Granny Square Blanket Problem

[SueA]

Hi  i hope you can help me. When i make a Granny Square Blanket i always turn after each row as i like my blankets to be square. 

Now, I have been given 8 Blankets to make larger...but...the maker has made them a very funny shape! When i measure each side along the side it measures 2 inches bigger than a parallel measurement  across the middle of the blanket!  So when its laid out flat each side bows inwards! Is there anything i can do to square it up without ripping out the whole blanket? 

Edited May 1, 2021 by SueA

[Granny Square]

It sounds like the wrong # of chains between granny 'shells'.  There is no one 'right' number necessarily, because it depends on the maker's stitch height tension.  The right number for the designer might be the wrong number for your friend, and might be the wrong number in a different way for you.  

In spite of my 'name' here, I rarely make Granny Square items.  But, I make a lot of doilies, which are (mostly) center-out-in-the-round like G-squares, and I usually have to tweak the stitch count or sub a taller stitch to get them to lie flat.

It sounds like too few chains between the 'shells' along the sides AND/OR too many stitches/chains in the corner.  If you were the maker, I'd say experiment and try adding chains between on the sides, OR fewer in the corner, or both.  

But you are not the maker--maybe by some lovely coincidence your stitch tension would fix the problem after a few rounds without altering the stitch count.

If I were doing this, I'd expect to make a few trials of several rounds of 'fix' combinations that I just described, in one color (if colors change each round), so you aren't dealing with cutting and possibly wasting yarn (because each subsequent round uses more yarn).  Actually, if the last experiment works, and if you turn your experimental rounds in a wider color stripe than happened before, the different appearance of turned rows and a wider stripe could be a 'design feature"!

 

[SueA]

Thank you so much. It's not easy adding to someone else's work as I have no idea what yarn weight/make they've used nor what hook size. I wish I wasn't such a perfectionist at times!!

I will try all you've suggested and see what happens.

Thank you so much. It's lovely to be able to get someone's opinion on a problem.

[Granny Square]

You're welcome!  Re: yarn weight, if the last round's yarn tail wasn't woven in, you can unravel a bit and do a wraps per inch test 

https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/how-measure-wraps-inch-wpi

For hook, you'll have to swatch, you may need to use a size x to match the gauge she achieved with size y.  

[SueA]

Thank you. That's really useful. 

[38lasalle]

My finishing stitches, around, are looking for crooked edges.  Let's say I'm putting a SC all around.  When I come to a dip, I use a HDC to make it taller........or a DC, depends on how uneven the edges are.......

Once that round is complete, my final border stitch is next. I like the RSC aka crab stitch.  A curly wave border stitch is visually nice and is a yarn eater.  ((: