Want to help design my granny square afghan

[Barefoot Farmer]

I don't post on this forum much; although I do lurk a bit.
I am mainly a knitter (some time sewer). My mom is a bigger crochet expert. We are planning a joint project together - a crochet granny square afghan. I found a few granny square patterns on-line. I wondered if you wise mamas might have some ideas on how to design your own afghan; I have chosen the yarn and colors, but am just now thinking about which squares, how many squares, which colors where, etc. Any thoughts?

[Sagesgirl]

Have you chosen your hook yet? Pick out a hook, work up a square or two, & see what size it comes out. Measure it; this will be very helpful. You have to decide how big you want the afghan to be. Then do a little math, so you can figure out how many squares you'll need to make. (Then, if you're like me, wince, cry, and decide on another project. )

My personal preference would be to just work monochromatic grannies, that way you minimize somewhat all the darned ends that need weaving, & the project is much more portable. The basic granny square is one of those patterns that, after you do it a time or two, you won't need to consult the directions. Which isn't to say that other squares aren't wonderful, but I'm big on fast & easy, and that's what the original granny is.

As for arranging the squares...One of the neatest things I have seen is to arrange your granny squares to resemble a quilt (something like this would be easily achievable). You can even make half-grannies (which would be triangular) to represent certain quilt pieces, or just make an "exploded" quilt block, like this. (Note that for that one, you'd need squares of different sizes as well as some rectangular grannies.)

In spite of the order in which I've put things here, if you decide to go with a complicated quilt-like arrangement, you really do need to pick out your design first & then figure out how to fit the pieces together. (This is the only circumstance in which I have ever actually used algebra, by the way.)

[flapjack]

I'm loving this blog at the moment, which has some gorgeous granny square afghans and talks a bit about the colours she chose. If you're on ravelry, there's also the beautifully talented RooKnits who also does some clever things with a crochet hook and a hexagon.

Don't forget that you can work your ends in as you go with crochet, so don't let that hold you back. I love the technique that Lucy uses, where she does the circles in the middle of the hexagons, piles them up then joins them all together in a different sitting.

Can you tell that this is one of the projects I'm currently lusting over?

[Knittin' in the Shade]

I've found that designing a granny blanket is one of my very favorite excuses for busting out the colored pencils and some graph paper and have a blast coloring

[Barefoot Farmer]

Knittin'intheshade -- I love that idea. Thank you. It is just the guidance I needed.

[Barefoot Farmer]

Flapjack -- thank you for the link to that blog. She is amazing and very inspirational. Thank you.

[flapjack]

I know. She's my new favourite britblogger.