Granny Squares!

I have been wanting to learn how to crochet for the longest time.  I can knit and purl in a straight (kind of) line and crochet stuff without really knowing what I'm doing.  I mean, once I tried to crochet a scarf for my husband and it ended up more of a lap blanket.  My sister, however, is really, really, REALLY good at it.  But because we live a couple of hours apart, we don't get to spend a lot of time together.  When we do get the chance, it's someone's birthday, or it's a holiday etc and time is very limited.  We almost never get to see each other on a whim.  Well, the last two days were different.  She rolled into town at about 9:00pm after a mini-vacation with her family (sight-seeing on the Washington coast) and after a good night's rest, we got up this morning and discovered that we had all day to do nothing.  Such unexpected bliss!! And since our mom had very generously offered to take all five kids to the park (how could we say no, right?) we were left with a quiet house, a few balls of yarn and a couch to share. 

Taken from twobluebirds.tumblr.com

I saw this picture on Pinterest about a year ago and showed it to my sister.  I love the bright color with the fresh white contrast.  This, I told her, is what I want you to teach me.  I want to learn how to make a granny square!  So, she handed me a bright blue hook, knighted me a "New Hooker", welcomed me to the club. 

There was lots of giggling, especially when she explained what "frogging" means (to rip it, rip it ha!!!) and lots of "Wait, hang on, what was that?  Can you do that again, I'm confused..." Followed by a bunch of "HOLY COW I'M DOING IT!!!" and "THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!" and wild gesturing at the fourteen-year-old-boy (who really couldn't care less that I was, in fact, making my very first granny square) that "oh my gosh you have to see this, look!!  LOOK KID I'M CROCHETING!!"  Really, teenage boys don't care, trust me.  Although, he did give me a sideways glance and a crooked little half-grin. 

Hey, that was encouraging enough so I offered out a few more happy exclamations of my new found talent.





Hers is the red and blue one.  Look!  See how pretty they are!!!  I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself.  Yes, all because of the crochet.  I mean, hey, I switched colors!!  And it was EASY!! 

But see, then I kinda messed it up so Big Sister had to take over.  See how perfect her...I dunno, do you call them stitches?...hooky bits...are?  Isn't she talented?  Ok, so maybe you can't tell from this photo but still...she's good.  Have I mentioned that she's only recently learned how to read a pattern and do more than make the simplest scarf.  Yep, she's amazing.

There you have the final product.  I am not sure what we did to get from a ball of yarn to that cute little square, but I think I can figure it out.  Maybe I'll check out a granny square how-to book at the library.  Do you think I can make a blanket out of all different granny squares?  I wonder how many different kinds of granny squares there are.  I bet there's at least a hundred.  I wonder what my husband would say if I added crochet to my crafty repertoire.  Ha ha...maybe I'd better stick to sewing!!  By the way, feel free to take a look at my sister's blog and/or her etsy shop.

Happy New Year!

-Kristi-

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