Mind the Gap - A Granny Square Pattern

You can now find this pattern on my new blog - Very Berry Handmade.

Crochet is for (Granny) Squares

Although I do try and make a bit of money out of my crafting (haha) it's always good to be able to make something for yourself too - otherwise I find resentment builds up very quickly.. It's also really nice to have an easy, long-term, project to be getting on with in times when inspiration fails, or when you just need something to do whilst you're watching Mad Men (it's back - hooray!). So when I spotted the Granny a Day Challenge at Meet Me at Mike's, it didn't take me a minute to decide to join in. The aim is to crochet a Granny Square every day, for as many days as you like during 2010. I signed up sometime in mid-January and I have managed to finish quite a few squares, although definitely not one a day. It's more like none for 5 days then 3 on the next 2 days! Granny squares are great for beginners to crochet because they come along very quickly, they're very straightforward to make (some more than others though, so make sure you choose a simple pattern!) and they can look absolutely brilliant. Have a look at the Granny a Day Flickr group for inspiration - it's fabulous. If you haven't learned to crochet yet then I highly recommend it - it's one of the most rewarding & gratifying of crafts, and so versatile too. There's lots of fantastic resources to help you on the web - here are just some of my favourite places: A Little Bit of Crochet Inspiration Meet Me at Mike's Crochet School - with lots of lovely video clips to help you with your skills - and it goes very very slowly so you never feel out of your depth. Planet June - masses of tips here with loads of inspiration and patterns to make amigurumi (tiny yarn creatures) Attic24 - a wonderful blog by Lucy who has provided the inspiration for my Granny Square colour scheme - a great place to go if you need a cheer up.. Ravelry - a brilliant online community with 1000s of patterns and people to inspire crocheters and those other people What Not to Crochet - if you need a break from your experiments in crochet... there's a truly terrifying selection of items here ******* Back to my squares... This is what I've done so far. Pretty colours aren't they? I'm using some leftover Mirasol T'ika 100% Cotton, and although this is supposed to be a stash-busting project I expect I will end up buying more Mirasol cotton because it's so lovely to work with and the colours are great. For most of the squares (which are just 6") I've used the Summer Garden Granny Square from Attic24. The others are mostly versions of squares from Beyond the Square Crochet by Edie Eckman. I've also used a pattern of my own which I am hoping to post on here if I can remember exactly what I did... My plan is not very original - I want to make a great big blanket for our bed. As I type this I'm looking at snow falling again, and thinking that this time next year, I will have a lovely bright blanket to snuggle up in on days like these. Can't wait!

Lots of Progress

It really is about time that I reported on my patchwork progress. I now have 8 12" square completed (please excused crumpled appearance - it's been rolled up in my bag over Christmas!). It's been brilliant fun so far - working with the other women in my class has been very inspirational and it's been great to see the colours and patterns that other people have come up with. It is fascinating that the same block can be made to look so different by the use of colour and arrangement. We are about to start our new term and I'm very enthusiastic - just hoping that enough people join up again to keep the class going. It seems a shame that there aren't more people out there who want to learn this amazing craft. This week I've also been working on a needle/crochet hook roll to store some of my crafting clutter. By complete coincidence, a couple of my crafting friends both approached me with a request to make one for them, so I thought I'd do one for myself first to work out a pattern - it's going well - just need to finish sewing up the binding and then I'm all done with that. I also have a commission to make a card wallet and a bag, so I've been buying gorgeous fabric and boring stuff like interfacing from the brillant Gone to Earth (ordered yesterday morning, received today!) and Cotton Patch. What a busy few days it has been - I've got lots of new followers on Facebook and great comments on my blog so it looks as if there's going to be quite a competition for the bag on Monday. That's all hugely exciting and it's certainly helped me to feel very enthusiastic about moving on with lots of new crafting projects. I've signed up for a crochet challenge - A Granny A Day over at Meet Me at Mike's. The aim is to commit to crocheting one granny square a day in 2010 - well there's no way I am going to achieve that, but I might manage 1 every other day. That would certainly be good for my yarn stash and also I'm hoping to end up with a groovy throw that would brighten up our newly decorated front room. Then there's also a very cool White Elephant swap at Juanita Tortilla. This is a great idea because it doesn't actually involve any crafting at all... go check it out and sign up if you have some crafty bits and bobs that you can't think what to do with! And in amongst all of this activity I've also managed to list a few things for sale on MISI and Etsy (phew!) - here they are, for your delectation.