Charity Granny Blanket

by Linda

[Charity Granny Blanket - regular squares]

In 2004 at my workplace, crafters started to make crocheted and knitted blankets for our local chapter of Project Linus. This is one of the patterns I came up with.

It's a very, very basic granny square blanket. The nice thing about grannies is that you can use whatever yarns you have on hand, as long as they're similar in weight. You need to reserve enough of one particular colour to join the squares together, then go around the whole thing once or twice, you're all set.

For this particular blanket, a coworker whose creative talents lie elsewhere, noticed a bag of yarn at a yard sale. She asked her Mom if this would be suitable for making a little blanket for a child. Mom said "yes" as it was all acrylic worsted, so she purchased the bag of yarn. The next workday, she handed it over to me, as she knew I was making blankets for this project. Thanks LW!

You'll need:

About 500 - 600 g (18 - 21 oz) machine washable worsted yarn in several colours plus about 50 grams (1 3/4 oz) of a single colour for joining and edging, (yarn is available at joann.com.)
crochet hook of suitable size, I used 4.00 mm (US G/6)
gauge is not crucial
finished size is about 25 x 30 inches (64 by 77 cm) plus edging, each square is about 5 by 5 inches (13 x 13 cm)

Squares

With any colour other than the one you'll use for joining, chain 6, slip st to form ring.
Rnd 1 - (Ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2) in same sp. (3 dc, ch 2) 3 times. Sl st to top of first ch-3 to finish round.
Rnd 2 - (Ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2) in same sp. (Into next sp, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) 3 times. 3 dc, ch 2 in next sp (next to starting ch-3), sl st to top of first ch-3 to finish round.
Rnd 3 - (Ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2) in same corner sp. *3 dc in each sp between corners of square. In corner sp, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc.* Rep from * to * 3 times altogether. 3 dc in each sp between corners of square. (3 dc, ch 2) in next sp (next to starting ch-3), sl st to top of first ch-3 to finish round.
Rnd 4 - Repeat Rnd 3.
Ch 2, hdc in top of each dc across to next corner. (Hdc, ch 2, hdc) into corner. Rep from * to *, ending last corner hdc, ch 1, sl st to top oc first ch-2.
Cut yarn and pull through final loop to finish off.

Assembly

Make 30 squares in assorted colours. Reserve at least 50g (1 3/4 oz) of a single colour for joining the squares together and making the edging (a particularly dark, bright, or light colour works well).

[Charity Granny Blanket - smaller squares]

Arrange the squares in a pattern or randomly on a flat surface. (Ironically, the most difficult part of making this blanket can be trying to make the arrangement of squares look random!)

Once you've decided on your layout of colours, determine a short form for each colour in your blanket. I used hp for hot pink, r for rose, dgr for dark green, m for mint, etc. Grab a piece of paper and pen and write down where each colour square goes, something like this:

hp   dgr   r

m    r     dgr

hp   dgr   m

...and so on. This little chart will come in extremely handy once you start joining them together, especially if you have to put your work away before you're finished!

Join the squares together using your favourite method. I like to join two whole rows (or columns) of squares together, from the wrong side, using single crochet, with one long piece of yarn (fewer ends to work in later). In other words, join all horizontal (or vertical) seams first. The squares won't be joined in the other direction, so it will look like a blanket with a lot of slots in it (between the squares). Then I work all seams in the other direction, from one edge of the blanket to the other, again using one long piece of yarn per seam.

For the edging, I worked a hdc in each st all the way around, working 2 hdc's in every corner. Then I worked a second round of the same. I didn't work a hdc into the ends of the seams. You could add a third round if you like, stick with one round, or use a different st, etc.

This pattern, being based on squares, is very flexible in size. You could also make charity blankets for babies, adults, or shelter animals (such as my local Animal Welfare Assocation).
This size would suit a toddler or preschooler. Project Linus suggests a 40" by 60" size for an older child.
Larger blankets will take more yarn for joining and edging, be sure to allow for this.
To guesstimate yarn amounts, a 100 g (3 oz) ball yields about 6 squares (depending on the yarn, this is what I got with Red Heart).
Work those ends in well, it can be to very dangerous leave yarn ends dangling. Children of any age can get the circulation to their fingers or toes cut off by lengths of yarn being wrapped around them. Never mind the danger of smaller children chewing them off and swallowing them! The same threat exists if you're making a blanket for an animal.
If you've got smaller amounts of yarn left, 4 smaller squares can take the place of one larger square. For a small square, work the first two dc rounds as usual, then a sc edging all the way around (one round only).

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