Posted on 21 Comments

Granny’s Squares

Granny's squares

My aunt and my mother have been going through my grandmother’s things in the last few months, and now and then they pass along something that might interest me.  Last time I visited home, I was the lucky recipient of all this.  There are benefits to being the only remaining knitter in the family!

The yarn, I suspect, is mostly acrylic.  Not my favorite choice, but it has its place.  Eco tawashi, perhaps?

More interesting to me than the yarn are the half-finished projects.  There are what looks like the parts to two baby sweaters in various states of completion, and several piles of granny squares.

Granny's squares

Granny squares, you say?  Oh, so very cool.  Granny squares made by Granny.  How perfect is that?

Granny's squares

My mother has suggested that I use my “artistic eye” and arrange them into something nice.  I’m not entirely sure who would get to keep this finished piece, and I have to admit to being a little less than enthusiastic about the task of sewing all of those squares together if I have to then relinquish it all…

I totally need to learn to crochet now.

365 day 183 - Granny's squares

I could add another row to the smaller squares so that they’re the same size as the big ones, and then I could make a few new squares, too (with all of that acrylic yarn).  Maybe then there’d be enough squares to make six smaller pieces – one for each of Granny’s daughters, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters.

But what kind of smaller pieces?  Anybody know of a cool project you can do with a handful of granny squares?

Linda, if you’re reading this, I think it’s finally time for me to buy that book of yours!

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Posted on 21 Comments

21 thoughts on “Granny’s Squares

  1. so cool!! You can make pillows for everyone that are backed with fabric. Also, a crochet slip stitch is very easy and you could use that to attach the squares together.

    1. I like the pillow idea. And I spent a little bit of time on youtube last night watching people crochet – I think I can do this with a little practice!

  2. What about knit bags with the granny squares attached to the front of them? There would be enough to make to give to each of the 5 women your granny loved. Every time you carried your bag you would be reminded of her and carry her memories with you. : )

    1. Bags have potential. Thanks for the idea!

  3. I still have a quilt by my grandmother that at this point is close to 50 years old. It is so cool to have these things that make physical connections with our past. Enjoy.

    1. Agreed. I treasure the few things I have from any of my grandparents!

  4. Haekelbeutel bags! Sixteen squares each, easy as pie, and very fun to see them come together. I made two for holiday gifts last year. You know I’m not a pattern person, but this one I do enjoy. Honestly, you could make several bags from what’s there in an afternoon. (Maybe a little more time to line them. And you could make fun buttons to fasten them!)

    You can get the pattern for free here (as a PDF):
    http://grannyalong.blogspot.com/2008/02/haekelbeutel.html
    or on Ravelry:
    http://www.ravelry.com/groups/haekelbeutel-cal
    also search “haekelbeutel” on Flickr for some amazing examples.
    These are the ones I made:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/11418107@N02/5249991544/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/11418107@N02/5249990438/

    1. Oh, wow, those are so much better-looking than I imagined they’d be, LOL! I love your pink & green one, in particular.

  5. I am reading it! You could learn to crochet and do “join as you go” grannies, wherein you join the grannies on the last round, as you crochet it.

    You could make a throw pillow for each family member, then save the blanket for yourself. You can even use fabric for the back and just do grannies on the front, if you want to save more squares for you. Which I think would be okay, since you are doing the work. Scarves would also be a quick way to distribute the squares.

    Yay granny!

    1. I am seriously considering pillows. And the scarf idea sounds like fun! I’m not sure the yarn they were made of would be soft enough against the skin for that, though. I may have to just make my own out of something nicer…

      Last night, within moments of pressing the Post button, I ordered your book, and settled in for a few lessons with YouTube. Can’t wait to get started now!

  6. Sounds like you may have to learn to crochet. After you finish with these, perhaps you can do something with the squares my Grandma gave to me. She always wanted to teach me to crochet. Wherever she was, she was always working on granny squares which usually became an afghan. BTW, she died 47 years ago today. I still miss her. Mom

    1. Definitely going to learn (just ordered the book I wanted). I didn’t know you had more squares… you’ll have to show them to me next time I see you. If all of these comments are to be believed, joining them may not be as tedious an experience as I thought it would be. And it would be nice not to let the squares languish away in a box anymore. Let’s do something nice with them, so you can look at them every day 🙂

  7. Sounds like you have some great ideas for the granny squares. I’ll give you an idea for the partially knit sweaters. I received two sleeves and one front of a cardigan started years ago by my “Cousin Mary” after she passed away at 90. I reknitted it into a Pinwheel Blanket changing the colors at random. I gifted it to my sister. It’s a great way to remember our much loved cousin.

    Here is the link to my Ravelry project:
    http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Francieos/round-or-pinwheel-baby-blanket-2

    Francie

    1. That’s an interesting idea! I wish the colors of my grandmother’s in-progress sweaters weren’t so, uh, hard on the eyes 😉 Your pinwheel is beautiful!

  8. […] the time being.  After all, my main motivation for taking this class was to be able to finish off Granny’s squares.  I was more interested in motifs than in making a solid […]

  9. […]  So, I’ve got all these squares that my grandmother made, and I’m turning them into finished objects for several of us… you can get the back story here. […]

  10. […] is how I make them. If my efforts of reverse-engineering her collection are any indication, this is also how my grandmother made them.  (If you need to see it […]

  11. […] this for at least three years, but I never got around to it until now.  I guess the acquisition of Granny’s squares just pushed me over the proverbial […]

  12. […] spree appears to be “squares.” There are charm squares in the quilt top, and my grandmother’s granny squares in the pillows and nearly-finished table runner. Squares and vibrant colors. […]

  13. […] been a polymer clay artist since 1996, but I only learned to crochet about a year ago, when I inherited a big pile of my grandmother's granny squares. Since then, I've become thoroughly "hooked" on crochet. It seemed a natural progression to merge […]

  14. […] rooms of her house, along with more in-progress granny squares (although not in any quantity like the first amazing batch). There are knitting needles and crochet hooks like you would not believe. Spools of thread, […]

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