Friday, August 26, 2011

Crochet Along Week 1


Welcome to the FIRST (but hopefully not the last) Crochet Along!!!  
I am so super excited to get started on this!  We are going to start and complete an adult size afghan (approximately 50" by 70", 88 grannies total, 8 squares x 11 squares) in 8-10 weeks.  Hefty goal?  Maybe!  We will take it a week at a time and adjust if we need to!  This will put us completing this early November!  Just in time for things to get crazy for the holidays.  Perhaps this could be one of your handmade gifts!

I’d love for you to invite your friends and family to join along as well!  If you are participating and have a blog feel free to take a button!  You may also want to follow me on facebook!  I will check in with you all throughout the week to see how things are progressing (too slow/too fast, etc).  

I am so happy you are joining me on this.  Please know this is my first time hosting a crochet along and my first granny square afghan.  We may hit a few bumps along the way but I look forward to this being good!  Now, let’s grab a beverage, sit down and get started {you can pretend we are all chatting in cozy chairs at some totally groovy coffee shop, I totally am!}

I prefer to work my grannies in more of an assembly line.  You can choose to do them however you’d like but I’ll be doing mine a one round per week.  You may prefer to do your grannies start to finish, one at a time (you’ll need to complete about 11-12 a week)  {sidenote:  I love working them in groups so I have a handful at some stage or another {truly for no other reason than they look pretty all stacked up!} but being my first time it was confusing to figure a good schedule and keeping the week’s work pretty even throughout.  Maybe the next one we’ll do this way!  Again, if you prefer you could do it this way.}  Bottom line you want your granny to grow a round a week so if you want to do half your group at a time you’ll work 44 grannies and do twice as many rounds per week and start over with your next group of grannies half way through.  Confused yet???   I shouldn’t type my thoughts out loud I confuse myself!  

Back to what I was saying…we will do one round per week.  The first week we are going to work through Round 2 on as many as possible.  Whatever we don’t finish will carry over to week 2 and so on.  This predictable schedule makes it easy enough to catch up if you fall behind on a busy week or go ahead if you have more time one week than another.  We will check in once a week, if you blog I'll post an area here to link up.  If not we can post on Flikr, Facebook or whatever idea you may have.  Let me know your thoughts on this.

Oh and did I mention we are doing the Sunburst Granny??



{pics found via pinterest you can find original credits and links on this blog}

isn't she purdy!

Week 1:
 Download the pattern.  Gather your supplies.  Before getting started I recommend making 1 granny from start to finish.  Check your gauge!  {trust me on this, I have no clue what I was thinking and checked it after about 40 circles...yeah WAY TOO TINY}  The finished granny also serves as a good reference for color changes and such.

You are going to need yarn….lots of yarn!  You may choose to use all stash yarn or go out and buy all coordinating or your colors of choice.  If I have done my math right (and I like to think I have) this project will take just under 3,000 yards…YES INSANE RIGHT!?!?  NOT including the yarn for joining {because I honestly have no clue how much that will take}.  My practice granny took about 35 yards.

Week 1:  make 88 grannies through Round 2

Week 2:  work all through Round 3
Week 3:  work all through Round 4
Week 4:  work all through Round 5
Week 5:  work all through Round 6
Week 6:  work all through Round 7
Week 7:   Round 8 & 9 dependent on size
Weeks 8-9:  finish any squares not complete and join


Now go get busy!!!  You have 88 circles through round 2 to complete!  Please leave any questions or feedback in the comments here and I'll get back with you!

26 comments:

BarefootTams said...

Got my hook ready, and my first colour! :)

CJ said...

Going to get yarn while I'm at the store today! Super excited! Thinking about doing double the work and making 2 HAHA We'll see!

aka Brooke said...

I can't get the pattern link to work... ?

Bekki said...

Very excited to see everyone's work!

SkyeVi said...

i cant get the download to work :/

Amanda said...

Have you thought about setting up a ravelry group for this CAL so we can all share our progress pictures?

I can't wait to get started!!

stephanni :] said...

i really like the 3rd pic but it's only 4 rounds... i may do this & make more of them. i made the full 6 round one & it seems rather big (i don't like the colors i used so this will be one for my potholder project aka wall of potholders). :o) the jury is still out on the # of rounds & also the colors. i can't seem to decide what colors i like. but i'm going to do either grey or black as the last round & joining round. :)

Tanya said...

I am so excited for this! I am sure we're going to have a blast!!

jessica klouda said...

i am trying to plan out how i am going to do my squares, but i cant figure out how the squares will lay. Will it be 8 squares x 11 squares?

Amy said...

I am joining too!!!

Ashlee said...

I'm so excited!!!!! I love the last picture of the grannies with a white border, I think I'll try something like that. So happy looking.

By the way, I'm totally confused, but I'll just trust you and hang in there! =)

Ashlee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jenna_trerice said...

Can't wait to get some more yarn!

Debbie said...

Heidi at Snappy Tots just called me to make sure I saw this!! This will be fun!!!

Debbie said...

I am up for this, love the blanket and can't wait to get started, thanks for doing this...

Lil Tush said...

oh crap, Im a day late... how to I get auto updates? I subscribed to your blog... I got to get finger flickin now... AHHHHH omg, im behind, wow...

Anonymous said...
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Bill & Stacy said...

I'd like to join! I put a post linking to you on my blog! I can't wait!! Thanks!

Amy said...

I put a link on my sidebar and I got going over the weekend. My main color is going to be chocolate brown. I am using up my stash of Caron Simply Soft.

I am so excited about this CAL. We are in the process of moving and this will be beautiful on my bed.

Have a wonderful day.

Jacquelyn Foreman said...

I've been looking for a project to do to donate for an auction for Run for the Cure. This is perfect! Ive never tried grannies before and now I'm hooked! I thought they would be boring but I love this one!!!

Amy said...

I"m game! I"m a new hooker but am pretty good at traditional grannies..why not try this!! :)

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking of jumping in on this one... I'll at least make up the sample and read all about all of you starting it. Hope I can catch up!
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii

Leah said...

How many rounds is everyone planning on working? The full 7????

8 Little Monkeys said...

First time for everything, right? I'm jumping in and I'm excited. Thanks for all your hard work!

Meredith

heather said...

I am late to the party on this one, but am hoping that you do a crochet along again soon!!! Love this pattern!

ShelbyRyan said...

kinda sad I am just now seeing this! It is fun to see all of the progress and color choices though...maybe I will get in on the next one!