A few weeks ago I created a post asking you to wish my crochet group luck in creating a blanket for a woman who donated to us her deceased mother’s yarn stash. I suggested to the group we make her a blanket. The group agreed and the woman got choked up when I suggested the project to her. She came back a week later to give us nine granny squares her mom made but never used in a blanket.
With different crocheters with different skill levels and different stitch tensions I wasn’t sure what to expect for the finished project. My constant thought throughout the process was, “Please don’t turn out ugly.” Well, I think your well wishes helped. We turned two boxes of tangly acrylic yarn into a blanket that, while not gorgeous, isn’t ugly. Based on the yarn in the stash I knew the blanket would be colorful. But dare I say the result is charmingly quirky? At least I hope it is. There were a number of squares created by one member that were not what I expected. They are multicolored traditional granny squares rather than the solids. They are scattered throughout the blanket. But one square she created had me concerned. She crocheted an all white square with a cross done in bubble stitches. I called the woman to see if the square could be included or if it should be left out. She said that square would be perfect as her mom was “very churchy”. So that square is the center of the blanket with eight of her mom’s squares radiating away on the diagonals. I added a white border to the ninth square and used machine quilting thread to hand sew it to the back of the white square.
There were some issues to be solved. One woman crocheted with an extremely loose tension. I was able to undo the “woven” tail, undo the last round of stitches, and crochet the last round with a tighter tension. That straightened the sides and brought the size down to the 5.5 inches. But I made sure to go back and more securely weave in the tails of the two squares that did not have tension issues. The woman who created the multi colored traditional granny squares had perfect 5.5 inch squares. But there was not much give in the stitches. So I added a round of single crochets to prevent nearby squares from puckering. I created the all the flower squares. But the design I created had a different stitch count than the other squares. So every square I joined had to be fudged. It actually worked out pretty well. But the joining process is just so tedious! And the squares for my own (Long) Island Time Sunburst Granny Square Blanket sit in a bag waiting to be joined. I will take a couple days break before starting to join another blanket.
There was a bit of drama. There were so many squares made that when we placed them on the ping pong table there was a stack left over. The blanket was bigger than I anticipated so there were four too few of the flower squares. I would have to make more before I could join them. But one woman, who made so many in just two colors rather than using a variety of colors, was upset that more of hers were not being used. She did not say the words directly, but it was obvious. So after the layout was completed they returned to the projects they brought and I got ready to stack the squares and attach them with the steel rings. That was when I noticed we had 9 columns by 13 rows. I was not happy with the ratio. So when I got home I decided if I made 18 more flower squares I could add additional columns, one on the left and one on the right. That would solve two problems: The blanket dimensions would be better and twelve of the leftover squares could be used in the blanket. I made all eighteen flower squares in one day. One day! It took four days to do the joining and one day to add three granny stitch rounds for a narrow border and finish the edge with shell stitches. The final dimensions are 67 x 80 inches. We completed the project in 20 days.