Week 3 preview - Rocket ice lolly granny

Source: http://www.cayman-cards.co.uk/rocket-ice-lolly

Ever had a Rocket ice lolly? It's what summer tastes like if you ask me!

 Even though I should be writing hard (2 interview articles and a feature due) I simply can't concentrate. So I've decided that it would be a better idea to crochet for a bit instead of struggling on fruitlessly ;) I took a peak at the new patterns for Granny Square CAL week 2. I'm glad to see Knot Your Nanas Crochet again found three great new patterns to make: the Sunburst granny square, the 4-Heart granny square and a hexagon flower square Knotyournanas designed herself.  I've started the Sunburst square already and thought I would give you a little preview of my granny half-way done:

I selected 'sunny' colours but while I was making it, they reminded me more of the popular ice lolly pictured above. Oooooh why don't we just skip this wintery spring and jump right into summer! I want sun, I want to wear shorts and slippers, I want to eat ice cream and sit outside on the grass all day, reading a book....

Which gave me the inspiration for the next granny on the list. The 4-heart square can also be made into a 4-icecream granny. Now which flavours do I want?... :p

Yarn I used:

SMC Catania in

neon yellow #0280,

canary  #0208,

orange #0189,

dark coral, #0252

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Don't you love vintage advertisement illustrations? You can buy this vintage Rocket ice lolly ad-poster online as a postcard at Cayman Cards

Week 2: Knot your nanas CAL

In my search for this weeks granny square pattern on Pinterest (fact: I'm a Pinterest-addict) I stumbled upon this lovely blog: Knot your nanas crochet. That very morning crochet designer and blogger Teri Heathcote had posted a blog about a granny square CAL she wanted to start. Coincidence? Something in the air perhaps? True, weekly or daily challenges aren't a seldom thing anymore, rather quite the hype in the spirit of do-it-now-mindfullness and bucketlist-mania. 

Still, I was jumping up and down on he couch with excitement. As a Libra ( even though I don't believe in horoscopes ) I am horribly incapable of making choices (fact!). From the career path I want to take or which health insurance provider I want, to what to wear, eat, watch on tv and yes, which granny square pattern to crochet. But knot-your-nanas-Teri provided a solution at least for this last dilemma! On her blog she posted three different granny square patterns 

with the following promiss to get / keep her readers motivated:

"Now I thought of a way to keep you all motivated as well. Each person who posts a completed square on my Facebook page wall (if you don't have Facebook leave a comment below with your email and a link to the picture) will go in the draw to win a single pattern from my Ravelry Store http://www.ravelry.com/stores/teri-heathcote-designs."

I immideately signed up of course. This will be my first CAL (which stands for Crochet ALong I discovered after some googling) and I'm very excited. The entries from fellow CALlers are pouring in as we speak on the Knot Your Nanas Crochet Facebook page. On Pinterest I've joined the Granny Square CAL board where the most intricate and beautiful patterns for future CAL projects are collected. I can't wait to try them all!

These are the grannies I entered for this weeks CAL:

I used the yarn I bought for making a spring / easter themed mandala (on which I'm hopelessly behind in making but still hope to finish before christmas ;). The colours remind me of a wild flower meadow so I named my grannies thus and I'm very proud of them!

Yarn I used:

 (respectivly left to right, outer to inner rows)

  SMC Catania in 

 white #0106,

  Katia Capri in emerald #82130,

 apple green #0205,

 neon yellow #0280 // 

white, 

jewel (purple) #0282, 

magenta #0251, 

light pink #0246 //

 all of the previous colours

Hook size: 

2,5 mm 

(>>>Crochet hook sizes conversion chart on Cotton & Cloud)

Week 1: Springtime

Fact 1: I need this winter to end
Fact 2: I love to see snowdrops and crocuses pop up out of the frosty ground. Spring IS coming!

Idea: a spring-themed granny square

Pattern: the Flower Garden granny square from Harujion Design

Why? It's a basic granny square pattern, so an easy start for this project, with a little extra to make it interesting. A simple flower and soft colours for the theme.

I used Schachenmayr SMC Catania in white (0106), canary (0208), apple green (0205) and pool (0165) with hook size 3,5 mm (US E/4, UK 9, Japanese 6/0)

Crochet challenge

Fact 1: I love crochet!
Fact 2: I love writing!

Idea: writing about crochet, why didn't I think of that before!

Plan: a weekly blog about my crochet challenge, which is to crochet a granny square pattern every week for a year

Why? Like I said, I love crochet and I love writing!

I proudly present the One Granny A Week-challenge, feel free to join in!

<3 x Laetitia

One of my first grannies from when I just started to learn crochet