Dada's Place

Crochet wonderland

Classic Granny Square Bag

by Filed Under: Crochet bags 23 Comments

In my previous post (Ode to the Classic granny square), I admitted that I had fallen in love with Classic granny square, and here is the evidence. Once I started making those beautiful granny squares, I couldn’t stop… so, I made this tote bag, and I’m very pleased with how happy and colorful it looks!

For this crochet tote bag, I used 100% cotton yarn “Cotton Classic” 120m/50g from St. George (manufacturer from Serbia) and 4 mm crochet hook. The yarn is very soft and easy to work with. I like it, and will probably use it in my future crochet projects – adventures. I like to call them adventures because they always are. I never know where they will bring me, and how many twists and turns we will experience. The process goes always like this: I’ve got an idea, very clear in my head, start to work on it, but then, something happens and like with a teenager, however strong your will is, he always win (at list in my case), so the idea took the lead and you just have to listen. But in the end, I’m always surprised how much better than expected it turned out. Yes, you just have to listen. Listen to the ideas, to the creativity, to the Universe! Yes, I know, this sounds a little “woo-woo”, but I actually love those things. Like spirituality, the “Power of now”, the Law of attraction, and of course Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big magic”. If you’ve now decided to stop reading this post, please don’t, I’m back to crochet…

As you can see, I made 18 granny squares in total (9 for each side) and joined them together with single crochet. With Classic granny square, you have so many options. You can join them as you go, you can join them with slip stitch, or sew them together. I decided on joining them together with single crochet because I love that convex edge between the squares, I always like to add some texture in my crochet.

I love simple crochet projects and this bag certainly is very simple and easy to make. It would be even easier to make without lining. To be honest, the bag would look very neat even without it, but a yellow-white plaid linen is always welcome. At list in my opinion.

As you’ve probably noticed already I love, love, love to play with colors, so I decided to make the sides of the bag in different colors. One in happy, radiant, hot, warm colors (where pink is the queen), and one in cooler, more peaceful colors (where blue is the king). So, depending on your mood, you can decide which side you want to show to the world. Also, people may think: “How many beautiful crochet bags does this lucky lady have?”

Because I wanted this bag to look glamorously I made the straps out of the smallest granny squares (only 2 rows), joined them together using Join-as-you-go method, and then on each side added a row of single crochet. To make it even more interesting I made a picot stitch between squares and in the center of each square.

So, if you like crochet bags, click here to see my previous crochet bags and pouches. Maybe you get an idea, which may lead you into some exciting and unpredictable adventure…

And please let me know in the comments if you have also experienced the strong will of your own ideas.

His Majesty – Classic Granny Square Blanket

by Filed Under: Crochet blankets 5 Comments

Here I am holding my Classic Granny Square Blanket. But, just a few months ago I couldn’t imagine that I would ever crochet anything using Classic Granny Squares. I thought they are ordinary, plain and boring. But. I was so wrong!

In my opinion, Classic Granny Square is the king of granny squares! Or, queen. Yes. That’s sounds better! The queen of granny squares! Because: They’re so easy to make (that’s a big plus for me). They’re beautiful. Simple. Uncomplicated.

And with simple, uncomplicated things you can do so much. You can make them in any size. You can make them small. You can make them big, even gigantic. And anything in between. You can make them in one color, two colors, three, four, five colors… ten colors…. The possibilities are endless, and that’s I like the most. The possibilities.

They’re like legos! You can build (crochet) anything with them. You can make them in so many different ways, and adapt to so many projects. Honestly, there is nothing that you can’t crochet using Classic Granny Squares. Now, I love them, honor them and write with a capital letter, just as they deserve.

Now, let’s say a word about this blanket. I made 36 squares (each square has 7 rounds) and joined them together with single crochet. The blanket measures approximately 80 x 80 cm (31.5” x 31.5”), and weights 550g. I used 100% cotton yarn “Tango” from St. George 125m/50g, and 3.5 mm crochet hook. The border is very simple, almost nonexistent, because I wanted to emphasize the beauty of the Classic Granny Squares, and didn’t want the edge to draw attention from them.

What about you? Do you love Classic Granny Squares? Have you noticed their beauty yet? If you haven’t maybe it’s time to give them a chance and try them out. There is a big chance that you will fall in love with them. Just like I did.

Crochet Daisy Cushion

by Filed Under: Crochet pillows 16 Comments

It happened to me so many times! And I still didn’t learn my lesson! It always goes like this: I come up with design for a granny square, look up at my existing yarn stash, pick some beautiful colors that match with each other, start on the project, and only when I ran out of some of the colors, I go to my yarn shop just to find out that that particular color wasn’t available anymore. Hm… What am I supposed to do now!? I ask myself every time when something like this happened, and I can tell you, it happens a lot!

That was the scenario for this daisy cushion. It was supposed to be a Daisy blanket, but when I made these 16 granny squares, I ran out of this beautiful green yarn, and was pretty disappointed when I found out that I couldn’t find that color anywhere, anymore.

So, I was forced to make the plan B. This was to make the cushion with these squares I’d already made, and to choose completely different colors for the blanket. And this time, I went to the yarn shop first, to see which colors I can count on…

I must admit that everything turned out very well at the end. I made this cushion, and I’m working on my colorful and happy blanket, which I absolutely adore so far!

I didn’t want to crochet the back side of the cushion; I wanted the simplest and easiest solution for its back, so I just sew on this colorful fabric (from Ikea) to my cushion. It took me maybe an hour to do that. Simple, quick and easy! And if I may say, cute! At least I like it!

I plan to make tutorial for these Daisy granny squares (it will be a part of my Daisy Granny Square Blanket pattern), so if you like it, stay tuned!

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Update: The Daisy Blanket pattern is now available in Dada’s place shop, (payment options: Credit cards & PayPal).

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You can also buy it in my Ravelry shop, and in my Etsy shop. (payment option: PayPal)

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