Rock Solid Granny Square

I have 17 nieces and nephews. We don't live near any of them, but it doesn't diminish the love. So a while back when we were "up home" visiting, I offered to make the nephews in one family something knit or crochet. Now, these boys are just LOVELY, but the looks they gave of horror were priceless.

Undeterred, I dragged them through to their grandmother's computer, and we jumped on Ravelry to have a look. The eldest, we'll call him Nevvie 1, likes Minecraft. He's just on the cusp of becoming a teenager, and I think he couldn't reconcile the words "yarn" and "cool". LOL. When I typed in "minecraft" into the search, however, he quickly changed his mind. Oh, a diamond sword! Oh, a creeper hat! But when he saw the creeper bedspread, he became still and silent. BINGO. I told you they were lovely boys. I asked if he wanted to see it, and he said it was too big, but some of the other things looked cool. I love him. I opened the blanket pattern to have a closer look. He and Nevvie 2 exclaimed over it, and he looked at me with a pained expression. "No, Nevvie 1, it's not too much to ask, not if you like it. " A very reverent 'yes please' was the answer, and so we were away. What the other two boys asked for will have to wait for another post - because I haven't even started them.

Now the awesome example was knit, and I knew that that was going to drive me nuts, so I went looking for a solid granny square. I'm not keen on holes in the corners, and especially not for this project. Each square forms a very large pixel in the character face (as it does in the game) and the diagonal lines that corner spaces make would detract from that. I couldn't find one. So, I sat up until about 1.30am nutting this out, specifically for the purpose of this blanket. Now, since then I've found others, and they vary a little from mine. Take it or leave it, it's free, it suits me, and I love it. I especially love what some of my friends have done with it. If you're interested in seeing that, then you can check out the pattern projects on Ravelry here.
If you want to follow my blanket progress, you can do so here: Minecraft Creeper Blanket which has a link to the pattern where I found my original inspiration.

So, without further ado, here is my

Rock Solid Granny Square 6 inch square - adaptable for larger

For those of you who do not like the chain 3 look at the beginning of a row, feel free to substitute a
chainless starting double crochet as seen in Moogly’s link below:
http://www.mooglyblog.com/chainless-starting-double-crochet/

Notes:
In rows 3 and 5, when you reverse your work, you will need to place your first stitch of the row right
at the base of the chain three (or chainless starting double crochet). (If you were working it in the
other direction, you would be placing your final stitch there).

This pattern is in U.S. terms.

Using a 4.5mm hook and 8 ply yarn:

Make a magic circle (there are tons of tutorials on you-tube for this)
Row 1: Chain 3 (counts as DC), *2 treble, 3DC into the loop ** repeat from * to ** twice. 2tr, 2DC,
join with sl st into 3rd chain.

Row 2: Ch3 (counts as DC), DC into next st, in the second treble do (1DC, 2TR, 1DC), *DC in next 4 sts,
in the second treble work (1DC, 2TR, 1DC), ** Repeat from * twice. DC in next 2 sts, join with sl st

Row 3: Ch3 (counts as DC); flip your work over and work in the opposite direction, DC into next 3sts,
in the first treble work (1DC, 2TR, 1DC), *DC in next 7 sts, in the first treble work (1DC, 2TR, 1DC), **
Repeat from * twice. DC in next 3sts, join with sl st

Row 4: Ch3 (counts as DC); flip your work over and work in the opposite direction. DC into the next 4
sts, in the second treble work (1DC, 2TR, 1DC), *DC in next 10 sts, in the second treble work (1DC,
2TR, 1DC)** Repeat from * twice. DC in next 5 sts, join with sl st

Row 5: Ch3 (counts as DC); flip your work over and work in the opposite direction, DC into next 6sts,
in the first treble work (1DC, 2TR, 1DC), *DC in next 13 sts, in the first treble work (1DC, 2TR, 1DC),
** Repeat from * twice. DC in next 6sts, join with sl st

Row 6: Ch3 (counts as DC); flip your work over and work in the opposite direction. DC into the next 8
sts, in the second treble work (1DC, 2TR, 1DC), *DC in next 16 sts, in the second treble work (1DC,
2TR, 1DC)** Repeat from *3 times. DC in next 7 sts, join with sl st

If you want a larger square, just continue with this method remembering to reverse your work every second row, for example, the next row from here would be reversed.

Happy Hooking
xoxo