Crochet Granny Square Blanket

My first attempt at a patter didn't work

In 2015 I learnt how to crochet. (I honestly thought it was longer before I started writing this post.)  Once I had learnt the basics I went back to learn how to make granny squares.  Of course once you've got a bunch of squares you have to decide what to do with them.

Still  not quite right

I decided to keep going and make a blanket.  What I really like about this project is that I could come back to it at any point and make a couple more squares, for instance after a long knitting project, before going off and doing something else again.

Nailed it!

After last Christmas (2016) I had quite a collection of squares and a friend suggested that I might want to start connecting them as it can be a bit of a tedious job.  However my first attempt at this was a complete fail!  I'd not joined any crochet together before and used a single crochet stitch rather than a slip stitch so it had lumpy bits between each square.  And the pattern just didn't work either.

I was rather glad to undo it all and start again.  Drawing out my pattern helped a lot and I ended up with a pattern I liked and was happy with.  I then started connecting the squares again, this time using a slip stitch.

 

I'd found a flower detail square in a friends book and used that as my center point.  Then added squares round it until it looked right to me.

Then to finish it off I added a border.  This was just a single stitch of each colour all the way round and I think it finishes it off really well.  I used BabyBonus extra value DK wool which is really soft and makes it a good blanket for a child.

 If I hadn't made the Frida Flower Blanket I would never have known to use a slip stitch to join squares together or thought to add a border, and yet it is these little details which really make the difference.  This has been a really long project and I am glad to see it done.  I'm really please with it and the practice it has given me for my new skills.