Granny Rose CAL Part 1 & 2 ?

You may remember me posting about Apple Blossom Dreams’ crochet-a-long before, here – that was for the “Rockman Afghan” CAL, but prior to that, I followed along with her Granny Rose CAL and made a pillow. Well, suffice it to say that I am over-the-moon excited about the SECOND Granny Rose CAL! *throws granny rose confetti*

The first post was about gathering supplies, and Astri said she used Stylecraft Special DK. For once I had the same yarn; I had received the Lucy yarn pack for my birthday and was looking for the perfect project to make with it. Here’s a picture of my yarn – aren’t the colors amazing? I’m terrible at choosing colors, so I was glad that Lucy did the color-choosing for me. 😀

I remembered the granny rose pattern from the first CAL, so I set to work. I’m using all of the colors except the dark green in the bottom row – that will be for the leaves. (Fingers crossed I have enough! It’s on back-order at Wool Warehouse and I just have this one skein.) I’m doing the different-colored center, and Astri has some great tips in her blog post here.

I’m doing a few things differently, though:

• I decided to do knotless ch 4, sl st to form a ring, instead of a magic ring. After the afghan unraveling disaster, I figured this would be more secure (especially since I’m kind of terrible at weaving in ends securely!)
• After I made the center and did the chain-loop round with the contrasting color, I crocheted over all 3 ends so I wouldn’t have to weave them in later. (In case you hadn’t gathered, I detest weaving in ends and will go to great lengths to avoid it.) I think it will be sturdy enough since I’m crocheting over them for the entire round.
• I’m also making the centers mostly all in one go, then doing the outer petals. Sometimes I get too excited and make a few complete flowers, though. 😉

If you’ve never done a crochet-a-long before, it’s super fun, and Astri is wonderful – you should totally join in if you can! 🙂 Now I’m off to make some more granny roses… ?