Happy granny squares

22 Wednesday May 2013

Tags

crochet, crochet blanket, granny square, granny square afghan

Don’t these colourful granny squares just make your heart sing? I certainly does mine! I was dancing, literally dancing, around these 70 squares on Sunday. They give me such a happy buzz!!!

I had to lay out the 70 squares on my striped carpet so that I could arrange them before doing their 6th and final, join-as-you-go round in grey. There’s that planning randomness again…. This time I didn’t have a structured plan like I had for making the granny squares, I just played with my squares until they felt right. John was sitting on the couch with me and my excitement even spilled over to him. By the end, he was also squinting to see if the red and yellow was spread out evenly, rearranging squares because “that corner looks a bit dull” or “I think you need more red over here”. Seems like no-one can resist the charms of the humble granny square.

At the bottom of the photo below you can see the first row of seven granny squares I joined together with the grey yarn. It’s absolutely amazing the difference that round of grey makes to my zingy granny squares. The colours calm down immediately; it’s like giving Ritalin to an ADHD child.

I really can’t wait to see how it will look when I’ve joined all the granny squares with the grey. I’m sooooo excited! Honestly I am. Just typing this post and look at the photos again makes me buzz with joy.

A good ending for this post would be for me to now say I need a Ritalin to calm me down, but I like feeling excited about my crochet – why would I want to change that? It’s a blessing when your craft gives you such fulfilment. I sincerely hope your craft has you bustling with merriment, the way crochet does me.

Terrific Tuesday

21 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

crochet, granny square

On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

This is how I spent my weekend. Weaving away the ends of 70 granny squares. I was so happy to see the sun come out on Sunday afternoon, I took my work outside and sat at the patio table. It only lasted 15 minutes, but hey, I made the most of it.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

How to pick random colours for a granny square blanket

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

colour choices, colour combinations, crochet, granny square, random

Last week I asked you whether true random colour choices are really possible. After the week of intensive market research (can you tell I’ve been watching The Apprentice?) I have come to the conclusion that most crocheters like their colour choices to appear random, but we plan it that way. Thank you to everyone who commented and helped me realise that I’m not the only one who can’t do random.

Planning randomness? Is it possible or is it an ~~urban~~ hookers myth? Well, fellow crocheters, random colour placing can be planned for!

Our solution comes from the first comment on last week’s blogpost. The comment is made by “Boeta”. “Boeta” is an Afrikaans word for brother. My dear brother provided me, and therefore you, with the key to our success. Crochet blankets, motifs, granny square rounds, can be arranged and/or crocheted in a random way!

The secret is using the list function on the www.random.org website. Seriously people. There is a website specifically for all things random. It really is as easy as that.

I however went a bit further and added an Excel spreadsheet element to our colour choosing plan. I have been using a version of this Excel plan for Nicole’s granny square blanket, but as I told you last week it didn’t work out as randomly as I had hoped. With the help of random.org I was able to modify my plan specifically for use in creating granny squares.

I have a new plan and I’m sharing it with you. Here’s how to plan a colour scheme made up of randomly chosen colours:

1. Go to www.random.org/lists and type in the names of all the yarn colours you want to use in your granny squares. I have 17 colours:

2. Create an Excel document made up of a column for each round of your granny square. In my case I’m making 5-round granny squares. As you’ve already typed up the list of colours for step 1, you may as well copy that list as the colours for the first 17 (or however many colours you have) round 1’s of your granny squares:

3. Go back to your list on random.org and hit the “Randomize” button, which will sort your list of colours randomly!

4. Copy the random list and paste it in your Excel spreadsheet underneath the first list.

5. Keep on going back to http://www.random.org and clicking on “Randomize” until you reach however many granny squares you have to make. I’m making 70 granny squares, so I will keep on pasting the list from www.random.org under Row 1 until I get to 70.

6. Continue pasting the random colours in the Row 2, Row 3, Row 4, Row 5 etc. columns. And that’s it. Just keep filling in the columns with the list of colours from random.org!! Easy peasy!!

