Edit #2 (late November 2006): I've noticed on several forums that a lot of people are using my rectangle granny square pattern. Seen the comment that people are worried about the long sides of the afghan narrowing while the corners on the short ends stick out. This is perfectly normal. Once your afghan starts getting bigger the weight of the afghan will make things even out. You dont need to do anything special to fix it. EDIT: November 2006 -- I've found several of my pictures in other sites on the internet...I dont mind people giving out the LINK to my blog, but I do mind people lifting my pictures and claiming that the items in the pictures were personally made by them. (I think at least one picture was being hotlinked from my photobucket account. bad bad ju ju!)
I'll be gradually putting copyright info on my pictures, altho, it's probably a little late now...
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Here's hoping the power doesnt go all wonky on me again (and it could...there's a heck of a wind storm going on outside)
I had posted the pattern for the Giant Rectangle granny square pattern a few months back, but never got the pictures posted. So I'm reposting the pattern now, and I'll post the pictures below it in sequential order so that the visual crocheters can see how I start the afghan.
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This is a crochet pattern that was taught to me by my late grandmother. I never had a written out copy of the pattern since I had it memorized. To the best of my knowledge, it's something she came up with on her own, and since the words in the pattern are mine, this pattern is copyrighted to me. Please do not sell the pattern. Some pattern designers dont want you to sell any item you might have made with their patterns. I'm not one of those... If you think you can get some money for a finished afghan you might make with this pattern, go right ahead, who am I to stop you...just dont sell my pattern to anyone.
Thanks to the people who helped me write it out and tested it for clarity for me.
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Rectangular Granny Afghan
Special stitches: (corner shells are 3 dc, ch-1, 3 dc)
Hint: when fastening off leave a long tail to be worked in later so the stitches won’t come apart.
Round 1:
ch 48
Dc in 4th ch from hook and next 2 chs, ch1 *sk 1 ch, dc in next 3chs, ch 1* repeat from * to * across (9 more times) ending with 1 dc in last ch. fasten off leaving a long tail to weave in
Round 2:
Attach new yarn in last ch-1 sp before the last dc. Ch 3, 2 dc, ch-1 in same sp, 3 dc, ch-1, 3 dc, ch-1 inside dc loop, working on other side of starting ch (3 dc, ch-1 in each sp across) until ch 4 loop (3dc, ch-1, 4 times in loop), (3dc, ch-1 in each sp across) joining with sl st in first dc.
Round 3: Attach yarn in first ch-1 sp of row 2 (ch 3, 2 dc, ch-1, 3dc ch-1 in same sp for corner, 3 dc, ch-1 in next sp, (3 dc, ch-1, 3 dc, ch-1 in next sp for corner) 3 dc, ch-1 in each sp across joining in ch 3.
Round 4: continue in pattern until size desired.
For more than one row of same color after joining sl st to the first ch sp and work in pattern.
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And now...the pictures :)
This is what it looks like once you complete the starting chain, and the First Round
And once you've attached the yarn for Round 2 (I like to crochet over the loose tails at the start of the afghan, helps me later when I go back to weave the tails in once I'm done)
This is how the increases should look
Join with a slip stitch (if not changing the yarn color, you can sl st in the next dc, and sl st in the ch 1 sp and then chain 3 and dc twice in the ch 1 space, ch 1, dc 3 times in the same space)
(note: I changed colors so you can see how each stitch looks from one round to the next)
And this is how it should look once you're finished with the Third Round. Once you get to this point, you should be able to follow the established pattern until the afghan is the size you want it to be.
You can pretty much make this afghan as big as you want. I've made crib sized afghans, queen sized afghans, and even a table doily with this pattern. I've always found it to be one of the easiest patterns for me to do, and one of the fastest.
Edit: January 2010
posting a picture or two of completed rectangle afghans.
In the picture with the Christmas themed afghan, there's a purple, white and black rectangle afghan folded on the back of the chair too..
The gray and red afghan at the top was one that I made for a cousin's kid, the patriotic one was one that I also made for a cousin's kid...probably the sibling of the first one, the one with the variegated red, white and blue is one that I made for a friend of mine. It was a scrap + a variegated color in between each color change, the Christmas one was for my grandmother...the purple, black and white one in that same picture was one I made for my aunt Mary, and the last afghan was probably one of my first scrap afghans. I made that one for my uncle Frank, who kept it in the sleeper cab of his 18 wheeler when he was out driving.
