Today marks the birthday of David Tennant, a.k.a. the Tenth Doctor Who. What better way to celebrate than getting out your yarn and working on a gorgeous tardis afghan?
This pattern was designed by Carrie Fritsche, and is available for FREE on Ravelry.
Have you ever wondered why it’s called a granny square? Or why we call the blanket an Afghan as opposed to a Brit or a Frenchmen?
AFGHAN first appeared in English usage in the late 1700′s as a name for the Pashtuns of eastern and southern Afghanistan. The country is known for its distinctive textiles, colorful carpets, and famous karakul wool.
According to a 1946 article attributed to the Oregon Worsted Company, the thrifty women of early America would carefully save scraps of yarn and fiber unraveled from old sweaters and socks. As these scraps accumulated, they were crocheted into small squares; the colors combined on the whim of the craftsman. The squares were then sewn together to make a blanket which was both functional and colorful. Because grandma was no longer up for manual labor, she was often the one to sew the squares together, thus they became GRANNY SQUARES.
This colorful GRANNY SQUARE blanket was though to resemble a Colonial-era rug, which was brought over from England, by way of the Middle East. By the early 1800’s, the name GRANNY SQUARE AFGHAN was commonly used to describe these blankets made from multi-colored yarn.
CONFESSIONS OF A YARN-A-HOLIC 