progress on the may afghan

It is 4 blocks by 4 so far. It will be 5 by 6 when it is complete and just about covers my couch already! I'm so ready to finish it!

151::365 granny square #50 & two new afghans

Pattern: "Granny Square 50" from 99 Granny Squares to Crochet from Leisure Arts.

I made this little (5.5" with my H hook) square today because I'm behind! I've been so busy working on my new tutorial and working on crocheting together 3 different afghans in the past few days that I've been a little negligent in showing you my squares. Oops.

Here are some quick progress photos of my A Square A Day In May afghan! I am using a teal colored yarn, which is the color that was winning in my poll last time I checked. The joining method that I am using is the one I talked about here. Dang, this thing is either going to be one huge blanket or two medium-sized ones! Three squares just about goes from one side to the other on my full size bed.

I'm really pleased with how flat and even it is turning out even though I used different hook sizes in some of these 12" blocks.

And the other afghan I am putting together is another sampler afghan! I told myself that I needed to start another one right away to be sure I had it fresh in my mind to write the new tutorial, but really I just feel like I was procrastinating now. Here are the beginnings of it:

It occurs to me that I may be trying to do too many things at the same time...!

147::365 twin stripes

Pattern: "Twin Stripes" from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton.

I'm going to spend the rest of the week crocheting squares that are made with rows instead of rounds, so expect to see lots of stripes! I'm going to use these squares along with some of the other smaller ones to finish my granny square sampler afghan. By the end of the week, my tutorial on joining squares of different sizes will be ready.

Ghost, one of my new friends from A Square A Day In May, has been posting lots of helpful crochet tips with each new square she blogs about. You should check it out!

145::365 kaleidoscope blossom square

Pattern: "Kaleidoscope Blossom Square" by Chris Simon.

Here is yesterday's square! I messed up the outside of the flower, but I think it looks fine so I probably will not change it. When will I learn that it is a bad idea to try to read while crocheting complicated patterns? I added an extra round of "V" stitches around the edges because I love making them.

Only one more square to go for May! I'm going to finish it tonight, and if it isn't too late, I'll blog about it, too. :)

edited: Oh my gosh, I just realized that this was the last square for the crochet along! It was so much fun, and I really appreciate all of the work Melissa put into organizing it for everyone!

And what's the deal with my survey magically appearing on this post. Weird.

144::365 yarn clouds square & a poll

Pattern: "Yarn Clouds Square" by Amelia Beebe.

This is a super easy pattern with really pretty results! I really want to make an afghan that continues this stitch pattern throughout. Maybe next year! I used my J hook this time.

I haven't started joining my squares from this month yet, and I'm kind of stuck trying to pick a color to use. Please help me choose by taking my poll here or find it below (if you can see it at the bottom of this post--I can when I view this post on my blog but not on Google Reader)! Thanks!

143::365 peace granny

Pattern: "Peace Granny" by JudyK.

Obviously I changed this pattern up. I used the same technique to change colors as the original pattern, but I made these symmetrical stripes instead. The outer round in purple is the last one in the pattern. I added some extra rounds of 3dc groups like I did in this tutorial.

I think Craftyminx has best put into words why I just wasn't feeling it for the peace symbol this pattern is supposed to make. As someone who was a pre-teen in the early '90s, peace symbols don't make me think of politics, they make me think of the mall. And that makes me feel bad because I do think peace is a wonderful goal.

These huge squares we're making for A Square A Day In May are really cool patterns, but I'm so ready to go back to making smaller squares every day! At least for a little while. I'm exhausted. Here are four whole weeks of squares!

142::365 granny's more complex star

Pattern: "Granny's More Complex Star" by Jacqui Goulbourn.

This was a fun and kind of challenging square to crochet. The only issue I had was with round 5 where it says to "join yarn with an sc to any 5th dc of a triangle point. hdc, dc..." I wasn't sure where was supposed to put the stitches until I read ahead since the pattern doesn't say. It does turn out that each stitch of that round goes in the next stitch of the previous round.

141::365 blooming lace

Pattern: "Blooming Lace" by Melinda Miller.

I left off the last two rounds of this pattern to get it to measure 12", but then again, I used an I sized hook, which is one size up from the hook required in the pattern. I couldn't find my H hook! Oh no! Anyway, I finished the square and felt like there was something missing. I added the light blue slip stitch detail between the petals and the center of the flower, and now I think it looks just fine. The white petals looked a little skimpy, so instead of making them up of three treble crochet stitches, I worked the clusters up with five stitches.

140::365 birthday flower square

Pattern: "Birthday Flower Square" by Chris Simon.

This was a super easy pattern that quickly worked up to 12" with my favorite size H hook. I left off the last round of single crochet that is in the instructions. It is so lacy and pretty! I love this square!

