Granny Obsession

Who doesn’t love a nice granny, really? So classic and timeless and snuggly.

We’re all on the same page, right? We’re talking granny stripes. Everyone loves a human granny, too, I’m sure, but the granny variety I’m currently obsessing over is the crocheted version.

It started with Darcy’s baby blanket. I wanted to make her something very simple and sweet, so I went with a traditional granny square blanket in a pretty sage green (a lovely color that is, sadly, completely butchered by this crappy cell phone picture) and tossed a few cream stripes in to keep it interesting.

I worried that maybe I’d get bored with this blanket over time—it is a very clean, simple look—but in the months since I made it, I’ve really come to love it more and more. And I needed more granny goodness in my life.

So I started on this little brown and cream number, and it was such a delight to make.

There’s just so much to love about granny stripes and squares. They’ve got that simple, classic look. They have endless variation possibilities. Depending on the colors you choose, they can be bold and dramatic, or soft and sweet, or modern and edgy. They’re quick to work up, and don’t require a vast amount of knowledge or experience. What’s not to like?

I love how the brown and cream blanket turned out  . . . the colors are understated and simple, but it has such a great classic look. I added a scalloped edging, and I love what it adds to the blanket. I’m really happy with how it turned out. (If you’re interested, it’s in my etsy shop now!)

I also loved the idea of a simple granny square blanket in a neutral color, with a bold punch via a cool and unexpected border. So I played around and came up with another baby blanket.

I love this finished look. Starts out as a simple, standard granny square blanket, but BAM. That’s an exciting border if ever I’ve seen one.

It was surprisingly liberating to just start out a mixed stitch border without a plan in place—I just picked whatever color and stitch felt right at the time. I normally really plan things out before I begin, so it was very different for me to just wing it here. And very gratifying to have it turn out nicely, too! I can’t wait to make another with a set of brighter colors for the border—I’m picturing springy pinks and greens.

And a work in progress—after the chocolate and cream granny stripe blanket, I thought it might be fun to do one in a single color scheme. I dug all these purples out of my stash and am making a conscious effort to be a little more random than usual and not plan out the stripe sequence.

It’s shockingly difficult to not stress about how the overall stripe pattern will look and just choose a shade of purple for each row without worrying if it’s too soon to repeat that shade, or if another shade might look better there . . . but the effect has been fun so far. I clearly need to loosen up, if total control over something as ridiculous as stripe sequence is this difficult for me to give up.

I’m thinking of writing up patterns for the mixed stitch border blanket and the granny stripe with the scalloped border, so you may be seeing more of them in the future. If you love grannies as much as I do, hopefully you won’t mind.