Happy New Year!

I can't quite believe that my 365 Granny Squares Project has finished. I've really enjoyed making all the squares (and other items) in the last year and my crochet has really improved as a result, I've learnt lots of new stitches and techniques that I can use in future projects.
So what's the plan for 2014? I've decided to do something slightly less time consuming and make a "sky scarf" - this involves making one row of a scarf every day that is the colour of the sky at a certain time of day, I may even break with tradition and pick up a pair of knitting needles for this!
Here is the wool I plan to use:

When I explained to the lady serving me what I planned to do with these balls of wool her comment was "should you get another ball of the dark grey now?", here's hoping that I get to use some of the other colours too! I'll come back and post a picture of the finished scarf in 365 days time, but for now have a happy 2014.

And finished!

I thought it was fitting that for my last square I should make my favourite from this year - and although there were many contenders I have decided on the crocheted cable rings square. I first made this square way back on the 2nd April - post number 92! The pattern can be found here:
http://allcraftsblogs.com/crochet_square_patterns/fishermans_ring_square/fishermans_ring_square.html

Tuesday 31st December 

I hope you've enjoyed watching the project progress as much as I have enjoyed completing it, now all there is to do is decide what to make out of  a couple of hundred random squares (I think they may end up as a very large blanket!). But for now it's time to give my trusty 3.5mm hook a bit of a break!!

Penultimate square.......

I can't believe that tomorrow signifies the last day of this project. I also can't believe that I have made it all the way through 2013 and have managed to crochet something every single day! On some days I have had to be a bit creative about where/when I've crocheted - on planes, trains and buses, on sun beds, in bars and at campsites, in the blazing Greek sunshine, the snow of the Peak District and the dark of a Cotswold campsite, in the privacy of my lounge or garden and on numerous school trips.
So where was today's square created? In an Oslo bar, where the beer was £8 a pint and we needed to shelter from the cold outside. It uses a mix of tc, bpdtc, dc and chain stitches to give a central raised square (not clear from the photo) surrounded by a more lacy section:

Monday 30th December

Spiral.......

A short flight to Oslo gave just enough time for today's square, a spiral:

Sunday 29th December

It was started with a dc and htc, worked in tc round and round and then finished with a htc, a dc and a slip stitch.

Rows of shells.....

Following a 27 dc foundation row I worked a 5 tc shell in every 5th stitch (starting with 3ch, miss 2 dc and ending with a tc in the final stitch. A straight edge was then created by working a dc in the centre of each shell and separating them by 4ch, this row then had 27 dc worked across it - 1 in each dc and 1 for each ch from the previous row. These 3 rows were then repeated 4 more times to create a square:

Saturday 28th December

I think this pattern would make a good scarf!

Ladders......

Alternating rows of double crochets and the treble crochet, single chain combination to create the holes - I really like the effect the variegated wool gives this:

Friday 27th December

A Boxing Day flower......

A simple central flower surrounded by a variety of treble crochet rounds of different patterns, the final round is entirely back post treble crochets to create a raised frame for the whole square:

Thursday 26th December

Target practice........

A circle with ridges created using the front post treble crochet stitch, the ridges are continued out from the corners on the square section also:

Wednesday 25th December

Happy Christmas.......

The final square for the tree blanket is finished - just in time for Christmas!!

Tuesday 24th December

 Now to join all of these squares together and put it under the tree:

The finished tree blanket:

Granny stripes......

Today's square is a Christmas granny stripes square, made following pattern number 76 in the crochets squares book:

Monday 23rd December

Chocolate box.....

This is square number 145 from the crochet squares book worked in Christmas colours:

Sunday 22nd December

A birthday gift.....

In addition to getting ready for Xmas a friend has a birthday early in the new year, having already made her a hat it is now time for the matching gloves:

Saturday 21st December

The pattern for these can be found here:
http://beatriceryandesigns.com/2013/11/09/shells-bobbles-fingerless-gloves-free-crochet-pattern/

Ho Ho Ho.......

Today's square was worked from a cross stitch pattern found here:
http://www.wittyliving.com/free-cross-stitch-patterns/2061-ho-ho-ho-christmas-saying-free-cross-stitch-pattern.html
I've not tried this method of getting letters before, but found that as long as there is a minimum of two crochet stitches in each colour together it gives a good effect:

Friday 20th December

Sparkly bobble stripes......

Today's square is number 29 from the crochet squares book - with the stripes worked in sparkly thread for Christmas!

Thursday 19th December

A bauble square......

Unlike yesterday's square this one will have pride of place on the front of my table covering:

Wednesday 18th December

The bauble is a circle worked in alternating red and gold sparkly thread, the hanger is simply four treble crochets in the next round worked in silver. I also added a round in sparkly red as the penultimate round in order to add some further interest. Considering it was made up as I went along I'm really pleased with the outcome!

A basic granny......

I intend to make all of my green, white and red squares into a table covering to place the tree on and I figured there is no point in making fancy squares to go under the pot - hence today's plain square:

Tuesday 17th December 

A miniature stocking......

Our Christmas tree is slowly filling with all my handmade items - today's addition is a mini stocking:

Monday 16th December 

The pattern for this stocking can be found here:
http://www.lemondedesucrette.com/2011/11/16/little-christmas-socks-the-pattern/

Winter snow......

I saw this snowflake when browsing Pinterest, unfortunately there was no pattern to go with it so I looked closely at the pattern to figure it out - I'm pretty pleased with the result:

Sunday 15th December

Corner stripes.......

Worked in Christmas colours this is square 21 from the crochet squares book. I was surprised to discover that this square was worked from the outside inwards:

Saturday 14th December

Snowflake decoration......

This decoration uses a metal ring to ensure the centre is perfectly round:

Friday 13th December

The pattern for this decoration can be found here:
http://whiskersandwool.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/peppermint-snowflake-ring-ornament.html