The “Rose” Blanket

A little while ago I posted a photo on Instagram. It was one of me covered by the very first blanket I ever crocheted back in 2010.
After I finished it, this blanket moved to our little cabin on one of the canals in Amsterdam – the place where I so love to be, my – very – happy place!

Having spent a lovely summer’s day there, it got a bit chilly after dinner and I brought my blanket out.
As I was looking down on this colorful afghan (that covered me almost from head to toe) the thought struck me that my crochet friends on IG would probably enjoy my view as well and so on a whim I posted the aforementioned photo.
And how right I was – they did love it as much as I do. In fact, many of them asked for the pattern.

When I came home that night, I started looking for the notes I had used as the basis of my square, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not find them anymore ……
          
Eventually I could not think of any other way than to crack the code of the crocheted square as used in my “rose”-blanket and write this up. It took considerable tries and a lot of frogging, but I think I’ve finally re-created the “rose” granny square of my first blanket ever and I’ve written it down for all of you to enjoy it too.

There’s a Dutch version (pdf-file) of the pattern also, just click here; the English pdf-file can be downloaded here.

Granny Square “Rose”
 — US terms used —

Round 1 (color 1) – make a chain of 4, close with a slip stitch to form a loop.

Round 2 (color 1) – chain 3 (= first double crochet), crochet 7 dc’s. Slst in top chain of your first dc (= the 3-chain).Total of 8 stitches/dc’s – fasten off – change to new color.

Round 3 (color 2) attach yarn with slip stitch in any st of previous round – * chain 3. In same stitch: 3 triple crochets, making sure you leave the last loop of every trc on your hook, thus making 1 cluster of 3 triple crochet stitches. When 4 loops on hook, draw yarn through all 4 loops, chain 3, slip stitch (still in same stitch from previous round): first leaf is done! Now slst in next stitch, repeat from * 7 more times. You should now have 8 leaves – flower is made! Fasten off – change to new color.

Round 4 (color 3) – start with a * slip stitch in top stitch of flower leaf. Chain 4, repeat from * 7 times. Slst in first st from this round.
Round 5 (color 3) – slst in first space from where your hook is now, and then: sc, hdc, dc and a trc. Crochet a trc in the “v” you’ve made in the previous round. Then in the next space: trc, dc, hdc 2 sc’s. First corner made. Repeat 3 times (2sc, hdc, dc, trc – trc in “v”, trc, dc, hdc, 2sc). Slip stitch in first slst.
Round 6 (color 3) – crochet 3 chains (first dc) and continue with 1 dc in every stitch. In the 2nd trc (the one you crocheted in the “v”) you crochet 4 dc’s – this is your corner. Crochet all around – on each side you should have 10 dc’s, and 4 dc’s in the corners – leaving you with a total of 56 stitches. Slip stitch in first dc (the top of the 3 chains you started this round with), fasten off, sew in ends and ….. admire your work: you’ve just finished your first “rose”-granny square!
As for the joining of these squares, I did something unusual back then, simply because I had no clue (yet) of all the different joining techniques that are out there.
After I had laid out all of my squares, I started joining in rows – connecting square A to square B, by crocheting (sc’s) the 10 stitches alongside of each square together.
Trying to bring some sort of logic to the whole process, I decided that the joining color for two sides of each square would be the same color as the one used for the flower of square A. It’s not a “technique” I would easily use again (so very time-consuming, so many extra ends to sew in), but I have to admit that I still like the result.

After all the squares were joined, I just free wheeled a border in simple sc’s and I cannot remember why, but I chose to put a fleece back on the blanket and join the fleece and the crochet part like you would when making a quilt.
For the binding I picked a bright/light blue flowery fabric.

As to the new “rose”-grannies that I have recently been crocheting, I’ve opted for a different kind of joining technique, the flat braid join.
In the corners of each square, you crochet 1 sc, chain 1, 1 sc and along the sides of the granny you crochet 2 chains, skip 2 stitches, 1 sc until you reach the next corner. When you’re ready to join your square with the next one, this is what you want to do (or maybe one of these – fun too).

Blanket facts:
Size: 165 x 165 cm
Number of granny squares: 289
Weight: 4 kg
Yarn: 100% cotton – mainly “Nizza” by Steinbach
With my new “rose” grannies I’m planning on making a baby blanket – slowly getting there …..

Love,
Marianne