I don’t think I ever looked at the name of the pattern before typing it into the headline right now. Are we saying that Grandma’s off her rocker? Fortunately for Granny, the title has nothing to do with her and everything to do with … you guessed it … granny squares!

Early in the spring, I decided to order four crochet kits from Herrschners as a gift to myself for my birthday. I have completed 1.5 of them. This one spoke to me because of the colors involved. Plus, I loved the idea of putting granny squares together on a diagonal to utilize this classic pattern in a new way.

The yarn for this kit was Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Strips in Rainbow and Rainbow Mist. (This was the yarn I used up on a smaller blanket and discovered the importance of dye lots. Read more about it here.) These colors spoke to me in the best way. I’m totally an autumn.

The instructions for Granny Goes Random can be found for free on the Yarnspirations website making it the perfect pattern for any yarn. The instructions include tips on how to make sure the colors appear random. I found this very helpful.

After completed, the squares were crochet together using a simple single crochet join. It is perfection.

One of the cons to this type of blanket is there are a ton of ends to weave in. I was smart this time and forced myself to weave them in before joining the squares together. This blanket measured about 45″ x 60″—right on track with the pattern measurements.

But that’s not where this story ends.

I loved this pattern so much, I wanted to give it a try as a baby blanket.

I cut the pattern down to eight full squares, six half squares and four quarter squares. I followed the pattern as written but did twelve rounds on each square instead of nine. This meant that even though I used smaller yarn and a smaller hook, the squares came out about the same size. The overall blanket measures around 30″x44″ and is a great size for a baby blanket, though I felt the proportions were more bath towel than blanket.

Originally, I was going to try to use the Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Stripes in different colors, but I couldn’t find two that went together as well as Rainbow and Rainbow Mist. Instead, I searched for affordable yarn in the colors I wanted. I’m not sure I’ve ever used this yarn before, but I chose Lion Brand Baby Soft in Circus and Parfait. I didn’t keep great track of how much I used, but I think it was 2-3 skeins of Circus and 2 skeins of Parfait. This yarn is very soft and a great weight for a baby blanket.

In the beginning, I cut the white sections out of the Circus print in order to make sure the colors were varied enough. For the outer rounds, I just let the colors fall where they would. (Remember how I said there were a ton of ends to weave in? When you cut out part of the yarn, there are even more!) I did, however, cut it out again when it was time to join because I wanted a strong contrast.

I can’t wait to give this away to a special little baby.

Long after it’s gifted, I will remember this pattern. It might just become a go-to for me in the future.

What’s on your hook these days? I’d love it if you shared it with me.

Keep stitching, Heidi