Tuesday 21 January 2014

A Riot of Colours

Yes, Tally, you were right:  Granny Squares!  I've been seeing a lot of them on internet… and suddenly I was inspired.  I had an irresistible urge to make some too.  Not very original, granny squares have been around forever, haven't they?  But I'd never made them before and I fancied lots of colours!  I'd also not made blankets since my children were very small (when they were babies really) and I thought it would be nice to have a colourful, warm, home-made blanket to wrap around when we sit on the settee in the cold evenings we are having at the moment.

My young son in particular loves the idea of this blanket and comes home from school every day asking me how many more squares I've made.  He can't wait until it's big enough.

As I write this, I'm now on the 38th square.  It's already nice to have it draped across my legs as I work.  I love wool, so cosy and warm.


I've discovered a few things while working on this:  for one, the difficulty of "random"!  After a few squares, it was getting difficult to choose the next two colours so that there weren't colours the same too close together, so that they looked nice next to each other… it was taking me longer to choose the colours than to actually crochet the square!  I thought this was no way to keep going and that I'd be at it forever.  So I investigated and found… A Random Granny Square Generator.  Yes.  Such a thing exists.  Did you know?  You put in the number of squares you want, how many colours you have and how many colours per square you need and the generator works our for you a RANDOM pattern of colours.



So now I'm following the chart (you can see it in the top left corner of the first photo).  I'll admit I do occasionally ignore the chart and choose my own because random does mean sometimes two colours the same are next to each other and I don't really like that.  But I mostly follow the chart which makes my life a bit easier.

The children love the madness of all the colours combined any which way.  There are 14 colours.  I'm still not completely convinced but I've gone far enough that I'm keeping going now.  If I were to make another, I would probably choose a colour theme.  I have kept the centre the same for each square though in a bid to unify the thing a bit, so all centres are cream.

I'm joining as I go and then will make a border all the way around when I get to the end.  I'm also taking this opportunity to re-learn to crochet.  I did the same with tatting a few years ago and really improved my technique and speed.  I hope I can do the same with crochet.  It's slowing me down for now and I'm a bit less consistent with my stitches but I hope it will pay off in the end.  I have always crocheted underhand (holding like a pen) but was finding an awful lot of right wrist movement was involved so now I'm trying underhand and holding my yarn differently in my left (no outstretched fingers).  Hard to change everything but I will persevere for a while.

And last night I took a break from the blanket to make a hat for my youngest.  He's very happy with it.  Just a simple beanie but that's what he wanted.


So crochet madness will continue for a while longer yet.

Best wishes,
Frivole

13 comments:

  1. We treasured the granny square blankets my grandmother made. She had to do without the random generator though!! I do like the idea of applying modern technology to an old craft.

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  2. Ah, I like what you have there! A random Granny Square Generator! Ingenious! I always cut out coloured squares and moved them around

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    1. ...to continue.. Into the position I liked. Was a bit of a drag.

      Yes, the knife hold. - my favourite! I had trouble when I used the other position, and never really got comfortable with it, but it is good to switch back and forth. Saves tiring the wrists.

      Love the beanie. My Grands still have their Mimis, and Liam, the eldest is already 8! Your photos make me very nostalgic and my palms are itching to pick up a hook!
      Fox. : )

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    2. I'm going silly! I just corrected myself. I meant to write I have always held it underhand (like a pen) and now am trying to learn to crochet overhand (like a knife). Is that how you do it?

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  3. Ha-ha-ha…maths rules!
    This blanket going to be fabulous!!!

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  4. It's looking really lovely to me! The trouble with our "internal" random generators is that they seem to really want things "evenly distributed" and not truly random at all! Some famous and clever person who-I-can't-remember once worked out that you need a minimum of 4 colours to ensure two the same never touch (topology maths - for making maps). EZ suggests you put them all in a basket beside you and reach down into it without looking and grab whatever your hand touches next. This would work well for me with scraps of yarn but I reckon I'd be sorely tempted to pick the fattest ball...

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    1. Such a good point Megan. I totally agree random=evenly distributed in my mind. So even though I'm trying to follow the random chart, I still can't help myself and will change the colours if there's another the same too close!

      To solve your idea of picking the fattest ball, you could put tokens or bits of paper with the name of the colours on them and then pick two of those at random to choose your wool colours.

      But now I find it's probably not completely random that I'm after! :-)

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  5. Fun colors!!! Love the brightness!!! :)

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  6. Aren't granny squares fun! I love this sort of project and yours looks great. It's probably a good idea to sew together as you go. I used to sew all at the end, and that got tedious.

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    1. Hi Martha, I worried I wouldn't enjoy doing all the sewing work at the end and also I fancied being able to have it, as a growing blanket, across my lap as I worked. But I also like the look crocheting the squares together at the end so if there is ever a second time, I might choose that option to see how the two looks compare.

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  7. Well I never heard of a Ginny square generator, What a wonderful idea, your Granny blanket is looking lovely so far, it's lovely to have a blanket to put over your legs in the cold weather, I have a colourful knitted one and would not be without it, I did line it with some old fabric just to keep the warmth in the blanket.
    Margaret

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  8. That is looking very pretty.
    I have been crocheting too. An afghan for dd #4. I hold the hook under hand as well, and can really zip along. I would really have to work at it to hold it overhand. The underhand hold allows me to use my fingers more, the overhand hold would use the elbow more I would think. Must have to try it sometime.

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  9. You are having a lot of fun, Frivole, I can see that. It all looks gorgous and neaty done! I made a poncho in ganny squares when I was 10 years old. I choose 4 colors (i remember: classic honey yellow outside), white, dark brown and fuchsia pink). I made all the same squares, and that was great too. I loved this poncho, and still had it when I was 15. Who threw it away?? I love your sons beany. The simple ones are very cool at the moment.

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