I've finished all the squares for this blanket and have started joining them. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to join them so I googled "how to join granny squares" and the first link that came up was for one of my favourite crochet blogs - Attic 24.
Lucy's instructions are so clear and easy to understand, so that's the way I'm joining all 96 of my little granny squares. Lucy's technique gives a nice neat finish. I'm joining them all in rows vertically - on the picture below the first to rows on the right have been joined. So I'll continue along each vertical join, then do all the horizontals. Lastly I'll need to add a border and an edge. I'm thinking of doing another couple of rows of white treble clusters (is that what they're called?) for the border and then a scalloped edge (also in white). I don't really want to add any more colour. Any other suggestions?
Here are the squares all laid out. I tried not to agonise too much over the placement - which is not easy for me! I didn't want to repeat the same rows and I also tried to make sure I didn't have too much of one colour clustered together. So this is it - I WILL NOT move the squares around anymore :) I'm so glad to have it finished. I don't love it as much as I originally did, mainly because I have found so many colour combinations (and wool suppliers!) that I love more since getting back into crochet & knitting. But I have loved the process. It's so nice to sit and crochet when I'm stressed - I've realised that maybe I should use a larger size hook when I'm stressed though as it shows the tension of my crochet haha! So I can't wait to start my next blanket - so many colour combinations and patterns to choose from, but I'm thinking a boyish blanket is in order and I already have a plan for it. I will be finishing this one before I start another one though - I've always been great at starting things but moving onto another more exciting project before the previous one is finished. I don't want all the hours that have gone into this project wasted - each square took me around 20-30 minutes to do, so that's a LOT of hours! As you can see, I have a lot of loose ends to work in too - ugh! Next time I'll try to do them as I go - not looking forward to such a tedious job, but it has to be done :(
So I'll be back soon with a finished blanket to show - and some better pics. I've been using my iPhone to take most of my photos lately (like the ones in this post) because it's so much more convenient than my DSLR and sometimes convenience wins out over quality :)