Of course, it can happen that you get two colours next to each other, but if you do, just pick your own colour to replace the duplication (be random the old-fashioned way). There shouldn’t be a lot of duplication, but to make sure, I have two tips:

Tip 1: Look at your collection of yarn and find the colour that really stands out. The one that catches your eye first. In my selection of 17 colours, it was the red. I don’t want red to appear too many times, or as the last round of too many of my granny squares as it would overpower the overall look. To get around this in the planning stages, fill the cell where your stand-out colour appears, with that colour. To be on the safe side, I filled the yellow and red cells. It looks evenly spread out enough for me, so I’m sticking with this.

Tip 2: Check that the colour next to your stand-out colour is not the same colour every time. In row 64 and 71 there is a lilac next to the red, but I’m okay with that as the other colours for that granny square are so different, you probably won’t even notice it amongst the 68 other granny squares.

Another tip is to crochet the colours in reverse order. In the photo below you can see that I have the exact same colours, I just worked the five colours from my Excel sheet from left to right and then from right to left. This means that each row in your Excel sheet, can be used for two granny squares!

Having all your granny squares planned out in advance like this is very, very, handy. On a big granny square blanket project, you may not need to plan like this because duplications will get lost in the overall look, but for smaller projects, I think planning your granny square colour sequence in advance will be very helpful. We don’t want a repeat of the Pink Situation like I had with my first granny square cushion!

Use this method for any crocheted items made up of rounds (like granny squares, hexagons or African Flowers). For arranging single colour squares in a blanket, think of each cell as a completed square and you have the colour layout of your whole blanket done and dusted! If you are crocheting stripes, use the random stripe generator.

To make things super easy, I’ve created an 2010 Excel document with a tab for Granny Squares and a tab for Blankets that you can use. You just have to paste in your own colours. Here is the Excel document: Colour selector for granny squares and blankets

I hope you find this way of planning your random colour choices helpful.

Eric Hoffer said

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature

Are you a randomness planner? You go girl – you’re one creative crocheter!

Jamie’s Nan

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

granny square, granny square afghan, Instagram, jamie oliver

I love this Instagram photo of Jamie Oliver with his Nan and her granny square lap blanket. Isn’t it just the cutest?

Terrific Tuesday

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

crochet, crocheted granny squares, granny square, granny square afghan, Instagram, Spring

From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

John and I spent the whole weekend outside. I picked these daffodils from our garden, John got out the patio furniture, I worked on granny squares for an afghan order (I got the order because of a photo I placed on Instagram!), and we had a BBQ with friends. All of this happened under a blue sky with the sun baking down on us. It was only about 15 degrees, but the sun was out and we cherished every moment.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

(If you want to follow me on Instagram, I’m natasjak)

Granny squares for Mencap

06 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by Natasja in My crochet

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

charity, cotton yarn, Country Homes & Interiors magazine, crochet, granny square, magazine, Mencap

As promised in an earlier blogpost, I’ve crocheted granny squares for the Country Homes & Interiors Magazine Crochet Club. All the squares they receive will be made into accessories and auctioned in aid of Mencap.

Granny square piles

As always it was immensely enjoyable making granny squares. I just love, love, love traditional granny squares! In a 6-round granny square there are so many design options. Six rounds of colour to play with! I unashamedly indulged in colourful randomness – hooker style.

I raided my cotton DK stash for these squares. It was lovely working with cotton again after all the Stylecraft acrylics for the yarnbomb. I’m not a yarn snob, really I’m not, but man, cotton is just so much nicer to work with. Most of the yarn in these granny squares are Rowan Handknit Cotton, but there are some Stylecraft Classique Cotton and a few rounds in Gedifra Fiorista Fino too.

