Art Of Crochet squares 1-8

It's taken me faaaaaaaaaaaaar too long to make these. Not because they're difficult, but because (that's right you guessed it) I'm super slack. I also have a nearly one year old so that sort of counts dunnit? Plus I'm distracted by shiny new projects such as...embroidery...sewing...card making...see how I'm digressing right now? That is how I craft as well. Nuff said. Back on track.

Square 1.

I quite liked this one. It uses simple stitches & looks pretty, quite thick though, no drape at all. It came out at exactly at the required 13cmx13cm after blocking. It's also available as a pattern called Lemon Peel in 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans by Jan Eaton. Fabulous book BTW.

Square 2.

I quite liked this one too, although I wasn't sure I got it right a few times so frogged & restarted. Looks all right now though. It came out about 14cm x 14cm rather than the required 13. Meh.

Square 3.

My first ever granny! I can't believe I've been crocheting for about 6/7 years now & not made a granny square before this one. I love it, although it's too small. I hoped blocking would fix this, but it didn't. Someone in the Ravelry group for this part works pointed out that on the finished throw image, all the grannies have 3 rounds of the final colour, not 2. Adding an additional round of blue will make it the correct size. Way to go Hachette.

Square 4.

I didn't like the pattern for this at all. It was DCs (US) and cross stitch. I couldn't figure out how to cross stitch onto crochet without leaving a hideous mess on the back so decided to make my own pattern instead using the same colours.  I used a 5mm hook for the vanilla granite stitch (pattern here) & a 3.5mm hook for the tiny star (pattern here).

Square 5.

Again, this one called for cross stitch. No thanks! I used the aforementioned blocks book to make bobbles in the same pattern as the cross stitch, again using the same colours & a 3.5mm hook. Much more fun!

Square 6.

I LOVE this stitch, it makes me want to crochet a whole sweater with it. It's so warm and floppy. Hmm, maybe if I lived in Iceland? The colour is great too. Lots of people say the colour is horrible, but I really like it! Ner to non-likers-of-maize. It's supposed to be a vintage throw. Have you seen colours from the 70s?

Square 7.

I thought the pattern for this square was terribly boring & embroidered yet again so chose the Starflower pattern from 200 Crochet Blocks using the same colours as the A.O.C. pattern & a 3.5mm hook (I think, or it may have been 3.75mm) omitting the final round to keep it 13cm x 13cm.

Square 8.

This one was a real labour of love. I started it a month ago. I chose to work it in SC (US) not DC (US) as stated in the pattern. I think it looks neater & more uniform this way. The bobbles  are from 200 Crochet Blocks rather than being the pattern bobbles. I don't think I liked them as much. Not enough panache. I don't really know what happened, actually it was probably my crafty absent-mindedness/magpie-ness, but I only finished it yesterday. I didn't even feel gleefully triumphant like I usually do upon completion of a project. Ah well, they can't all be little gems can they?

Thoughts on the part works so far:

I'm glad I have my own hooks because the one supplied is not great. I quite like the colours of the yarn, but it doesn't feel terribly nice. I guess you get what you pay for. I'm learning new things & I'll have an immense throw at the end of it all plus I've made a new friend along the way so I'm not complaining!

Now all I have to do is catch up to issue 32. ROFLMAO!