There’s Hope for Me Yet!

Anyone that knows me knows that I have never been able to master the basic crochet granny square. I am a speed reader and I guess I get lost when trying to read the directions - my mind sees too many ‘3dc, ch 2, 3dc’ in one paragraph, and my eyes are all over the page, usually resulting in frustration (and a mess).

I decided to look for some simple granny square patterns last night and printed a few, and gave it another try.

I did two of the basic granny squares with the same colors but on different rows, the smaller one on top without the sc edging. I don’t think I did too bad for my first completed granny squares.

Since I still have some hair on my head (and plenty of scrap yarn), I decided to venture further this morning. I tried the Nosegay Square first and it didn’t turn out well at all. The rows matched up, but I think she may have forgotten to mention changing colors for one row because I never got the darker hexagon shape that she shows in the examples. I ended up frogging that one.

Not wanting to give up so easily, I tried the Spanish Tile Square and surprisingly had much better luck with that one. I thought the fpdc in there would throw me off, but I found this pattern to be much easier than the Nosegay. I did end up with just a smidgen of buckling, but I think that was because my fpdc were a bit snug, but it was definitely passable work. I’m working with an ‘I’ hook which was much too big for this pattern, so it turned out to be a 9" square. I may have to purchase a smaller hook if I ever decide to tackle a project.

Speaking of projects – I’d love to see pictures of some finished works made with granny squares, so please post a link to your blog or other site with pictures of what you’ve crocheted from granny squares. You may inspire me to catch the granny square bug yet!