Christmas Granny Square Afghan

Today I'm sharing with you a crochet project that was actually quite simple to make. I've made several of these granny square afghans in the past, and if you're at all uncertain about crocheting a large project, such as an afghan, I would encourage you to go this route.

This particular project was a gift for Harris Sister Deanna, so I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it needed to be a Christmas colored afghan, since that is her favorite holiday. It is traditional red, white, and green in color, but you can use the same process to make a granny square afghan in any color you choose.

The reason the project was so simple is that I spread it out over the course of an entire year and completed it as part of a crochet-along, otherwise recognized in the craft community by the acronym CAL. Here are some photos of all of the squares "in progress":

If you choose to make a granny square afghan through a crochet-along, you're really only committing to one or two 12-inch squares per month plus additional assembly in the final month. And here's the finished product:

This afghan is made up of 25 different 12-inch squares that are edged and joined in cream colored yarn.

For this project, all the squares ended on a different pattern. So, I made them all the same by either single crocheting or double crocheting around the edges to make the squares all the same size. Then I used the joining method described on Carina's Craftblog. But instead of making clusters of three, I just did one DC, skip one, one DC, repeat.

Once all the squares were joined, I edged the whole afghan in another couple of rows of double crochet in the cream color. And then I finished in a row of red picot stitches. You can find a tutorial for the picot stitches at For My Girl Nina.

The finished afghan is 5 1/2 feet x 5 1/2 feet square, but afghan joining and finishing techniques are your choice and will affect the final size of your finished piece!

(Note: By making exactly 2 squares per month, you will end up with 24 squares that can be arranged in a 4 x 6 grid to make a rectangular afghan. I completed one additional square so that I would have 25 to make a square afghan.)

I used Caron One Pound in Cream, Red Heart in Cherry, and Red Heart in Tea Leaf to provide the Christmas color scheme you see here.

The specific 12-inch granny square free crochet patterns that I used are linked below at original sources (where provided) and also to my personal squares on Ravelry so that you can see my color changes in Christmas colors for these squares and/or favorite and download the free crochet patterns from Ravelry:

1. Mulberry Bush (add to your Ravelry queue here)
2. Winter Burst (add to your Ravelry queue here)
3. Popcorn Delight (add to your Ravelry queue here)
4. Double Framed Lace (add to your Ravelry queue here) 
5. Pavo (add to your Ravelry queue here)
6. Majesty (add to your Ravelry queue here)
7. Crown Jewels (add to your Ravelry queue here)
8. Le Vesinet (add to your Ravelry queue here)
9. Grannie's Red Flower (add to your Ravelry queue here)*
10. Shell Around Square (add to your Ravelry queue here)
11. More Vs Please (add to your Ravelry queue here)
12. Impossible Hexagon (add to your Ravelry queue here)
13. Chocolate Delight (add to your Ravelry queue here)
14. Velvet and Lace (add to your Ravelry queue here)*
15. Big June (add to your Ravelry queue here)
16. Eternal Braid (add to your Ravelry queue here)
17. On the Huh (add to your Ravelry queue here)
18. Wandith (add to your Ravelry queue here)
19. Tiptoe Through the Tulips (add to your Ravelry queue here)
20. Half-n-Half (add to your Ravelry queue here)
21. Easter Day (add to your Ravelry queue here)
22. Violet (add to your Ravelry queue here)
23. Sun Daze (add to your Ravelry queue here)
24. Cute as a Button (add to your Ravelry queue here)
25. E-ZEE V-ZEE (add to your Ravelry queue here)

Notes:

Grannie's Red Flower Square is a 7-inch square pattern. I modified the original pattern to make it a 12-inch square pattern by adding three rows of dc chain one and one row of dc.

Velvet and Lace Square is a 7-inch square pattern. I modified the original pattern to make it a 12-inch square pattern by using a size H hook and a worsted weight yarn. I also an extra row or two to get it to the desired 12-inch size.

You'll need somewhere to keep all of the squares laying flat from month to month until you're ready to assemble them. I've heard people mention that new pizza boxes are good options, but they're very skinny boxes and you can only fit a few squares per box. I've found that a better option is Victoria's Secret large gift boxes. They are 15" x 15" x 5" and because they are 5" deep, they hold quite a few squares at one time. I always have a few of these stacked up holding a few squares for different projects. :-)

So there you have it! If you ever thought that an afghan was too big of a project for you to tackle, you're just looking at it all wrong. After all, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. ;-)

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