Colorful Granny Squares

This book is truly colorful and is full of wonderful granny squares that will inspire you to organize all your partial skeins of yarn to create many, many squares.

There are oodles of free granny square patterns online, so why buy a book of them? One really useful reason is that Leonie Morgan has included information on how much yarn of each color you’ll need to complete enough of any particular square to make an afghan in a variety of sizes. For instance, for a traditional granny square composed of five colors, you’ll need 2 yards of the central color (A), 3 yards of the next color (B), 6 yards of the next one (C), 8 yards of the next color (D), and 9 yards of the edging color (E), resulting in a total of 72 yards of color A, and so forth to make an entire baby afghan. No more running out of yarn when you’re three fourths of the way through the baby afghan the weekend before the shower!

Also, Morgan has included some truly outstanding squares that I have not seen elsewhere. The Bobble Heart on Page 54, shown worked up into a colorful and sweet baby afghan on the next page is a stunner. I’m not much for popcorns and bobbles, but I’ll be making this afghan. Other appealing squares includes a mitered square with a star called Stars and Stripes, the Mitered Flower which reminds me of a sunrise, and the Frilly Circle shown in three presentations are all spectacular. There are also cross stitched squares, ripple squares, 3D squares, and lots of flowers The color play alone makes the book a good read!

Each of the 100 patterns has a clear, color photograph, written instructions, and a chart in addition to the detailed yardage information. Since I’m not a fan of joining squares (although I will do it), there are plenty of these patterns that could simply be worked into larger, one block afghans.

Book Specs:

100 Colorful Granny Squares to Crochet by Leonie Morgan

St Martin’s Griffin Press, 2013

8X8 inch soft cover with 144 pages and hundreds of color photos

ISBN 9781250025128

$21.99 USD

If you love those tiny crochet projects that use hardly any yarn but still look ridiculously cute, this little witch hat is worth adding to your Halloween list.

The Free Purple Witch Hat Keychain Crochet Pattern on CraftBits is worked from the top down in one main piece, so there is very little sewing together at the end. You start with the pointed purple hat, add a black band, work the brim, then finish it off with a tiny gold buckle and that classic crooked witch-hat shape.

It is exactly the sort of project I like for leftover yarn. You only need small amounts of purple, black and gold, which means those odd little yarn balls we all refuse to throw away finally have a purpose.

The finished hat can be attached to a keyring or bag clip, but you could also use it as a Halloween tree ornament, zipper charm, gift topper or even string several together to make a spooky little garland.

I also love how easy it would be to change the colours. Try orange and black, green and purple, or cream and dusty pink for a softer cottage-witch look.

If you are in a Halloween crochet mood, you might also like our roundup of Free Halloween Crochet Patterns You Can Make in a Day or these 15 Spider Web Crochet Patterns for Halloween.

This is a quick, beginner-friendly Halloween crochet project that would be especially cute for party favours, market stalls or little handmade gifts.

Grab the full pattern here: Free Purple Witch Hat Keychain Crochet Pattern – Mini Halloween Bag Charm.

Have you read?