Cross Stitch Granny Squares

I, like a lot of crafters I know, am into a lot of different crafts. I knit, crochet, sew, do cross stitch, even paint from time to time.

I love all these crafts by themselves, but I also love it when different crafts combine in the same project, whether that’s literally doing, say, knit and crochet in the same project, or taking a motif or design idea from one craft and translating it into another.

That second case is what’s happening here, with these granny square cross stitch patterns.

Originally designed by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet to be a stitchalong project, this collection of granny squares comes in large and small sizes you can use for different purposes. I love the idea of using the small ones as a border on a project, or stitching the big ones to make the front of a pillow. You could even combine them in a project wit a band of the smaller squares between the larger ones.

Each small pattern is 19 by 19 stitches, which comes out to 1.65 inches or about 4 cm square, while the larger ones are 39 by 39 stitches, or 3.25 inches/8.2 cm square.

As designed the pattern uses 16 colors, as each square uses four different colors and there are four variation. You can use as many or as few colors as you like when you make your design.

You can grab this free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop.

And if you’re interested in crocheting real granny squares, check out this crochet granny square baby blanket, which is the perfect project to practice the basic technique. Or look at this granny square dish towel, which has a motif and color choices that coordinate beautifully with the cross stitch version.

Do you like to combine crafts or do one kind of craft that’s inspired by a different craft? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Fat Quarter Shop]

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Bee Cross Stitch Patterns

It’s back to school time where I live, which I always feel like is a great time to learn a new skill or take a deeper dive into something that you might not have learned a lot about before.

Usually when we are learning new hobbies we only know what we know. We learn the terms that we encounter, the skills that come up in the projects that we want to make. It’s not that we don’t care about other basics or different approaches, we just learn what we need to know to make what we want to make.

And that’s totally fine, but sometimes it’s a good idea to go back and review the basics or learn the things you might have missed the first time.

In that spirit I share this post from Caterpillar Cross Stitch all about basic cross stitch terms that every stitcher ought to know.

Did you know that the little bundle of thread you use for cross stitch is called a skein, for example? Or the difference between grid size and design area in a pattern? Or that working complete stitches one at a time is known as the English method? (I didn’t know that one! Apparently doing half of the stitch across the row and then coming back and finishing it is the Danish method. Who knew?)

There’s also a little bit about getting started with confidence that might be helpful at any skill level.

So what I’m saying is, even if you feel like you know a lot about cross stitch already, head over to Caterpillar Cross Stitch and check out their list of terms and make sure you know them all. If nothing else you’ll feel a little smarter, either because you already knew them all or you learned something new!

And if you do learn something new, I’d love to hear about it.

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