I think I’m aging far too quickly. I’ve been slowly morphing into a granny for years (far more quickly than most people seem to), but things are speeding up lately. My gray hairs are multiplying at an alarming rate, my hobbies are increasingly grannyish (baking homemade bread, reading [gasp] non-fiction, and of course, crocheting like a fiend), and I’m pretty sure I’m getting arthritis.
But one old lady thing I swore I’d never do was crochet a granny square blanket. Before I learned to crochet, I thought granny squares were the ultimate tacky old lady craft. I had only ever seen them done in a distinctively grandma fashion (although neither of my own grandmas crochet, as far as I know, so I’m not sure who I’m basing this on): bold, harsh, non-matching colors, cheap and scratchy yarns, washed and used hundreds of times for decades until the blanket feels like cardboard. I hated them and said I’d never sink to a granny square level.
I hereby repent of my granny square prejudice. Once I started to crochet, I noticed that there are so many gorgeous—truly stunning—granny square blankets out there. They weren’t all the mismatched, wonky-looking, tired and scratchy pieces I’d thought. As soon as I identified a theme in the granny square blankets I loved, I was itching to make my own. My favorite granny square blankets have plenty of white to tone down all the color (like this one), have something of a color theme (like this one), and look very orderly despite the chaos that is a blanket made of a zillion different colors (like this one).
So I tried my hand at the infamous granny square blanket, and I have to say, my inner granny is pleased. She’s already plotting for more. I kind of think she might be evil. I mean, she is kind of taking over everything around here.
I followed this pattern for the squares—I love that they look almost like little flowers, so the entire blanket ends up reminding me of a flower garden. That pattern was pretty straightforward and easy to follow, and I had a fun time crocheting up stacks of little granny square blocks.
I used all yarns from my stash to make this blanket, but I tried to stick to a color theme. It’s definitely a loose theme, and all I kept in mind when choosing the colors, really, was that they be girly. I used mostly pinks, yellows, purples, and blues, and even the not-so-girly colors like gray and sky blue and green came together to make a decidedly girly blanket.
Predictably, the absolute worst part of making this blanket was joining the squares. Is there anything worse than being only one step away from finishing a blanket, but that step is an interminably long, mind-numbingly dull step such as whipstitching squares together? (Answer: yes, there are a million worse things. Sheesh, white girl problems.)
I finished it off with a cute little scalloped border. And I love it. I love the whole thing. It took a few weeks to put together—it was really quite a lot of work between making all the squares, switching colors hundreds of times, weaving in countless little yarn tails, sewing all those squares together—but I think it is so fun and spunky and sweet and charming. And, of course, hopelessly old-fashioned and granny-ish. In a good way.
This one’s headed over to the shop, so pop in to check it out if you know a little lady who could use a sweet granny square flower garden blanket.