With the scary storms we've been having in Oklahoma and everything else that's going on in my life at the moment, it is a good thing I got ahead on Sunday, or I'd totally be behind. I'm so ready for this three day weekend!

139::365 bright & cheery square

Pattern: "Bright & Cheery Square" by Dayna Audirsch.

I'll be honest, I had a little trouble with row 7 in this pattern, and because I was trying to watch a movie**, I decided to just make it work. I really like the cross stitches this pattern uses, so I worked an extra round of them and then finished it off with a round of double crochet. I used my J hook again. See the photo below for how I made up those extra and confusing rows.

**We were watching our first Bluray from Netflix! (It felt so weird buying a player last week and not buying any discs for it, but we've been watching YouTube videos on it in the meantime.) The movie was "9". Have you seen it? It is a beautifully animated post-apocalyptic movie that I had never heard of before. Not having cable or even a digital converter box means not seeing trailers over and over and over again, so I have to actively try to keep up with the movies that are coming out. It is kind of nice not to know all of the good parts before even seeing something though!

138::365 versailles

Pattern: "Versailles" by Melinda Miller.

I used my J hook again. I really should have gone with the smaller hook listed in the pattern. Because of my error, the pattern as-is would have turned out huge!

I left off the last three rounds and substituted with a round of sc to get 12”. For this last round, I decreased (sc2tog) in the two stitches on either side of the “shells”. I also added two decreases where the shell meets the chain spaces (I worked half of the sc2tog in the last stitch of the shell, then the second half into the chain space, then I worked another in the chain space and the next stitch). Without this change, the round was way too loose and not very straight.

137::365 impossible hexgon

Pattern: "Impossible Hexagon" by Stramenda.

I really love crochet patterns like this one that are an exercise in turning one shape into another. Once you see how it works, you can start to experiment with adjusting patterns and even begin to come up with ones of your own! The mesh chain stitch border that turns the hexagon into a square reminds me of "Primrose Square" from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton, another granny square I really enjoyed making. The only change I made in this pattern was to add chain stitches to the outer round in the corner to make joining easy later.

I'm trying to get ahead by a square or two today so that I can finish up my next granny square tutorial this week. This time I'll show you how to join squares that are different sizes! Be sure to check out my previous tutorials:

part 1: basic granny square

part 2: how to adjust the size of your granny squares

part 3: joining squares of the same size

part 4: blocking

136::365 georges granny square

Pattern: "Georges Granny" by Jessica Gil.

This was a super easy pattern that I made even easier by making 3 dc "granny" rounds after the sparkly blue round. So that it would measure 12", I added two rounds of hdc to finish it off. I can see a zombie eye in this one, too...

Three weeks down for A Square A Day In May! Thanks so much to Melissa for hosting this fun crochet along!!!

Now that I have a pile of these big squares, I'm trying to figure out what color I want to use to join them. I really, really love the blue in Colour-Heaven's cushion cover in the first photo! I don't know if it would have such a bold impact with large squares as it does with her little ones. I think I want to test it out! :)

1. Flowers framed in blue - crochet cushion completed 06.05.11, 2. Jemimah blanket 4, 3. The End Result, 4. 73, 5. circle in a square granny cushion cover, 6. Crochet Granny Squares Baby Blanket, 7. granny square cushion cover, 8. scrap afghan 1, 9. Ruairi's pram blanket

135::365 eye of the beholder

Pattern: "Eye of the Beholder" by Jessica Gil.

I used my J hook again for this square yesterday, and now that I'm looking at the block as a whole, I think I may have subconsciously taken the "eye" thing a little literally. It sort of looks like a zombie eye. I still think it is pretty!

The beginning of a couple of rounds of this pattern said to ch 2 and then dc in the same space. I just chained 3 and let that be the substitute for the first dc. I left off a round or two and added a second round of alternating dc, ch 1.

134::365 ladybug square

Pattern: "Ladybug Square" by Amelia Beebe.

I didn't think I was going to like this square with the others at first. I think I couldn't get past the black yarn used around the ladybug. If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to steer clear of any dark colors in these May blocks. So...I used my new favorite, I Love This Yarn in Peacock Sparkle for the head, antenna, and detail stitches for the ladybug. And the spots are little cross stitches. I really couldn't love this square more now!

The pattern offers two ways to attach the head of the ladybug to the rest of the square. I chose to sew it down instead of attaching it with later rounds by crocheting in the back loops. When I tried the other method, it just looked kind of messy to me. I did crochet the tops of the antenna by going through the back loop only.

My goal for this weekend is to get ahead by at least one square because I'm having the hardest time blogging about them the same day. This square and the one I posted yesterday had been completed the nights before! :)