Granny Squares - A freebie pattern

Having taught a million and one peeps over the last couple of years on the art of granny squaring I have found that finding a good pattern for the basic granny square suitable for my class has not been easy. Of course there are fabby tutorials out there but many are in either US terminology (not good as we live in ol blighty) or have a million pictures which is great if you are learning online but not great to print out and this poor ol earth is feeling the pain from printing out so much bits of paper. So I gave up and wrote me own version of the pattern, taking parts i liked of one and adding in bits of another plus my own titbits I found useful during class.

Hope you like and understand it, tis the result of the many manyt feedbacks of at least 2 years worth of granny square students!

Enjoy. x

Abbreviations

Sl st – Slip Stitch

Ch – chain

DC – double crochet

Tr - treble

This pattern uses UK terminology.

Ch 4, sl st to first ch to make a ring

Round 1: ch3, 2tr into the centre of ring, (ch2, 3 tr into the centre of ring) x 3, ch 2, join with a sl st to to top of first ch3. Sl st in next 2 tr, sl st in corner space.  *square base is now completed, ch2 spaces form the corners of the square*.

Round 2: ch3, 2 tr in corner space, ch 2, 3 tr in same corner space. Ch 1, ( 3 tr in next corner space, ch2, 3 tr in same corner space, ch1) x 3. Join with a sl st to the top of the ch3 from the start of the round. Sl st in next 2 tr, sl st in corner space.

Round 3: ch 3, 2 tr in corner space, ch 2, 3tr in same corner space. Ch1, 3 tr in side space, (ch1, 3 tr in next corner space, ch 2, 3 tr in same corner space, ch1, 3 tr in side space) x 3. Ch 1, join with a sl st to the top of the ch3 from the start of the round. Sl st in next 2 tr, sl st in corner space

Round 4: ch3, 2 tr in corner space, ch 2, 3 tr in same space. Ch 1, 3 tr in next side space, ch 1, 3 tr in next side space. (ch 1, 3 tr in next corner space, ch 2, 3 tr in same corner space. Ch 1, 3 tr in next side space, ch 1, 3 tr in next side space ) x 3. Ch 1, join with a sl st to top of ch 3 at the start of the round. Sl st in next 2 tr, sl st in corner space. Fasten off.

You can continue in this pattern for larger squares or continuous blanket. Remember that there is a ch 2 for corner spaces, ch 1 for side spaces. There is 3 tr in each cluster.

Vintage Bus Open Day

Vroom vroom, last week we had a fun day out at the First Bus open day, the sun was shining and First Bus put on a good show with vintage buses, planes trains and automobiles and we had the privilege of being asked to showcase our vintage.

Despite supposedly "working" I did take advantage of being there to have a wee lookie about. There was a bright shiny vintage fire engine, complete with men dressed up in shiny gold hats and axes - all props of course. They also had a nimrod plane specially transported in, now im not a plane geek but Mitchell got a bit excited so must be special. The vintage buses were the best l, I loved all the different varieties and the differences between them for different towns. My favourite was the vintage mini double decker, it was the same size as me!! either that or ive grown alot! For £2 you could have a wee zoom around the track and the driver told me how he had customised it from an old mini!! amazing. A tiny bit gutted I didn't get a chance to have a go on the bus wash or the tiny steam train - ah well, next time. here's hoping they do this event again next year although this was the first one in like a gadzillion years. They haven't done one since they refurbished the King street depot a few years ago.

 

 

Me eating my greens and growing to the same height as a double decker!

Although not strictly my target market for vintage with alot of families and children in attendance, I did alright in the end and First had done well drawing in the crowds - some 7000 folks were there so that was great exposure for the business. lets hope they all pay me a visit afterwards!!

no.9 you're mine!!

i just went out and got myself a brand new house!! well not a completely new house but new to me. a lovely 60s build complete with retro panelled doors, retro kitchen with a PANTRY!!! 80s fireplace and of course lovely lovely furry carpets, bad wallpaper and gaudy curtains. A 70s time capsule but  i love it! even the 90s pine panelled feature wall. see what you think ...

 

 

It was not an easy journey, getting on the property ladder is haaaaard, not least we live in Aberdeen, with its oil rich inhabitants bumping up the prices and banks making it more and more difficult. Tactically we started looking in the winter months in the hope that there are less buyers about, which means less competition, what with christmas looming and everyone being a bit skint. So we found our first property in Dyce, an ex-council 2 and half bedroom (i say half as it fitted little more than a sofa bed) with a garage. not bad, ticks all the boxes and probably wont find better with our budget. Put in an offer and it was accepted straightaway, yus. Will be moved by easter we think, but complications with entry dates meant that the seller pulled out :( annoying but we felt confident that something else would come up and come easter time loads more would be out on the market. But hardly any came up in the following months, by april time we were more than getting a little desparate, time on the mortgage in principle was running out and i was getting rather impatient. a few other good contenders came up but no sooner had we viewed, registered our notes of interest than somebody pulled the rug under our feet and we lost out again. One was on and off the market within 4 days, before we even had a chance to look! Another had woodworm in the home report and being thorough we had decided to get a timber report done, on the day the report was due we were told it was gone!! the other buyers didnt even bother to get a timber report, well lets hope its infested with worms!! oh dear but thats not very good sportsmanship, shhh i didnt say it.

When we lost the last one, i was losing hope, the competition was too much, it was looking pretty bleak and I was seriously considering some of our 5th, 6ths and 7th choices. But that weekend it was by chance I found THE ONE. Straightway i knew there was potential so this time i knew we had to be quick off the mark. Viewed it on Sunday and i knew i wanted it and i wanted it bad. The garden was amazing with a greenhouse and garage and sun all day, the kitchen was met with squeals of "OMG a PANTRY!!" and then the crowning glory - the floored loft. Perfect office space tucked away from the living space. No way was I able to keep the advised poker face for this viewing, my excitement was bubbling over. Lucky for me that I expressed such an interest as this was what got us the house in the end, we weren't the best offer on the table by far but our enthusiasm for the property certainly helped. The sellers had been the in house for the past 40 years and they really wanted it to be loved like it was loved by their family and not stripped back and sold on for a profit by a developer so we were so so so lucky. And im so happy to be here and so grateful to the sellers for choosing us. Im sure this will be a much loved home and me and mitchell are going to be so happy here. BBQs and hotpot parties all round!!

work in progess

whoo hoo done!! (except for the cables but thats another day)