Big Bang Barr Blanket

Whether you are a fan of Johnny Galecki in The Big Bang Theory, or remember with fondness his days as David Healy with the titular Roseanne Barr, you have to admit the best thing about either show is the blanket.

Okay I’m stretching it, but the blanket on the back of Amy Farrah Fowler’s couch, that I can only imagine Galecki pilfered from Roseanne’s couch, is awesome. Long before I realized the sitcom infamy of this particular style of Afghan, I was enamored with it. Pinterest abounds with variations on this style, most mommy bloggers have one lying around, in the background of several well crafted pictures.

While the idea of sewing a hundred small squares together has never appealed to me, I set out on an epic quest to own Farrah Fowlers blanket. Though, in all honesty, I preferred Roseanne’s style of blanket, bigger squares and more sporadic placement of color, so that’s what I ended up with.

Here I present you with a breakdown of the granny squares I ended up using, and the biggest tip a casual-crocheter can give concerning granny squares. Using Red Heart worsted weight and the recommended hook, I changed color for every row and ended each in black.

Row 1. Chain 6 and join into a loop.

Row 2. 3 dc (double crochet) into loop, ch 3, (four times) join final chain to the top of the first dc.

Row 3. 3 dc into the corner, ch 1. *3 dc into the corner, ch 3, 3 dc into the corner, 1 sc (single crochet).* (** three times) For final corner, put 3 dc into the corner you started in, then ch 3 and join together.

For the remaining rows, you simply work as follows:

Each corner:  3 dc into the corner, ch 3, 3 dc into the corner, 1 sc. Remembering that you will start a row with half a corner, and finish with half a corner.

Each edge: In between corners, you will put 3 dc into the top of each sc, remembering to put a sc in between each set of three.

It sounds like utter nonsense doesn’t it? Now I am no crochet pattern writer but if these, or any granny square directions, don’t work for you, you are not alone. My search for the perfect granny square was a mini voyage of self discovery, and self loathing!

While I find crocheting relaxing and simplistic next to knitting, the granny square presented me with a conundrum. Back in 2011 I was trying to find a pattern to make a blanket for my second son, who was gestating at the time. My husband wanted it to be square, I wanted it to be holey, so that it wouldn’t accidentally suffocate him. I decided to go for one big granny square. I had never before made a granny square, but as millions have done so before me wondered how hard it could be? I discovered that many people had done this kind of giant square, so felt confident in the pattern I found.

Yeah, not so much. The instructions were nonsensical. I tried several times, before giving up and finding a new pattern that made more sense. That still didn’t work, so I went to a third pattern. By this point I had unpicked and redone the center so many times I could have made the entire blanket. I knew what they looked like and I knew what the instructions were ALL saying to do, but the two simply did not match. So I took out my simple crochet book, which contained a pattern for a traditional granny square blanket. I looked at the picture, ignored the instructions and with my new experience of the style of stitch, winged it. This is the pattern I present you with today, if it doesn’t work for you, try a few more and I guarantee you’ll be able to wing it, though it may look different than mine. So the biggest tip of working up a granny square–go with your gut!

I didn’t stay true to the coloring of either TV land blanket, I also used a single line of hdc (half double crochet) instead of the dotted trim because I preferred it. Now I just need to get The Big Bang Theory cast over for Chinese food.

My blanket is 10 squares wide by 13 squares long, it will fit a Queen size bed. Averaging three blocks an hour, and an hour to sew each line of ten together, I average that it took 65 hours. Not exactly cost effective for a craft business, but a wonderful labor of love for my home.