Having a go at granny squares

So despite the fact today has been the hottest day of the year so far, my thoughts have been on how I'm going to do what I can to get my poor little house liveable when we're at the opposite end of the year and I'm freezing my nuts off every morning and night when I'm not at work. What is that fable about the grasshopper that sings all summer and then freezes to death in the winter because it didn't work hard when the sun was shining? Well, I don't want that to be me, so I have designs on making a great big crochet blanket.

I'm still a relative newbie to crochet, my biggest project to date being a baby blanket and hat which I made for a colleague who was going on maternity leave. It was pretty straightforward, and that's how I like my crochet. I think my fingers are a bit hammy so it helps if it's not too fiddly!

I decided to have a look at The Happy Hooker, and learn how to make a very basic Granny Square, and here is what I came up with:

I made three, and decided to make them all different. It said you could make lots of variations on the basic design, so I changed up the colours for one, and used treble crochet instead of double for the other

I didn't bother to tidy them up as they were just a practice run made with super cheapy wool I picked up in Wilkinson's of all places - who knew? The blue wool looks so much nicer in these pictures than it does in real. Hurrah for Photoshop because the colour is actually a mucky sort of petrol-y/teal-y blue and I don't like it, hence it being condemned to be used for practices and never the real McCoy!.

I think it was a fairly successful first attempt. If you know of any good books or places for more exciting square patterns, do let me know!