The Classic Granny Square

This past week I have been a crocheting fiend.

I find that I go through weekly trends.  Each week I work on a project, and skills to master within that project, all week long.  The particular trend of the week bleeds into pretty much any and all down time that I have to research and scour my books, Pinterest, Ravelry, Instagram, YouTube, and Blogs to find tips and tricks to better understand the project and skills I am working on that week as well as how do them easier, faster, and neater.

I am teaching myself these trades all by myself with the help of my personal book/magazine collection and the internet.  So I really invest a lot of personal time into these skills to hopefully make what I love doing something I can do as a trade that is profitable for me no matter where life may lead me and my family.  Well, I am also doing it of course because I have always wished I knew how to sew and crochet and knit and quilt and embroider.  I had a crafty mother and grandmother.  But, unfortunately because of things, I am teaching myself.

So.  This past week was a crochet week.  I did a few projects and new stitches, but my main focus ended up being the Classic Granny Square.

I love the Classic Granny Square.  I think it is so kitschy and cute and homey and nostalgic.  As part of my Christmas present I was allotted an allowance of "getwhateveryourheartdesires" money.  With it, I bought some new rotary cutters and a few other things, but specifically, I bought The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert.

I like this book.  It has over 75 different Granny Squares with directions, diagrams and pictures of each Granny Square as well as a section with projects to apply towards the reinvention of the Classic Granny Square.  I really enjoy it.  It isn't overwhelming and offers different tips and tricks.

Attempt 1.

Attempt 2. 

Attempt 3.

But when I was trying to learn the Classic Granny Square, Margaret Hubert's tutorial just wasn't clicking with me.  Sure, I was accomplishing the Classic Granny Square, but it came out so messy.  I knew I was missing something to this Granny Square puzzle.  So, this past Thursday night I began to scour the internet again for tips and tricks.  I was understanding the fundamentals.  But for me, attaching the square together and finishing off the ends was a disaster.  I found some really great ways to connect in the round/square and how to bind off invisibly.  I also ended up mastering the magic circle too, which has helped immensely.  So I have decided as I master these new skills, I will share tutorials of my own with lessons of what I found to be the best ways to explain the basics of this Classic Granny Square easier.  Unbeknownst to me, this simple square has unlocked a whole world of tips and tricks to make crocheting in its entirety easier and more explained.

I am sure there are others out there like me, who just think a little bit differently than most, and because of it sometimes just are fed up with watching video tutorials that just aren't clicking either.  For me, personally, reading step-by-step tutorials is what I found to be the best learning tool for this particular subject - the Classic Granny Square.  This, as I said before, is, what has finally made some other basics a lot easier for me too.  My tutorials are really going to include everything and be completely unassuming.

Also, I will hopefully provide some great tutorials for anyone looking for one in American terms and not UK terms.  I found that a lot of tutorials and patterns I would finally find to be what I needed were in UK terms, not American.  So this is something else I would like to achieve in my tutorials as I master more and more crochet projects.

Cheers!