I like the idea that my fourteen granny squares will be incorporated into something that will raise money for a very deserving charity like Mencap. I wonder what kind of accessories the granny squares will be made into. Afghans, pot holders, cushions? I hope Country Home & Interiors Magazine keep us updated on their blog.

Have you made any granny squares for the Crochet Club? I’d love to hear from you if you have.

Granny squares and alpacas

06 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

crochet, granny square, scarf

The day of my granny square workshop at Toft Alpaca farm finally arrived on Saturday. I have been looking forward to this since reading about Toft Alpaca Farm in Simply Crochet magazine way back in the Summer.

I had to drive two hours to get to the farm, but it was so worth it. Hubby asked, and you are probably wondering as well, why would I want to attend a workshop, two hours away, on making granny squares, when I already can make granny squares (and much more)? Well, you see, I taught myself to crochet so I’ve always wondered whether I could (should?) be doing things differently. I think I wanted reassurance that what I’ve been doing is right, but at the same time I’m open to new techniques and different takes on the same thing. Seeing as I’ve never attended a crochet class of any kind I felt I’ve missed out on that aspect as well: the group of women sitting together, following the instructions of our teach and making something together.

I’m so glad I decided to go because the workshop, in fact the whole day, was everything I hoped it would be.

The day started at 10 am with coffee, having a nose around the beautiful shop and “where did you travel from?”, “have you crocheted before?” chat amongst the nine ladies and one gentleman. Everyone seemed really nice and we were a good mix of ages which made for interesting conversation.

We found our seats at the huge table in the beautiful workshop of the Toft Alpaca Shop and then Carrie started the lesson. We started with instructions on how to hold the crochet hook, how to wind your working yarn so that the tension is consistent and then the hooking began.

By 11 am everyone had made two rounds of the granny so we took a break to walk around the farm.

Wellies on, and off we went. It was great seeing the alpacas out there in the field, knowing that by the end of the day I would have made granny squares from their fleece.

So cute!

My absolute favourite animal is a giraffe. I’ve never seen one in real life, but I’d like to think I spent a morning with their smaller wooly cousins. Those long necks are so wrong, they’re right. Right?

Carrie provided a wealth of information and interesting facts about alpacas and the farm. She told us things such as; alpaca’s will obey straight lines, that they have excellent peripheral vision, baby alpaca are called cria, they making a humming sound when content and will spit if they feel threatened. There are officially 22 shades of alpaca fleece but early British importers were told to import white alpacas as the yarn can be dyed different shades. Luckily Toft don’t dye or bleach their wool. Why would anyone want to dye alpaca wool if you have 22 natural shades?

When we got back from our walk it was time for lunch, coffee and cake and more crocheting. Just heavenly.

I opted to make the granny square scarf which means I had to buy an extra “goody bag” of chunky alpaca wool on top of the pack already included in my £60 workshop fee.

I’m so glad I decided to make the huge granny square scarf. I love it! It’s incredibely warm and snuggly.

I made my scarf with 8 squares of 4 round granny squares and finished it on Sunday evening. Chunky yarn + 12 mm hook = super fast finished project!!!

What I found the most interesting (apart from all the alpaca facts) about the workshop was how quickly people can pick up crocheting. I sat between two knitters who had never crocheted, but by the end of the day, one had completed a granny square in chunky alpaca, and Sue was making Russian Square wrist warmers in DK. In one morning Sue had progressed from learning to crochet by making granny squares, to actually reading a pattern for Russian Squares! She emailed me on Monday to say that they crochet bug had bitten her big time and she loves crochet now just as much as knitting! Nevermind wrist warmers, she’s going to make a blanket! How great is that?!

It was probably inevitable that a day on an Alpaca farm, learning to crochet granny squares with a group of other students in a beautiful setting with amazing natural fibres, can make anyone addicted to crochet. Then again, if you’re following this blog and have read this far, you already know how addictive crochet can be and you don’t need a furry miniature giraffe to inspire you (but it helps).

P.S. The next crochet workshop at Toft is an Amigurimi workshop on Saturday 16 February. If you can, go!

