Granny Square Shrug

Three and a half odd skeins of different purple yarns. What to do?

I wanted to use them to make something for myself because I love the colors, but I didn’t have enough for any bigger project.

A novel idea in itself! I don’t even know when I last made something for myself …

(Oh, last winter I knitted a pair of wool socks, but I haven’t used them yet in case I’d like to give them as a gift.)

Anyway, searching for something to make I found a pattern I really like. A granny square shrug!

The pattern is by Kirsty and Lara from Australia. They explain it really well, in UK terminology. In case you, like me, are used to US terms, then the only thing you need to remember for this pattern is that

double crochet in the UK means single crochet in the US

and that treble crochet in the UK is double crochet in the US.

Kirsty has easy to understand step-by-step instructions and a video on her site, and Lara has a written pdf file for you to download.

Basically what you do is crochet two hexagon shaped granny squares. That’s a granny with 6 corners. You fold the granny into an L shape. An upside-down L shape!

One part of the L is your sleeve, the other is your body. You make two, as big as you need, connect the top parts of the sleeves, then connect the two L-shapes at the back. Done!

Oh, wait, you should also make a row of single crochet along the edges. To make them sturdier. Use a smaller hook.

The pattern is for a super bulky yarn (14 ply!) and a crochet hook size 15 mm! The chunkier the yarn and the bigger the hook, the better the drape Kirsty says. A 14 ply yarn is about as twice as thick as worsted weight yarn.

My yarn is just a heavy worsted weight and I didn’t have enough to double it. It’s Lamb’s Pride Worsted by Brown Sheep, who, by the way, also has a Lamb’s Pride Bulky ( about 13 ply) in many beautiful colors!

I tried anyway. This project seemed to be way too much fun to wait in order to get more yarn. I used just one strand of yarn and a hook size J (6mm). It didn’t seem to get as drapey as the pattern called for. I changed to hook N/15 (10 mm). That was better! In the photo below you see the the size difference between using the smaller and the bigger hook. Both pieces have the same amount of rounds:

Of course I fell in love with doing it. I loved how fast it grew and I loved how the sleeves just happened as by magic. I also loved working with this soft wool yarn that has a bit of mohair in it.

This is the perfect project to work on while watching a movie. Just make sure you don’t miss the double DC-clusters at the corners. It happened to me. Twice.

I liked crocheting this so much, I didn’t mind unraveling it all and start all over again in order to mix in the other purples and a green, since the pretty lavender yarn would not have been enough for the whole shrug.

I decided to add the other colors on every other round and not cut the lavender yarn in between. Instead I chained 3 to bring the yarn over the other color. Less ends to weave in!

To try it on for size, I tied the seams together with some scrap yarn; on top of the sleeves and the center back.

I decided the sleeves were wide enough, but I wanted more rows for the body. I did this by marking the corners on top of the back and the front so I would know where to end the rows.

It worked out!

I added three rows on both pieces. That made the body twelve rows wider than the sleeves, and three rows longer. Just the cozy loose size I wanted.

 I could also add more rows to the sleeves to make them longer, and more rows to the hem. But I decided to keep it this way. Lucky, since I was running out of yarn.

Now I need more yarn to make more shrugs for Christmas presents!

How many Granny Square Shrugs are you going to make?

~ Marina

PS. I also removed the ties, (With a yarn or ribbon of the right color you could just tie the pieces together. With pretty bows!) and was about to crochet the pieces together when I decided to instead lace them up medieval style. With black leather cords! Now I have to wait to finish it until I get some cords from the store …

PPS. Did I say I totally LOVE it! =)