Modern Grannies Afghan

Now that we've moved (again) to a place that actually has winter, blankets have suddenly become way more valuable at our house. The other day I was looking for a blanket, when I realized that my kids had already swiped all of the cozy crocheted blankets in the house. So it was time to make one more! 

It's no secret that I get bored with repetitive blankets, which is why I usually stick to small baby blankets. But I am definitely too big for a baby blanket, so I needed something much larger that would still keep my attention. When I came across A Modern Guide to Granny Squares by Celine Semaan and Leonie Morgan, I knew it would be perfect for this project. 

This book is really fun because it has 40 different square designs. Some are very simple, some are pretty complicated. But they're all fun, colorful designs. And that makes my yarn-loving heart oh so happy. Ergo, I decided to make a blanket by combining one of each square from the book! 

While it would have looked really nice, I knew that I would have lost patience with making the same square 40 times, so making each square unique was way more fun for me. It really enjoyed trying out so many different designs; some of them are extremely clever, so major kudos to Celine and Leonie for this brilliant book! (And no, they're not sponsoring me in any way, I just came across the book and loved it.) 

The biggest hurdle to this project was making all of the different squares work together. I decided to pick a color palette and stick to it. I went with a rainbow theme and used I Love This Yarn! in Red, Mango, Desert Glaze, Lemon Ice, Buttercup, Sungold, Yellow, Keylime, Peacock, Purple, White, and Black. I used less than 1 skein of each color except for the white, which used 2 skeins (and I barely used black, so I had a ton leftover). I had to adjust the colors from the ones used in the original pattern to make some of the squares work, but I think they still look great. I also prioritized making squares where the color mattered more (like the rainbow or the watermelon) first, so that I could then make the squares where the individual colors were more flexible with whatever color yarn I had more of. That way I wouldn't run out of any color I needed before I finished.  

Another tricky aspect of working with so many designs was getting them all the same size. The book patterns used a thinner yarn and a smaller hook, but theoretically all were the same size. So I tried to match their gauge by using the same weight yarn for every color and sizing up my hooks by an equivalent amount. I used an I, J, and K hook, corresponding to the smallest, medium, and largest hooks used in the book. This worked out pretty well and almost every square ended up being the same size (or very close to the same size). Two of the squares ended up being too big, so I adjusted the pattern to remove a row, and a few were too small, so I added extra rows. But the end result was 40 squares that are approximately the same size. Win! 

I should confess that one of my squares isn't one from the book; there was one square that I just really didn't like, so I swapped it out for a square that I made up as I went. If you're wondering, I  substituted a single granny square heart in the middle of red and purple granny stripes (it should be right above this block of text if the internet gods are pleased with me today) for the one I didn't want to make. That way I still ended up with 40 squares. And this isn't to naysay the book at all; I thought that 39 of the 40 designs were worth making, and I'm pretty picky. I'm sure someone else would love the square I didn't. But life's too short to crochet things that make you unhappy, right? 

One warning if you decide to attempt something similar someday: this project involves a lot of ends. I think it was worth it, but I did also cheat and crochet over my ends as much as possible. Just FYI, if you're someone who fears yarn ends. 

As you can see from these pictures of individual squares, some of the shapes ended up a little more wonky than square. The pictures from the book are pretty much perfect, so maybe that's just me, but I think blocking is worthwhile here. It also helps to compensate for slight size differences in the squares. And the good news is that once they're all attached together, the squares look nice and even. 

Once I had all my squares made and blocked, I arranged them all in in a 5 square by 8 square grid. Then I fiddled it for way too long to arrange them the way I liked before joining them together. I joined them by crocheting the flat slip stitch granny join with white yarn. Here's a handy tutorial by Craft Passion that does a great job explaining it, if you're not familiar with this joining method. Not every square had a border with the same number of stitches, so I had fudge it a little by adding extra stitches to some and skipping stitches on others, but as long as each join looks neat and not warped or ruffled, I call it a success. 

Then once all the squares were joined together, I added a simple single crochet border around the entire outside edge of the blanket. I used three rows of single crochet, with a [sc, ch 1, sc] in each corner space. 

And then it was done! Voila! I give you a bright, cheerful, cozy crocheted blanket. It might be too busy for some, but I love the jumble of colors and patterns. It's like a rectangle of sunshine, which is perfect for winter. Now to keep my kids from stealing it... 

I hope that you enjoyed reading about this fun blanket project! Thank you to Celine and Leonie for the awesome book! If you run across A Modern Guide to Granny Squares, I highly recommend checking it out. It's a lovely book with some really fun ideas in it. And if you have any comments or questions about this project, you can reach me in the comments section below, by email, or on social media. Happy hooking!

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***You're welcome to do whatever you'd like to with finished products made from this pattern but if you do sell them, I ask that you link back to my page. You may not copy this pattern, repost it anywhere (either altered or in its original form), or claim it as your own. You may not use any photos on this site for your own use. ***