Are you participating in Granny Square Day?
It's such a fun event run largely on social media on the 15th August each year and a great way to connect with others who love to make crochet granny squares too. There are so many different types alongside the classic three (UK) treble and chain space design. To participate on Instagram, for example, crocheters make granny squares and post pictures of their crochet square with as little border as possible and using the hashtag #grannysquareday2023. When you search for the hashtag, the results look like a giant blanket made up of everyone's granny squares! Anyone can also make a virtual crochet blanket by creating a photo collage of their favourite crocheted square photos. Will you be joining in?
My Crochet Granny Square design for 2023
This year I wanted to came up with a design inspired by those who've made my patterns, so whenever I got support requests from crafters making one of my patterns for a little help with a particular stitch, I worked a round including it on this granny square during one of my livestreams so the crafter had the opportunity to watch me work through the stitch and answer any further questions and I could also clip that section of the stream to build up a collection of video FAQs for my patterns. Here's the finished square:
I've been sharing the videos on my social media and had a lovely response to them and I was so pleased that I decided I should make this pattern available for free on my website in both UK and US terminology so as many people as possible can make it. If you prefer a printable version, there will also be a downloadable pdf available to purchase from my Ravelry store. Sign up to my mailing list to hear when it's available.
As the square is intended as part of the Granny Square Day celebrations, I decided to start and finish it with the traditional three treble clusters of the traditional granny square and the other stitches based on customer support queries include: working with yarn in front and with yarn in the back, the long narrow X stitch (LNX), a US quadruple treble (UK quintuple treble) and some increases and decreases. It's a 12 inch (30 cm) square when worked up in aran/worsted yarn on a hook to match my tension. I used a 4.5 mm hook and I think I have fairly average tension.
The yarn I used is Jody Long Cottontails, a really soft blown cotton yarn that works up nicely on a 4.5mm hook to approximately aran weight and is leftover from my Flower Basket Wrap sample.
Bonus project instructions in the pattern
I wanted to include a simple project suggestion so the pattern includes instructions on working up two squares into a small tote bag with a lining, edging and decorative strap.
What Next?
I will be seeking testers through my August newsletter, so you can also sign up to my mailing list through my subscribe page if you are interested in testing opportunities, exclusive behind the scenes updates and discounts or just want to know when new patterns are released. I'm excited to see their versions; I really love seeing how different a block looks in others' colour combinations. The pattern is scheduled to be available right here on my website by Monday the 4th of September as soon as I've updated it to incorporate their suggestions and the paid pattern will be listed in my Ravelry and Etsy stores.
You can also join me for my livestream on Twitch on Monday evening at 10:30pm UK time (BST) for about an hour as I use my Granny's Captivated block to create a small tote bag . Here's a link to find my channel. You don't have to create an account just to watch the stream but if you want to join the text chat to ask me questions or get notifications when I go live, then you'd need to sign up. Hope to see you there!
In the meantime, you can take a look at the Granny's Yarn Square pattern which I created for Granny Square day last year. I hope you'll enjoy the pattern for that too.
