I have been pretty sick the past few days so I haven’t been able to be online much but here is my post for last week.

For this week I decided to make this starburst granny square.

I found the original post on pinterest and convenient enough it was a link to a website. So I clicked on the link and started to follow the instructions. 

I found this website extremely helpful for beginners. The instructions were not only very clear and simple to read but there were also pictures as well which made it easier to follow along. My other favourite part about the instructions was the fact that there were two separate sets of instructions. The first set was the basic word for word instructions which at first I was following. I did get lost on the second round when I had to do a puff stitch so I used that special stitches section to help me out. After that I used the step by step instruction that included pictures and a little more explanation. 

These are the granny squares I made this week using the website. The one with the green looks a little off simply because the size of yarn is slightly larger than all of the other yarn I used. I did see something on Tik Tok however of someone blocking their squares which I think I am going to look into so my squares can be more like squares.

I also really appreciated that they made a separate section for special stitches (like a puff stitch, Partial cluster, and a cluster stitch). Another piece of this website I just loved was the “skip to sections” piece. You could go to any part of the website without having to scroll though trying to find your place. 

This week I decided to learn how to make this solid granny square. You should note those little holes that go from all corners to the center of the granny square. 

I used this Youtube video at first. It went horribly wrong. I am not sure what exactly I did wrong at the beginning but the square did not turn out right at all as you can see below. 

I tried making another square with the same video and it still did not look right at all. It looked fine, but it did not look like how it was supposed to. At least this time it was an actual square though. 

I did try to do this square a third time using just what I could remember and it turned out completely wrong. I am honestly not even sure when I realized that this was going haywire but at some point I noticed it was not actually supposed to look like this. I then just started to do my own thing. I was already using the colour yellow, and what goes with flowers like peanut butter and jam? THE SUN! I somehow did this, I hope no one likes it enough to want to make it because I could not tell you how I did it. I also crocheted a basic granny square the attach to the back of it shown on the top right. The bottom left is how I attached them and the bottom right is the final square.  

However I did learn what a magic circle is which I will be using for my future granny square. A magic circle is basically a slip knot that is adjustable so when you finish a granny square you can pull the tail and it will cinch in the center of the granny square. This leaves a small circle in the middle giving it a more clean look. The images below show this. The image on the left below shows the granny square before being cinched and the one on the right shows it being cinched. 

I ended up using this pinterest post to learn how to do the solid granny square properly. I was completely guessing how to do the pattern because I had no idea what any of those lines and circles meant. I made some educated guesses and it ended up working out pretty decent. 

The video I would rate a 6/10. I can see where it could be helpful for others but it just did not work for me. I did learn a couple abbreviations from this video and of course the magic circle which was helpful but I do not think I will use this video again. 

As for the Pinterest image, I’d rate it an 8/10. At first glance my head was spinning looking at it. But once I took a second to actually look at it and use what I already know about crocheting, it was not so bad. 

For my first week I created a Pinterest board that has some granny square ideas and the vibe I am going for for the final project I have planned. Below are a couple of pins I am using as this weeks inspiration for this week. I also realized I put an extra week on my table last week so I adjusted my plan. 

I started by doing a basic granny square. This was the Pinterest post that I used as my inspiration. Here are a couple of Inspiration posts I used for this week. 

This square was fairly easy to do, probably because I have already tried to do one in the past. Each row is a different colour which was surprisingly easy to do. I also made three of them. 

This is the first square I made. I would say it turned out daily decent but there is definitely room for improvement because I am pretty sure I added an extra stitch on the top left hand corner (which is why it looks bulbus).

This is the second square I made. I made it based on what I remembered from the pattern. This actually helped me a lot because now it feels like a skill that I will never forget, like riding a bike. 

This was the final square I made for this week. I definitely think it turned out the best. At this point I also decided it was in my best interest to keep the tails long until I am ready for assembly. 

I used this Youtube video as my tutorial.

Originally I was using this video below, but I just could not follow along. Quite frankly I hated it, so I changed it to the one above.

The second video I watched worked well for me because I am a visual learner and need to actually see how to do it so I can follow along. My only issue with the video is that it is a little long for me. I like short and sweet tutorials so I did have to put the video on 2x speed so I would not get bored halfway through. Overall, I would recommend this video to someone else who is learning to crochet because it was easy to follow along. 

For my learning project I have decided I wanted to learn how to crochet. I would consider myself a crafty gal so I think this will work well for me. I am a big time sewer and quilter so what is better way to expand my homesteader hobbies than to start crocheting! I have tried to teach myself in the past but never really had the patients for it. In order to get myself comfortable, but also not to overwhelm myself I have come up with the idea to make a steering wheel cover made up of granny squares. this way I can get a feel for different stitches and understanding how to read patterns and instructions.

game plan:

Each week I will make two granny squares, except for week 1. Week 1 I will make 3 granny squares in order to get the feel for doing stitches, tension, and colour use/patterns.

Both granny squares for each week will be the same pattern. I will most likely use different colours to jazz it up and make it more funky, but by using the same pattern I will be able to be more familiar with stiches rather than learning a bunch of different stitches for a bakers dozen of different squares with no clue how to re-create them.

I am trying to be lenient on myself. So instead of picking all of the patterns now, I am going to pick them each week. This way I can continue to find squares I like and I don’t feel pressured to stick to patterns that I no longer find enticing.

I am predicting that I will use mostly Youtube videos as my way of learning, however I do hope to use websites and maybe some patterns as well. I do know that I will be finding all of my granny square inspiration from Pinterest because that is where I get all of my quilting inspiration.

Wish me luck on my journey!