I start putting more together!

Hello Kitty Scarf for December

After I had made the Hello Kitty hat for December,  I stumbled across a scarf pattern that matched. Woohoo! This pattern was created by Made By K. It worked up quickly and December loved the scarf to go with her hat.

The pattern is quite lengthy in the way it is written but it there is lots of information for anyone who needs it.

I'm no designer, so I should keep my yap shut, and thank you to K for making the pattern, but the ear of Kitty is included as a special stitch instead of just being part of the pattern so you have to scroll up to search for it.  

The only other thing I've found on this pattern, is not to get hung up on the exact stitch count when you do the final grey/red outline around the kitty. Just line up your double/triple crochets to be evenly distributed and your set, no need to count the actual stitches and get all flustered.

I really like using Granny Squares for scarves, they are simple and quick to work up.