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Beatrice Ryan Designs Crochet A Long Afghan.. Week 2

I hope you had a great week and had fun crocheting your Granny Squares…  Are you ready to put them together and move on to the next step??

There are two methods frequently used to join Granny Squares… You can whip stitch them together or crochet them together… Since I am a total crochet-a-holic and not so much a seamstress… I always have crocheted mine together… But if you prefer the look of the stitching method that will be great too… I found 2 great tutorials for these methods incase you haven’t joined Granny Squares together before…

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The first method is Crocheting Granny Squares together. This tutorial is by one of my favorite Crochet Artists… Lucy from Attic 24… She is famous for her colorful Granny Squares and this tutorial is very clear and it will walk you through this method if this is the one you  would like to use!!!  Click Here for the Crocheting Granny Squares Together Method…

The second method is to Sew the Granny Squares together. I found a great tutorial from Lion Brand Yarn to demonstrate this method… Click Here for the tutorial on How to Invisibly Seam Granny Squares Together Method…

Stitches:

Sl St – Slip Stitch     Ch – Chain     Hdc – Half Double Crochet

Instructions for Week 2:

Join your Granny Squares together in on of the above methods.  You will join them in 2 rows of 4 squares.  See my Granny Squares below for placement.

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wpid-IMG_20140119_145132_074-1.jpgThis is the front side of my Joined Granny Squares…

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This is the back side of my Joined Granny Squares… Notice the slight ridge the Sc joining forms… I like this for my self and over time the ridge slightly lessens as the yarn settles into place.  But, if you don’t like the ridge the whip stitch method would be a better choice for joining.

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Step 2 – Working with neutral or main color:

*Tip 1: You will want to make sure when making row 1 & 2 that the top and bottom row have the same number of stitches and the right and left sides each have the same number of stitches. 

*Tip 2:  When working or row 1 & 2…It will be important to have an even amount of stitches on each side of your work, the exact count isn’t important,,, but the even numbering is!!  Next weeks pattern section will be thrown off if you have odd amounts of stitches…When counting your stitches,  the center stitch of the corner will not be added into your count..  You should check your stitch count at the end of each of the four sides and make sure it is an even number and that the parallel sides have the same number of stitches… This will ensure your afghan will remain in an even rectangle shape.

Row 1:      Join with Sl St in any corner.  Ch 1, 3 Sc in corner. *Sc in each stitch across to the next corner, 3 Sc in Corner*. Repeat * * Around, join with Sl St to first Sc.

Row 2:     Ch 4 (counts as Hdc plus ch 2 for corner), Sk 1 Sc, Hdc in next Sc.  *Hdc across to 1st Sc of next corner. You will skip the center Sc of previous row corner, Ch 2, Hdc in next St and each across to next corner*. Repeat * * Around, Join with Sl St to 2nd chain of beginning Ch 4. Finish off. You should have approx 44 Hdc on the sort sides of the rectangle and 94 Hdc on the long ends of the rectangle.

Below is an up close picture of the corners for reference.

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And here is a photo of week 2 completed… 8 Granny Squares joined, 1 row of Sc’s, 1 Row of Hdc’s….

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Congratulations… You have finished Week 2!!!  Don’t forget to hop over to Facebook next Friday for Show and Tell at 5Pm EST… and Pinterest to see what everyone has done so far!!!

Happy Crocheting… Elena

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Weekend WIP’s… CAL Show and Tell time!!

I love Friday’s!!!  It means the start of my Weekend WIP’s…  This weekend I will once again be working on our Crochet-a-Long Afghan,,, The one thing about working on an afghan is that it usually feels so calming to work on… I love getting into the rhythm of row after row of an afghan!!!  I am so happy with my colors from Vanna’s Choice and the way it feels…

How is your CAL coming along… Did you finish Week 1’s assignment??   I can’t wait to see all the Granny Squares later today on our Facebook “Show and Tell“!!!!  I have seen a few and I love your color choices…One of our friends chose her yarn from the inspiration of her beautiful Stained Glass Fireplace Screen… Another chose muted colors and I hear there is even a solid afghan in the mix!!!!

So hop over to Facebook at 5 pm EST to show off your Granny Squares!!  I will have a specific post titled “CAL Show and Tell” pinned to the top of my Facebook page… Just post your pictures there!!!  If you dont have any pictures,,, you can just give us a shout out  about your squares…  And if you aren’t participating… Stop by to see what all our friends are doing!!

It’s not to late to start the CAL…  I am posting Week 2 Instructions Saturday morning,,, But you could get Week 1 and Week 2 done in just a few days if you want…

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Here are my squares… I know you have seen them before (they are the background of the blog too)… In the next few weeks this afghan will really start to show off its beauty… I hope you all are having fun!!

.. Happy Crocheting

Elena

Throw Back Thursday Crochet….

Like many of you know,,, My Grandmother Beatrice Ryan Ramshaw was the one who taught me to crochet 40 years ago…  I thought it would be fun to show you one of her blast from the past Afghans…  She was such an avid crocheter… Mastering both yarn and thread techniques!!!  I often wonder  what it was like to crochet for her… She was born around the turn of the century… and lived until 1997…  The materials she must have learned with would have been hard to come by… She lived in a remote area of Northern Canada until the 40’s… But even when she moved to the United States and settled in Northern California,,, I think yarn and patterns would have been so much different from what we have now!!

This week the Afghan I am sharing was made for my favorite Great Aunt Velma… Velma was her sister-in-law, who also came to the United States in the 40’s… They were great friend too!!  I was blessed enough to inherit this afghan after Velma passed away about a decade ago…  I was amazed how well this beauty held up over the years…  My best guess is that Beatrice made it in the 70’s.  Amazingly this is one of the softest Afghans I have… I was a little surprised,  many of the acrylic yarns during that time were pretty scratchy and rough!  It definitely is a treasure!

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This Great Afghan appears to be completely done in single crochet, with every other row done in back loop only… It looks to be a dk weight and a larger hook like maybe a N size…  Gotta love it… And to top it off… it measures a staggering 9+ feet long and 4+ feet wide…  I think she made it so it would nicely drape over both ends of Velma’s queen size bed…

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Well, there you have a Throw Back Thursday Crochet treat!!!  What about you… Do you have any Throw Back Treasures??

..Happy Crocheting!!

Elena

 

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