333-336::365 fancy squares

Patterns: "Rosetta Square", "Gracie Square", "Six Point Star", and "Marianne Square" (left to right) from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

These four squares are the beginning of my attempt to incorporate some white yarn in my crochet. I have plenty of it, but I never use it unless I'm trying to. I made a few changes to most of these squares (all but Rosetta). The most minor change was to Marianne Square, where I simply left off the last round.

For Gracie square, the first round after the flower was supposed to be worked into the stitches of the previous round. Instead of doing that, I worked them around the posts of round one. It makes the flower pop out a little bit more.

Six Point Star is another pattern with a backwards photo in this book. I'm torn between being kind of shocked that someone didn't catch this mistake and being surprised that it doesn't happen more often. The only change I made for this one was substituting hdc for sc in the final round. It reminds me of a snowflake in the blue I used which is funny because it was 70 degrees today.

I had hoped to have all of my squares posted by today, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I've kept up this project through lots of things that have happened in my life over the past year, and besides, I didn't start posting them until after the first week of January. I'll have them up by then!

Happy new year! Hope it's a great one! Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me through this project! I appreciate each and every comment and kind word! :)

329-332::254 purple flower squares

Patterns: "Filigree Rosette", "Picot Rose", "Nautical Wheel", "Star Grass Flower" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

A super busy week at work and a short yarn supply have delayed the posting of these squares a little. Don't you just love flower squares? I skipped a round of sc for the Nautical Wheel square. Star Grass Flower is more of a rectangle than a square because two of the sides have way more stitches in them than the other side. I can easily use this square in a sampler afghan, but it was kind of a surprise that it wasn't square because the sample in the photo in the book looks like it is. Another odd thing is that the block in the book was photographed wrong side up. I guess that'll happen from time to time.

321-328::365 flower garden squares

Patterns: The first 8 "Flower Garden" squares from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

These 8 squares are the "Flower Garden" blocks from The Granny Square Book that have the same background. After making all of these, I'm sure I could make a square like this from any crochet flower. Another common feature of each one was a center made from a ring of 20 single crochet stitches.

Merry Christmas! I hope you are having a great day! We had Christmas Eve dinner with some good friends yesterday and are just relaxing at home today. Here are my latest 25!

313-316::365 squares with orange

Patterns (left to right): "Whimsy", "Fiesta", "Fleur", & "Whirlpool" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

I made little changes to a couple of these blocks. On Fiesta, it seemed like the corners would be too crowded with the 3sc, ch2, 3sc called for in the pattern, so I reduced it to 2sc, ch2, 2sc. For Fleur, I changed the last round from solid dc stitches to clusters of 3dc each. I just realized that Whirlpool is pretty much exactly the same pattern as this one from 200 Crochet Blocks! I guess there are only so many ways to crochet a square!

309-312::365 squares with purple

Patterns (left to right): "Frances Flower", "Paula's Pendant", "Block Stitch Flower", & "Savannah" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

After making about 10 of the blocks in The Granny Square Book (Kindle Edition), I'm in love. Making squares patterns that have charts is totally the best. The charts are a little on the small side, but I don't have any trouble reading them. It is super easy to notate any changes, and the Kindle keeps track of my last place. For the Frances Flower pattern, I substituted a round of hdc for the last two rounds (of sc) in the pattern. The rest of these four were made with no stitch substitutions.

305-308::365 vacation squares

Patterns (left to right): "Front Post Double Crochet Square", "Petite Flower", "Forget Me Not", & "Wild Flower" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

For the most part, when I block the squares I crochet, it is just to even out the stitches a little bit and straighten them up for pictures. The first square here (the fpdc square) was one of those that required so much blocking that I would make it differently next time. The corners want to stick out way too far. I think the solution is to decrease the number of stitches in the corners next time.

I've been making these squares with my J hook because I've misplaced my favorite size H one. There is just something I like about the way worsted weight yarn stitches up on larger hooks. It just looks downright fluffy. I haven't had any problem adding squares made with different hook sizes in my sampler afghans in case you're wondering.

I'm getting in lots of crafting time during my week of vacation since I'm just hanging out at home. In addition to making granny squares, I'm also reading the new issue of CraftSanity (I'm in there if you didn't catch that the other day!), baking brownies, and working on a new scrap rug for my super cold floor that I'll share soon.

301-304::365 lacy squares

Patterns (left to right): "Hot Pepper" by Janie Herrin & "Minty Fresh" by Jean Leinhauser in 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares; "Dogwood Flower" & "Cone Flower" from The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

There's not really a common theme to these squares other than that they are more open than the ones I usually make (with the exception of the first one, but the crossed stitches do leave it a little airy). I was really excited to get The Granny Square Book, my first e-book purchase for my new Kindle Fire. Yay for early Christmas presents! Junior is the best boyfriend ever! It is really convenient to use for crochet patterns. Even though this book has a few patterns similar to some I've already made, there are plenty of unique ones among the 75 in this book. And it even has crochet charts. Pretty awesome! There are also a bunch of ways to use granny squares, but none of them are really groundbreaking. My favorite is a mobius* scarf of "Cone Flower" squares crocheted in fluffy, bulky yarn.

*Wow, check out this super pretty mobius wrap pattern!