Granny Square Love♡

 

Hello lovely lovelies; lovely friends♡ Welcome to my little place, where this past week there has been a lot of granny square love, happening..........oh, and a bit of hydrangea love going down, as well♡

For quite a while now I've wanted to fashion a blanket dancing with solid granny squares with a menagerie of sweet animal faces smiling playfully atop the grannies. I bought a book last year showcasing patterns by Caitie Moore, Sharna Moore and Celine Semaan, explaining the how-tos of such a blanket. The only problem was I've never been able to read a crochet pattern. Crochet patterns have always been gobbledygook to me. It was rather akin to trying to learn another language.

So, I bit the bullet. Enough dithering. Enough procrastination. I jumped off the crochet precipice and fell down, down down into the land of hooked needles and interlocking loops of yarn and threads; where crochet symbols and terms...treble, hdc, dc, sc, BOL, FOL, fpttr, fodc etc etc rule supreme.  Oh my giddy aunt, my head is dizzy with crochet symbols ricocheting and colliding around my muddly head. I can't tell you how many times I've undone what I crocheted and how many times I've had to re-read the patterns. And, sometimes, I reverted to YouTube tutorials showing a different way to crochet ears, eyes etc. Gosh ears, noses......so, so tiny to do! And these itty bitty parts seem to take an inordinate amount of time to do! It's a good thing there are a few animal granny squares tutorials out there on the internet.

But, I must say that after a week  of scrutinising crochet patterns I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed. There's a long way to go, though.

In the book the animal faces are crocheted as part of the granny square. I found this method impossible for some of the animals. So, I've crocheted the faces separate and will sew them onto the squares later. A lot more work but I found this method easier. Also, the back of the blanket will be neater as all the messy stitching of the face details will be hidden.

I also learnt how to crochet a solid granny square this week. Oh my goodness, I had so much trouble crocheting these. A lot of frogging.......and a lot of angst. It's safe to say that after this blanket I won't be crocheting another pretty with solid grannies anytime soon . 

This blanket will be cot size. It's a gift for Lenox, who will be turning one in April. I cannot believe he is nearly one. Where oh where did that time go!!?? The blanket will have thirty five 6" squares in all. I've completed thirteen so there's a way to go. It has to be finished in five weeks as Lenox and his mummy and daddy are coming to Tassie for a wee holiday. So, it's all guns blazing re animal granny squares. Notwithstanding all the angst and the pulling out of hair this week, I must say, I'm loving these sweet critters. This afternoon I crocheted a ladybird for Slow Sunday stitching. 'She's' a sweet little thing.

She's taken a shine to the flowers in the garden♡

Thank you for visiting my little place where a menagerie of sweet animals wait patiently to be finished and indeed, to emerge. Plenty more granny squares and critters to be fashioned, though. Have a beautiful day, lovely lovelies; lovely friends, enjoying moments that bring you joy♡

Until the next time......