Tuesday 3 May 2016

Granny Square Addiction

I've discovered my real passion for using yarn (they call it 'wool' over here, even if it's acrylic...I like my term better) is not knitting, but crochet. Specifically granny squares, which are far easier to do in front of the telly because you aim for the spaces, not for the stitches, at least most of the time.





Given that my source of yarn is a knitting group that gets donations of yarn collected by the local Rotary club, it helps if you can use small scraps and this is one of the gifts of granny squares. 




Even while I'm working on one I find myself planning the next! I mainly think of colour combinations I want to use. I make all the centres of the 12 squares then I do the next row of each and so on, as this makes for the most uniform design and I can select thinner or thicker yarns as needed. If I have a very large supply of one sort of yarn it makes things much simpler, but those aren't quite as much fun.






It was a long time before I felt happy taking yarn, my sweaters were so slow in the making I had nothing to show for what I took. Not so with granny square throws. They are small - only about 3 x 4 feet - but then this group knits for babies and children, so that seems appropriate. Just working on them in front of the telly a few evenings a week I can churn one out about every fortnight (two weeks).




I never thought something with as many holes it would be warm, but I've learned they are, as my creations keep me cozy while I work on them. 




And this last throw - obviously not granny squares - I made somewhere back in the 1980s, I think. I've never used it much, never even finished it properly by trimming the ends. It just gathered dust in the attic and I decided it was time to pass it along. 





3 comments:

Bev said...

I love your granny square afghans! My sisters and I spent untold hours making these in our teens. I attempted a few more complicated patterns at one time or another, and then for some forgotten reason, dropped the whole thing. I tried knitting too, and the best thing to come of that was one of the needles stuck into the broken antenna piece of my radio. (I'm sure you're getting a visual of that!)
These are lovely & I agree, who would have thought such warmth could come of some many holes in the pattern?

Shelley said...

Thanks for your kind words. I haven't yet used a knitting needle as an antenna, but I'll keep that in mind! I'm nothing if not a make do and mend kinda girl.

Thrifty Mom In Boise said...

Love making granny squares. Yours look great!