Jo Avery – the Blog

Granny Circle Blanket with pattern

I really hope you all like looking at photos of crocheted blankets because there is a LOT of them in this post!

Here it is finished, the beautiful, gorgeous, totally delicious, Psychedelic Granny Square Blanket I started back in January!

And I am completely in love with it! So much so that I dragged it all over Shangri La Farm photographing it every which way, like it was a woolly Super Model (which it is!).

Here’s some earlier shots of the squares before I started joining them. I made 100 squares!  Well actually I didn’t make them all myself…

 …a few weeks back I still had 35 to make and then my sister came to stay. It was Jane that originally taught me to crochet, and sew, and patchwork, and everything really (she’s so much older and wiser than me!), and she couldn’t help joining in the hooky fun and making a big pile of these little beauties while we sat around chatting.

By the time she left I had all 100 finished and plenty of time to join them – thanks Jane!!

But why the big hurry? Well I was making this for a very good friend’s special birthday which was a few days ago. So I have already had to say goodbye *sob*, but it’s ok as I know Donna will treasure it for me, and I can always make myself one too.

I used a mixture of Rooster Almerino DK and Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK. Both of which we are now selling in our new craft department in our Edinburgh shop. Now isn’t that handy for me?

And more big news, we have finally got some craft product on our website! You can now buy The gorgeous Rooster Almerino DK direct from Avery Homestore!! Soon to be followed by the Sublime, amongst other wool brands, and, eventually FABRIC!

Yes, I have spent the last few months building up a really tasty selection of fabric from all my favourite designers which is now available for perusal to all my local peeps. And very soon we should have most of it on our website. If you want to get ahead of the game you can sign up for our newsletter and get the latest news and offers as soon as we are ready to go!

Meanwhile, back to the star of the show.
As I said in this original post, I saw this square on Attic 24’s blog back in January and was immediately smitten. Having originally seen it in an old book, Lucy had worked out how to make it herself a few years back, but had never got round to actually publishing a pattern. A friend of her’s had worked it out too and made a beautiful blanket that reminded Lucy of this square and brought about the post that I saw back in January. So I took a leaf out of both their book’s and worked out how to make it from the photos on her blog.

It is dead simple, and any keen crocheters could easily work it out by looking at the photos. But just to make it easier for you, here’s how I did it:

Granny Circle Square

(Like a Granny Square, you are crocheting in to chain spaces, not stitches)
Chain 5, s/s to form a ring
Round 1
3 chains, *1 tr, 1ch*. Repeat ** 11 times (12 trebles). Fasten off.
Round 2
Join new colour in chain space. 3 ch, *2 tr , 1ch*. Repeat ** 11 times. Fasten off.
Round 3
Join new colour in chain space. 3 ch,  *3 tr, 1ch*. Repeat ** 11 times. Fasten off.
Round 4
Join new colour in chain space. 3ch, *4tr, 1 ch*. Repeat ** 11 times. Fasten off
Round 5
Join new colour in chain space. 3ch, *4tr, 1 ch, 4 tr, 1 ch, (4 dtr, 3 ch, 4 dtr) in next ch space, 1 ch*. Repeat ** 3 times. Fasten off.
Round 6
Join new colour in a chain space. 3 ch, 1 tr into each tr of previous round, 2 tr in each chain space. Continue until corner. 2 tr, 3 ch, 2 tr in corner chain space. Continue around remaining sides of square until back to first 3ch of this round, s/s into 3rd chain, fasten off.

I hope that all made sense!
I joined the squares using this excellent tutorial on Attic 24. It really is the best crochet blog in the world! Thanks so much for all the inspiration Lucy!
After all the squares were joined I went round the whole thing with a row of double crochet and then added a scalloped edge – 5 trebles in one stitch, miss a stitch, slip stitch in the next, miss a stitch, repeat.

One last look at my (now Donna’s) darling! Never mind I still have my African Flower Blanket and that’s all mine!
NB I have now put together an inspiration pack of some of the wools I used to make this blanket which you can buy at our website here

32 comments

  1. Oh congratulations Jo! I have so loved watching this come to fruition and boy was it a great journey! The white sashing is just so spot on it makes me say Yay! out loud. Delicate, punchy, gorgeous. It almost makes me want to battle with the hook once again

    … but for the time being I'll just set one of your pics as my desktop, if you don't mind!?

  2. Oh my goodness, that blanket is amazing. The crochet squares have so many colours in them, I just want to keep looking at each individual one. Really must have a going at making these, thanks so much for posting the pattern. I am certain your friend will be over the moon with her new blanket. xx

  3. A really beautiful blanket Jo, and a gorgeous gift for a friend. Very inspiring as I've just been thinking I need to make another crochet rug to snuggle under. Thanks for the tutorial too!

  4. Your blanket is unbelievably beautiful, it's mesmerising the way the circles all sing and dance and look like spinning wheels. I absolutely LOVE it.
    I'm so happy you wrote up the pattern too, I've long forgotten how I actually did my own square all that time ago!
    Wonderful……..another fabulously beautiful link in the Circle of Inspiration xxxxxxx

  5. That blanket is absolutely stunning. Congratulations.

    BTW, I have finally caught up with all your posts since 1 March! it is great to finally have an internet connection with a 21st century speed!

  6. you gave it away???! How could you??! It's stunning Jo and something on my list of makes to have in the pile with my quilts. Yours is just beautiful, jo and hope you get round to making for yourself one day v soon x

  7. It is fabulous. I made one with slightly larger squares, with black surrounds, in the 1970s and it was SO heavy!I much prefer the white here!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.