Cath Kidston Granny Square Afghan

I've been working on these granny squares with colors that remind me of the colors that Cath Kidston uses in her fabrics.   The granny square was the first thing that I learned to crochet as a young girl so I can make them without a pattern. 



When I make granny squares, I usually start by making a center from each color of yarn. 

After I use each skein once, it goes into a separate basket or tote bag.  Then I randomly pull out each color to do a second round. 

I continue in this way  until I have put 5 rounds on each square.  Then I stop crocheting and go back and sew in all of the loose ends.  I find it is easier to sew them in this way instead of waiting until I finish all the squares.

 

Right now I don't have a definite plan in mind.  I may choose one of the colors of yarn and use it as a joining color or I may join them with white.  Any ideas? 

For now I just plan to keep making squares and see where the project goes. 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  Happy Easter to you and your family. 

Granny Stripe Afghan

It's been ages since I've posted here, and I'm not sure why because I always have a crochet or knit project of some kind in the works. 

Here is a crochet UFO that I am working on again.  This is the Granny Stripe pattern that I have the link to over on my side bar. 



I think that I only have enough yarn left to do one more repeat of each of the colors. 

In the next few days I'll try to catch you up on the different projects that I've been working on and what I've finished.

Thanks for visiting!  

Ruffled Scarf

Welcome to my new followers.  I do a lot of different yarn projects but forget to take photos and post them.  And by the time I think of it, I'm off to the next thing.  I will do a better job of posting in the new year.  I plan to try to finish up some of the yarn projects that I have started and will take you along on my progress. 

 Anyway, thanks for being here and reading.

 

My daughter made this scarf while she was home for Thanksgiving.  The yarn is wide and has a woven look to it.  The scarf is knit along one of the long edges of the yarn.  Lots of the girls at the quilt retreat I just attended a few weeks ago were wearing these ruffled scarves.  I love the colors in this yarn!

Here is one of the yarns that makes these scarves, and one skein makes an entire scarf.  She took the scarf and the extra skeins of yarn home with her, but if anyone is interested I can take better close up photos of the yarn when I see her next week.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Crocheted Granny Stripe Afghan

This is the Granny Stripe Afghan that I'm working on as part of the Granny Gone Wild Crochet Along.  Is anyone crocheting along with me???

There is a link to my tutorial for this afghan over on my sidebar.  For this afghan my beginning chain is 237.  The beginning chain needs to be a multiple of 3.  It will go across my king sized bed with a bit of hang on each side.

I am using 18 different colors of yarn (so far), and I've started to repeat them.   I'm not sure how long the afghan will finish.  I love scrap afghans and quilts, but it's hard to gauge the finished size.  So I may have to raid my stash for a few more balls of yarn.

Here is a close up of the colors.  I really love this pattern and how this is looking. 

If you are crocheting along with our Granny Gone Wild crochet along, I hope you will post your photos on the Flickr group here. 

Happy Crocheting! 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! 

Granny Gone Wild Crochet Along

I recently finished this giant granny square afghan as part of Sucrette's giant granny quilt along.

There were four of us that started that quilt along about the same time:
Cyn of Cyns Quilted Travels, Elly of Mad4Patchwork, and Katrin of Cattinka. We enjoyed sharing our progress and our photos over on Facebook and on our blogs and decided that we wanted to continue crocheting and sharing our projects. Cyn of Cyns Quilted Travels and I have been talking about starting another Crochet Along and here it is. I hope you will grab some yarn and crochet along with us.

Here are some ideas of projects you can do.

This is just a regular granny. It can either be a giant granny or individual squares.

This is a log cabin granny. This was a sample I made...not sure I am completely happy with it.

This block is from a pattern called Pokey Dots Throw in the free pattern section of Red Heart yarn. I first saw this pattern over on Judy's blog, Gramma's Quilt Room. Click on the link to see her post with photos of her afghan.

Here is a granny square done from the pattern in the Leisure Arts booklet called Grannies Gone Wild. The chain 3 loop round is done in the same color as the following round.

This version is called mosaic crochet. I saw the idea for this on Sucrette's blog. Her version has the chain 3 loop round done in white each time.

This is called African Flower, and the pattern is available on Ravelry.

Here is a rectangle sample I made.

Check the Flickr group to see Cyn's gorgeous rectangle granny photos.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/grannygonewild/

So grab the button in my sidebar and join us. Post your crochet photos in the Flickr group so we can crochet along. I'll be looking for your photos there.

I hope you are finding some time to crochet or do some kind of stitching this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Finishing the Giant Crocheted Granny Afghan

My giant granny square afghan from Sucrette's Giant Granny Crochet Along has 55 rounds on it.  I started the blanket with 25 different skeins of yarn, and so far I have used each skein twice.   When I did round number 55 I finished with about 6 inches of yarn to spare.  That was cutting it just a little too close for comfort.  What to do?

I came up with the idea to get out my postage scale and weigh each ball of yarn that is left.  That's what all of the pink post it notes are on the yarn in the photo below.  My thinking was that if I knew the weight of the skein and there was enough yardage to go around the blanket once, then I could weigh what was left and make an educated guess as to how much it would take for the next round. 

After I had all of the leftovers weighed and labeled, I went upstairs to bring down another skein of the brown yarn I had used.  It was left from another project so I knew there was more of that color.  I also found a bag with extra skeins for this project that I had forgotten.  So now I have plenty of yarn to do several more rounds on the blanket.  I think in the CAL we were trying to get somewhere between 75 and 100 rounds. 

Stay tuned to see how many rounds I end up with. 

Hope you are doing some crocheting or knitting today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Granny Square Afghan Tutorial

I've been working on the Giant Granny Square Crochet Along over at Sucrette's blog, I thought I would do a tutorial on how to make a granny square.  Here is my progress so far - 50 rounds. 

One thing to remember:  When you are doing a granny square you need to turn your work and do every other round on the back side.   If you do every round on the right side the square eventually becomes kind of "wonky" and looks like it is in a twist.

CH = chain

DC=double crochet

DC Cluster=3 double crochets together

Chain 4.  Slip stitch in first stitch to form a ring.

Still on the right side of the work chain 3 (this counts as your first double crochet this round and throughout).  Do 2 more double crochets in ring.  Chain 1.  Repeat 3 DCs, chain 1 in ring three more times   (you will have 4 DC clusters in the ring with a chain 1 in between).  Join round with slip stitch.

  (From now on you are going to be working in the spaces between the clusters.)  Chain 3. TURN work over, 2 DC, chain 1, 3 DC in space. *Chain 1.  3 DC, chain 1, 3DC *  Repeat around ending with a chain 1.  Join round with slip stitch. 

Chain 3, TURN work.  2 DC in space.  3 DC, ch 1, 3 DC on corner.  Chain 1, 3 DC in space.  On the corner 3 DC, chain 1, 3 DC.  Continue around until you are back at the beginning and join the round with a slip stitch.

Each round is the same:  A DC cluster in the spaces along the edges and DC Cluster, chain 1, DC cluster on the corners.  A chain 1 goes in between each cluster.

Here is a chart that shows the stitches.

A close up of my granny blanket. 

I hope this has helped.  I think crochet is really relaxing and enjoy working on it in the evenings. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at krugla@gmail.com. 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today.