I have no affiliation with anyone mentioned in this post. I bought all the materials myself.

This month I have been taking part in the Hobbii CAL. It is my first ever ‘crochet-along’ so I was curious about how it worked. This is how it went…

The pattern is called Happy Squares and was created by Little Golden Nook for Hobbii Design. Hobbii released the pattern in 5 parts over 4 weeks. The CAL began on August 15th, International Granny Square Day, with the intention of everyone who takes part having the opportunity to have a completed, wearable project (a scarf) in time for #grannysquareday2022.

This CAL was a mystery project and apart from knowing it was a scarf made using acrylic yarn in squares, there wasn’t any other information available. Mysterious indeed!

Now, I’m the mum who refuses to buy LOL Surprise toys for my kid because I think it’s crazy to spend a fortune on something you can’t appraise first. However, I knew it was in squares and I’ve always loved granny squares. I also knew I wouldn’t find this project challenging and I wanted something I could work on of an evening when my brain was powering down, and I could do something else at the same time. All in all, I thought this was probably the best kind of CAL for me to hitch my wagon to.

Where to start

Once I had decided to go for it, I needed to order materials.

Handily, yarn for this CAL was ordered in kit form from Hobbii. However, I had taken my sweet time deciding whether or not to go for this CAL, and I was quite late signing up. ‘Calm’, was my preferred colourway for this project, but it was sold out by the time I had made up my mind to order. The alternative was called POP, and wow does it ever POP – in capital letters!

Everything was wrapped up in a fun, reusable, lightweight tote bag.

Also included was a beautifully put together crochet journal which was all the more wonderful because it was totally unexpected and at this point just added more value to the price I had paid.

Skill Level

The techniques throughout the CAL were beginner-friendly. However, the wavy rectangles and sunburst squares used stitch combinations and required attention which might have beginners on the ropes a little. I would say the skill level is about right for confident beginners wanting a challenge. But challenging ourselves is how we progress, no?

The other squares were basic granny squares made using several of the yarn shades.

My own favourite were the ‘mosaic squares’.

Waves

‘Sunburst’

Basic granny squares

Joined mosaic squares

I enjoyed the pace at which the parts of the pattern were released. Parts 1, 2 and 3 were released by email on 3 consecutive Mondays and parts 4 and 5 were released on the 4th Monday.

What I didn’t quite enjoy was waiting for the pattern to be released on the final Monday morning while pictures of completed crocheted squares and projects were already being posted on Instagram by other people in the CAL.

Maybe I was just a little too enthusiastic…

A scarf…?

By the time I came to the end of working up the pattern I found that I had a lot of yarn leftover. I also knew, very soon after starting this project, that I would never wear it as the scarf it was supposed to be. The colours shouted at me and jangled my nerves every time I looked at it!

I decided the best thing to do would be to abandon completely the idea of it being a scarf, to keep making more squares, and to turn it into a blanket.

As soon as I had decided ‘blanket, not scarf’ the colours didn’t offend me anywhere near as much!

When making a crochet pieced blanket it’s important to make sure that all your squares will lie flat when joined together, so you need to pay attention to how that will work. Traditional blocking by pinning blocks flat and wetting them doesn’t work particularly well with acrylic yarn, so it is even more important to get the fit right from the start.

A rough layout

Making it all fit

You can see from the picture below that for this particular layout there are basically three horizontal rows to this blanket to begin with. Each one contains the same foundational blocks as each of the others. This way you know that each strip will be the same size and they should fit together well when you join them.

A similar layout split into three rows

In this example, the largest square (edged in orange) is made up of four squares joined together. Each of these squares (before they are joined together) are the same size as one of the sunburst squares, or four of the small granny squares.

The wavy blocks and the sets of three ‘mosaic squares’ aren’t the same size as each other, or of any of the other blocks. However, the measurement along their longest edge is the same as the longest edge of two of the larger granny squares or sunburst squares joined together.

You will see I have used one wavyy block and one set of three mosaic squares in each the three separate rows. I could have used more or fewer but I would still have needed to use equal amounts of them in each of the three rows to make sure they turned out the same size as each other, and that they laid flat when the three rows were joined together.

Bringing it all together

As you have seen from the rough layout photo above, I begun joining the squares and blocks in the bottom of the three sections. There are so many different ways to join crochet blocks but I chose to use a slip stitch method as I think it gives the neatest look when the blocks are different colours.

I decided to use contrasting colours for the joining yarn. This colourway is called POP afterall!

When you are in the swing of joining squares together, I highly recommend binge-watching your latest fave Netflix series along with enjoying the company of a furry friend.

My 7 year-old daughter absolutely loves this blanket. I think it will make and excellent snuggle blanket in general, but acrylic is a lot cooler than a duvet or woollen blanket, I think it would make a good fever blanket for an ill kiddo. But I think she won’t be able to resist using this one to make a fun den/tent out of!

Even though this CAL has finished, for me it will be the gift that keeps on giving because, as a bonus, I have my new crochet journal to fill with up with lovely projects.