Granny Squares???

My very first blanket was created in just over a month, with nothing but granny squares and prayer. lol Learning how to make a granny square came from a suggestion from my cousin after she saw that I was already making coasters. Making coasters doesn't sound all that tedious, but most people can't crochet in the round within a few days of learning the basic stitches. However, within a week of learning the basic stitches, I moved on to trying my hand at making coasters, which wasn't super difficult. At least I didn't think so.

Granny squares on the other hand proved to be a little more difficult. Granny squares are nothing more than double crochet stitches and then some chains. The reason they're a little difficult is because you have to create a square while also crocheting in the round. Confused, yet?

Crocheting in the round is a lot easier than it sounds. Most patterns will ask you to create a magic circle (which I still haven't figured out how to do. lol), and then you crochet around and through the circle. In most cases, you can chain 3-5 times and then slip stitch into the first chain to create a circle. (I'll do a video later to show how I do it) Now that you've created the circle you start crocheting into and around the circle.

Granny squares aren't much different. I like to create a 4 chain circle, then you double crochet 3 times, chain 3 (the chain creates the corner), then you repeat this 3 more times. To attach the final chain to the first double crochet you're going to slip stitch into the first double crochet. (I'll post a video explaining how to create a granny square at a later date)

I ended up having to crochet almost 200 squares in order to get the amount needed for the size blanket I wanted to make. I was even crocheting them at work on my lunch break. And I had a very helpful janitor tell me that my squares were terrible, entirely too big and none of my stitches were very tight. Needless to say, I got upset and ended up telling her I had been crocheting for less than a month and was completely self-taught. She ended up huffing and walking away. But who does that? Who criticizes someone's work like that without knowing anything about the person?

That criticism ended up spurring me to do better and now all of my stitches are so tight none of the patterns I follow work out for me because I end up having to modify almost everything. Which has pushed me to create my own patterns instead.

Crochet can be as easy or difficult as you make it. Personally, I think it's something that you are constantly learning.