Hook Stitch Sew

It has taken me a while to get through all of these grannies from Simply Crochet’s granny square a week app, but after finally getting them all finished it was time to get them laid out and put together.

Previous posts on the granny squares used include:

Part 1: Starting a challenge.

Part 2: The number of grannies is growing.

Part 3: Welcome to 3 special grannies.

Part 4: Grannies, grannies, grannies.

Part 5: Its starting to get quite full in here.

Part 6: Almost enough for a full bus.

Part 7: Some grannies almost got left behind.

Part 8: Finally on our way.

Once I had them laid out as I wanted them I discovered a few problems;

First, I was one square short. Luckily there was a pattern in Simply Crochet magazine, issue 27, for a star motif that I wanted to make already and knew it would go well with the other grannies so was perfect.

Second, some of the grannies were huge compared to the others and it was messing up how they would go together, the only solution – some had to have a slight haircut and loose a round or two, sorry Granny Irene, Iris, and Mabel.

Joining the granny squares:

• The granny squares were joined together using a sc stitch in a dark colour (black) that wasn’t in any of the granny squares.

I was really happy with how well it worked out, as I was starting to think they were never going to look nice when all put together.

Adding a border to the finished granny square blanket:

Once I had attached all the grannies together I decided to add a border again in black to finish the piece off.

Round 1: Complete sc stitches around the blanket. Fasten off.

Fasten on at a corner:

Round 2: ch3, 2tr(UK)/dc(US), ch2, 3tr(UK)/dc(US) into the corner. This provides a corner edge, next: *ch1, skip 2 stitches then 3tr(UK)/dc(US) into next, repeat from * to next corner sc, 3tr(UK)/dc(US), ch2, 3tr(UK)/dc(US). Repeat around all edges and join with a slip stitch to first ch3.

I then decided I wanted a square pyramid effect around the edges, and completed this;

For the two long edges:

Pyramid row 1:

• Join in first ch space after corner ch space, ch3, 2tr(UK)/dc(US) into ch space, *ch1, 3tr(UK)/dc(US) into next ch space, repeat from * 2 more times. Fasten off.

Pyramid row 2:

• For next row of the pyramid fasten on into the first ch space from the previous row, ch3, 2tr(UK)/dc(US) into ch space, *ch1, 3tr(UK)/dc(US) into next ch space, repeat from * 1 more time, Fasten off.

Pyramid row 3:

• For final row of pyramid, fasten on into the first ch space from previous row, ch3, 2tr(UK)/dc(US) into ch space, ch1, then 3tr(UK)/dc(US) into next ch space, fasten off.

Once the first pyramid is finished, you just repeat the pyramid pattern for length of the row, starting with the next pyramid in the next ch space from the first row of the previous pyramid.

For the two shorter sides:

Pyramid row 1:

• Join in first ch space after corner, ch3, 2tr(UK)/dc(US) into same ch space, *ch1, 3tr(UK)/dc(US) into next ch space, repeat from * once more fasten off.

Pyramid row 2:

• For final row of pyramid, join in first ch space from previous row, ch3, 2tr(UK)/dc(US) into ch space, ch1, 3tr(UK)/dc(US) into next ch space, fasten off.

After I had completed this and finished off all the loose ends – there was a lot! I could finally sit back and look at what I had completed and was really pleased. I didn’t know how it would turn out and had not done anything like this before. While I was making it I wasn’t too sure if it would work out but I am glad I didn’t give up and push it to the bottom of the work pile, as it looks even better than I hoped. It’s not the biggest of blankets but I am happy with that as it looks great on the back of one of my chairs  that needs recovered. I have wanted to make it look better for a while! It’s also the perfect size for just a small lap blanket, perfect for when it’s not cold enough for a large snugly blanket and you just want something to take the chill off your lap! I am so glad I can finally use it – I knew all the hard work would be worth it!