Granny Square Afghans

Remember these unfinished granny squares I was coerced into adopting at National Make a Blanket Day last February. I have crossed this UFO off my list.

After buying coordinating yarn, I sat down about 4 weeks ago and started weaving in ends. And picking out bits of foreign matter. I couldn't match the brown that was used for the outer 2 rounds, so I ripped out 1½ squares worth of brown. That left me with 3 granny squares that had 2 rounds of green around the gold center and a bunch of gold centers.

I started adding green to the remaining centers. When I had about 20 gold and green squares, I started adding the taupe. I used a join as you go method, so the joining didn't create any additional yarn ends to weave in. I decided to make one afghan that is 5 by 6 squares and a second that is 4 by 5 squares. A friend had given me a few skeins of variegated yarn that I used to edge the afghans.

This is the 5 by 6 square afghan, folded in fourths. There are 3 squares with the green used by the person who created the unfinished squares. In the photo it looks a lot lighter than the yarn I used to finish the squares, but it isn't that noticeable in normal light. The finished afghan is about 35 by 43 inches.

This is the 4 by 5 square afghan, folded in fourths. I didn't have enough gold centers and appropriated some blue from my drawer of leftovers to make 4 more centers. When I ran out of taupe, I used the variegated for rounds 3 and 4 on 4 squares. I did more edging rounds on this afghan to make it a bit bigger. There was just enough of the green to use it for one round of edging. The finished afghan is about 31 by 38½ inches.

To complete the 2 afghans, I used the following:

• 3 skeins Red Heart Soft - color guacamole (15 ounces total)
• 1 skein Caron Pounder - color taupe (16 ounces)
• approximately 1½ skeins Red Heart Super Saver - color 305 Aspen Print (approx. 9 oz. used)

I much prefer working on afghans made in rows. These granny squares were made in 3 colors, which means there were 6 yarn ends to work in on every square. I'm adept at crocheting over the beginning end, but it still takes time. Repetition and organization speeds the process.

Do you want to join some granny squares? Sandra Petit has several methods of joining squares at Crochet Cabana. Join-as-you-go for Granny Squares is similar to the method I used to join these squares. Continuous JAYG by Susan Van Winkle joins finished squares with one continuous set of stitches with only 2 yarn ends to work in.