Granny Squared Into Highlighter Hell Throw free pattern

I found a couple more skeins of the unidentified colorway aka “Highlighter Hell” (what I call it) by Red Heart, so I decided to use it along with some plain white to make an infinite granny square throw for my daughter who loooves these (horrifically) bright colors. 😉

After trying to work this continuous granny square in full rounds of a single color, I discovered that there was not a good way to carry the next color up for the subsequent round without leaving a long loop on the reverse side where I changed colors (see below). I was afraid that the only way to “fix” this would be to add a lightweight flannel backing to cover the reverse side and hide the loops.

I pondered this problem for a while and concluded that the best way to avoid it would be to use a two-color spiral method, so I went searching for a pattern and found The Continuous 2 Color Granny Crochet Tutorial by Fiber Spider on YouTube. Ta-da!! This method is an absolutely brilliant way to work a two-color continuous granny stitch blanket without having to tie off after every single round (and have eleventy-bazillion ends to weave in when you’re done, plus all those ends would equal a lot of wasted inches of yarn), and it eliminates the big-loop-from-carrying-up-the-yarn problem I was having. Like I said: Brilliant!!

Here's a comparison of the obverse view of working the blanket in full rounds of each color (left) vs. the half-rounds used in the Fiber Spider method (right). As you can see, the different methods are undetectable to the eye, but Fiber Spider's method results in a blanket that is fully reversible and looks tidy on both sides:

I just kept working rounds on the throw until I ran out of the Highlighter Hell color. Then I used some highlighter orange yarn from my stash to work a border of one round SC followed by one round RSC or crab stitch. Finished size is about 44 inches square.

Works when they were still in progress ...

Crochet sharing

Today my friend Christine shared some of the beautiful crochet pieces her mother-in-law is working on. So creative and lovely!! I especially love the 3-D sunflower square!

Jazzy Infinite Granny Square Blanket free pattern

Want to make an afghan that works up quickly and easily and looks great? Try this free Granny Square Baby Blanket Pattern by Lauren Brown. The stitch pattern is the same as for a traditional granny square, but instead of finishing off after a few rounds and having to join together a bazillion little squares to form a blanket, this version just keeps adding rounds until you reach the desired finished size. I love it - sooo easy.

I'm completely satisfied with the pattern, but I was rather displeased to discover that Hobby Lobby has altered its spin (literally) on the Jazz Stripe colorway.

I purchased the yarn that I used to begin this blanket more than a year ago, and I only had a small amount of one skein left. (See first photo.)

So I went online and ordered some more skeins of the SAME colorway with the SAME product number, but when I opened up the delivery and started working, it was immediately apparent that this new version of Jazz Stripe was exceedingly more mottled than its predecessor. (See second photo.) And what makes this even worse is that the product photo on Hobby Lobby’s website still shows the OLD version of the yarn. GRRR.

This isn’t a dealbreaker for me, and of course Hobby Lobby has every right to change its colorways. And, YES, the old and new colorways still match overall. I’m just disappointed with the change is all.

X Marks the Spot Granny Square free pattern

I've been wanting to find the granny square patterns that I would need to make an afghan that looks like the one in this photo that I found at Pinterest:

I have no idea who the original creator of the above design is, but I love it, AND I love the monochromatic color scheme.

I figured a good staring place would be to try to locate a pattern for the non-flower squares -- meaning the squares that make up the center of the afghan in the above photo, the ones that look like they have an X going from corner to corner.

And although it's entirely likely that the pattern does exist out there somewhere, I was unable to find it. But working from another photo (see below), I wrote an X Marks the Spot Granny Square pattern that looks similar.

The biggest difference is that the center of the squares in the afghan in the first photo utilize what appears to be a sc/ch sequence around the initial ch ring, which gives the centers a floral look when the next round of "petals" is added. I will try to work that part out in a later revision of my X Marks the Spot Granny Square pattern.

Here is a photo of a finished square made with the version of my X Marks the Spot Granny Square pattern that is found below on this page.

I made it with Lily Sugar & Cream 100 percent cotton worsted weight yarn using an I hook (5.5 mm). Mine came out at 5.75 inches across, although yours may vary depending on your tension, as well as the yarn and hook you choose to use.

Here is a copy of my free pattern.

X Marks the Spot Granny Square pattern

Use whatever yarn weight and hook size that you prefer. As written, in this pattern the ch 2 at the beginning of each round does NOT count as a dc. (If you prefer the initial ch to count as a stitch, ch 3 instead and skip dc at base of ch. At the end of each round, join with a sl to the top of the initial ch 3.)

Special stitches:

* Work corner: (ch 1, 3 dc in next ch 2 space, ch 2, 3 dc in same ch 2 space, ch 1)

Round 1:

Ch 6; join with sl to make a ring. Ch 2. Working stitches into ring, (3 dc, ch 2) 8 times. Join with sl in top of 1st dc. (8 clusters of 3 dc separated by 2 ch in between)

Round 2:

Sl into first ch 2 space (2 sl). Ch 2. Working stitches into ch 2 spaces only, (3 dc in next ch 2 space, * work corner in next ch 2 space) 4 times. Join with sl in top of 1st dc. (4 sides of 1 3-dc cluster each and 4 corners)

Round 3:

Ch 2. Dc at base of ch 2 and in each of next 2 dc. Dc in ch 1 space. (* Work corner, dc in next ch 1 space, dc in next 3 dc, dc in next ch 1 space) 3 times. * Work corner, then dc in next ch 1 space. Join with sl in top of 1st dc. (4 sides of 5 dc each and 4 corners)

Round 4:

Ch 2. Dc at base of ch 2 and in each of next 3 dc. Dc in ch 1 space. . (* Work corner, dc in next ch 1 space, dc in next 5 dc, dc in next ch 1 space) 3 times. * Work corner, then dc in next ch 1 space and dc in next dc. Join with sl in top of 1st dc. (4 sides of 7 dc each and 4 corners)

Round 5:

Ch 2. Dc at base of ch 2 and in each of next 5 dc. Dc in ch 1 space. . (* Work corner, dc in next ch 1 space, dc in next 7 dc, dc in next ch 1 space) 3 times. * Work corner, then dc in next ch 1 space and dc in next 2 dc. Join with sl in top of 1st dc. FO. (4 sides of 9 dc each and 4 corners)