Saturday, December 21, 2013

Motif a day - December 21

Today is my birthday and I've decided to start a new year long project.

1 motif a day for 365 days.

I will start with the tried and true Granny Square.  I've made a lot of baby blankets that were simply very large grannies and it's one that never gets old to me.


Basic Granny

Chain 4
Join into a ring

Chain 3 (this counts as the first double crochet (DC) - if you're using American terms.  Some call it a treble)
Two more dc into the ring
chain 2 (I've seen 1, 2 or 3 stitches.  I like 2)
*3 dc into ring
chain 2
repeat from * two more times - giving you 4 clusters of dc in the ring and 4 chain 2 spaces

join last chain 2 to the beginning chain3.

Round 2 - work with same color or join a new one
Chain 3 - 2 dc into 1st chain 2 space, chain 2, 3 dc into same space (first corner)
chain 2 (first space on side)
work the rest of the corners the same way  - 3 dc, chain 2, 3 dc in each corner.  Between corners, chain 2.  This will create spaces that help your square grown.

Round 3 & beyond again, change colors or keep it the same
Chain 3(counts as first stitch)  - if you're working with one color, you're most likely at a chain 2 space, if you've joined a color, it's sometimes easiest to join at the corners.

I added a new color, so I'll describe it from there.

After the first chain 3, work 2 more dc, then chain 2 and 3 dc into the same space.  
Chain 2, 3 dc in next ch2 space on side
chain 2, work next corner with 3dc, ch2, 3dc

Keep going around, working the corners with 2 groups of 3dc and the side spaces with only 1 group of 3 dc.

For this square I added a bit of slip stitch to decorate the edges.

Granny Squares are pretty useful motifs.  A few example patterns








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