Sewing Granny Squares to afghan

[Daria]

I am making a granny square and granny stripes blanket for a friend's baby.  It's four squares in the middle, 12 rows of granny stitches, then a round of granny squares on the outside.  However, I just counted and the blanket's final granny row stitch count (to sew the squares to) is 104 stitches.  There are supposed to be four granny squares in a column sewed to the edge of the blanket and they add up to 108 stitches.  What do I do about the extra stitches?  After the squares are sewn on, I'm adding flannel to the back to soften the seams and make it look neater, no need to see the woven ends and seams.  I can post pics if needed.  Really appreciate any advice!!!  Thank you!

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

"Fudge" is a verb in crochet.    It will probably not be at all noticeable if you sew 2 stitches on 1 side into 1 stitch on the other side, 4 times.

To each their own, but I don't think fabric backing on a crocheted blanket is a good idea, as they are 2 very dissimilar fabrics - fabric doesn't stretch but crochet does, and you loose the nice cuddly properties of the crochet.

Have you already woven ends and seams?  If you haven't woven the ends yet, there is no reason this can't be done invisibly and securely.  And you can sew a seam invisibly using a 'mattress stitch seam', in fact some tutorials I've seen sew with yarn of a completely different color than the things sewn to demonstrate that the seam really is invisible.   Check out youtube, I could pick some videos for you but some 'click' better for some people than others.

 

[MaryPat]

My experience adding flannel to back a blanket is this:  it will appear as if you almost have 2 blankets that don't quite go together and will tend to form pockets where they stick to themselves rather than stick to each other.

I've seen people get around this tendency by borrowing a quilting technique where stitches are used to join the two blankets.

[Granny Square]

I agree with MaryPat, if you MUST have a fabric backing, you don't want to just attach them at the edge, you want to stitch them together every few inches all across every bit of the blanket -- easiest method, and will use some of your leftover yarn, is 'tie quilting' - you want the knots on the fabric side.  Google 'how to tie a quilt, there are lots of tutorials.