From Ana Paula’s Pattern

Partners will be assigned on June 1st, so sign up before then. You will have until June 20th to make one large (~ 8 inches) or two small (4-5 inches) amigurumi creations to send to your partner.

I have had tremendous luck with most of my swapbot swaps. I was lucky enough to receive the most appropriate granny square in the fancy granny swap that I hosted:

Can you tell what the one on the right is?? Bacon. That’s right. A stranger crocheted bacon for me (thanks purplesparkler!). Awesome. I will have the most fantastic granny square afghan ever.

But there are other things to cheer me up. I took some nice photos for the Bazaar application, and one features the newest item in my shop: The Old West Moustache Set.

Cookie A gave my stitch markers a mention and now they are selling as fast as I can list them. Thanks so much Cookie!

I have also received a bunch of swap goodies from swap-bot.
I really enjoyed the tea swap. I got these from Germany:

And my partner in the “Crafty Chick” swap really outdid herself.

A Martha Stweart Living, paper goodies, a hand sewn case, yarn, and more! See that green yarn in the top left? i immediately started using it in granny squares.

Those grannies are really starting to pile up, by the way….

The front two are from swap-bot swaps!

Just a reminder, if you would like to swap a few granny squares, sign-ups for my Scraptastic granny square swap are open until April 8th.

I couldn’t wait. I have the bug. My first granny-square swap is still underway, but partners have been assigned so we can’t take new members. And even though there is more than a week to go, I have my squares completed and packaged up for mailing. So I started another swap. The Scraptastic Acrylic Granny Square swap to be exact (say it out loud. “scraptastic.” fun to say, huh?).

Much like the previous swap, this aims to use up acrylic yarn in granny squares, and swap them around the globe. Based on some of the ideas of the previous swap members the number of squares that you send is increased to 3 squares to two partners (for a total of 6 sent and received). Six squares does sound like a lot, but the deadline is almost 6 weeks away. And I know you must have a few squares lying around. You can find more details (and sign up) on the swap-bot page.

Additional info
If you are digging granny squares, join the Granny Along. Or just pop by for a visit. It is an inspirational hang out.

If you need some instructions for knitting a traditional granny square, check out these links:
Martha Stewart has an illustrated granny square tutorial (i think these are “reversible” granny squares).
Crochet Cabana has an excellent tutorial with photographs.

I also found two videos on youtube that would be a big help for beginners.
The first shows how to get started with a square, and the second shows a great way to do color changes.

I want the final afghan to be washable and durable so I am using acrylic yarn. I don’t want to go the store and buy a bunch of acrylic so I am just using up what I have. Unfortunately I don’t have a wide color selection. That got me to thinking… Why not swap granny squares through swapbot?!

In this swap you make 3 granny squares, and send one to three different partners (so you will send and receive 3 squares). The squares should be made out of a durable, washable acrylic yarn. Just use some scraps that you have lying around. The finished square should measure 6 inches on each side. No need to add an additional edging, the new owner can edge as they like to incorporate it into their own afghan. Make sure to use at least two colors of yarn in each individual square. Sign up by March 15th, as partners will be assigned then. You will then have two weeks to complete your squares and swap them out on April 1. I will be filtering out partipants with ratings of less than 4, but will allow newbies with completed profiles to participate. Sign up now!

Granny squares use only basic crochet skills. I have compiled a few resources to help you if you need a pattern.

Martha Stewart has an illustrated granny square tutorial (i think these are “reversible” granny squares).
Crochet Cabana has an excellent tutorial with photographs.