Crochet on TV (The Roseanne Show)

12 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Natasja in As seen on TV

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

granny square, granny square afghan, The Roseanne Show

Yesterday I got an email from one of my lovely blog readers thanking me for doing these Spotted on TV posts. She mentioned the afghan / blanket that appeared on the couch in almost all the Roseanne show episodes. Initially I had no idea what she was talking about, but a quick Google search later I was in crochet-on-TV heaven!

I had actually forgotten about that beautiful granny square blanket – guess I watched Roseanne in the days when I was not eagerly searching for anything crocheted on TV. (I hear that’s the way most normal people watch TV. Normal has obviously gone out the window once the hooky bug bit me. )

Just like the afghan on Amy’s couch in Big Bang Theory which I blogged about here, this is also a traditional granny square blanket. Amy’s blanket is made up of 4 rounds (the 4th round being black), but Roseanne’s blanket has 120 squares of 5 rounds each (the 5th round being black). If you want to make one yourself, you can learn how to crochet a traditional granny square here.

I like the colour arrangements of the Roseanne blanket more than the Big Bang Theory blanket because the colours of the first 4 rounds, and the placement of the squares, are more random which makes it more interesting I think.

Diane, who emailed me about the blanket, said that she read somewhere that the blanket use to get stolen a lot off set. I just had to investigate (the rumour, not the theft).

Vintage Spinster says on her blog:

True story: that particular afghan was stolen off the set a couple times and eventually had to keep being remade and stitched to the couch. Version #3 now lives on the prop couch in the Smithsonian.

I tried to find references to the Roseanne show couch and/or blanket on the Smithsonian website but without success. I also emailed them to ask if this is true – haven’t heard back from them yet, but if I do, I’ll let you know.* I can however totally see why someone would steal the blanket twice – it’s such an iconic part of the show and let’s face it, it’s beautiful!

Episode 10 of the last season of the show is called Home is Where the Afghan is. Yes, that’s right! …where the afghan is!!! The writers of the show obviously also realised what an important part the afghan has played on The Roseanne Show. Considering the show started in 1988 and the last season was aired in 1996, that afghan must have been seen by millions of people and become just as iconic as Roseanne herself.

Imagine that: a crocheted afghan being the star of a TV show episode! And not only that, it proves what we hookers have known all along: a crocheted afghan will turn a house into a home.

*I got a reply from the Smithsonian:

We do not have the couch from the Roseanne tv show in the collections at the Museum of American History. Dwight Bowers Curator, Entertainment Collections, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

**A comment by John Lamantia on 15 February 2014 on the Facebookpage Where is the “Roseanne Couch” sheds more light on the couch and the crochet blanket sewn onto it:

About 9 years ago, I almost bought the couch and afghan (now sewn on to it). Garvin Eddy, the shows set designer had ownership of the couch and some other pieces from the show. He posted it on Ebay for $10,000. I wanted to purchase, but really had no room. We talked and he was going to drop the price to $4,500, again having no room, I had to decline, but offered money for the afghan. He said that he didn’t want to separate the two and that it had been sewn on near the end of filming since he thought people were trying to take it. Its probably best they stay a pair since they are so recognizable together. No idea where it is today. Dan’s matching chair and dogs playing poker pictures were also up for auction at different times.

Terrific Tuesday

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

granny square, Terrific Tuesday

From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

Granny sqares and tulips. What could be better?!

I took this photo about two years ago. The grannies were made as part of Sarah London’s Crochet a Rainbow project. You can read about the good work Sarah has done, and is still doing, here or here.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday!

Natasja

Tripping on granny squares

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings, Other people's crochet

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

crochet, granny square, granny square afghan

Granny squares as you’ve problably never seen them: tripping.

The Adelaide-born photographer, Diana Melfi took her grandmother’s granny square blankets and used them for a photoshoot called “Granny Takes a Trip”.

Genius, I say!