Using graphghans to do crochet with a geeky twist!

I love science and crochet equally (I think so :)), however for a long time now I was looking to make something that would justify my love for both worlds. Browsing through hundreds of patterns and styles and some amazing works of crocheters all over the world I stumbled upon the technique of making a graphghan — which was a huge trend among crocheters some 4 years back. A graphghan is basically an afghan made from a graph. You convert any image into a graph and follow the graph to make as many squares of a particular color as the graph says. When the whole design is completed your work looks like a pixelated version of the original image.This completely blew my mind and I was thinking of the different images I could convert into a graph and crochet them into a graphghan — but the only problem was I didn’t know how to convert an image into a graph and like all other things it sounds way easier than it is so I got on to do some more research.

There was always an option of buying patterns from talented crochet designers from their stores on Etsy or Ravelry but I want to make something of my own from ground zero. Luckily I stumbled upon a post in which the amazing author mentioned using excel for creating graphs and that was my light bulb moment. I had never thought about it. I have been using excel at work and home for decades — everything from my business sales report to meal planning — its all excel yet I couldn’t think of excel for making my patterns. However a few trials-and-errors and “wow excel can do this” moments later I finally have my very own crochet pattern for my graphghan and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Here's the graphaghan :

Visit us on our here to download a printable pdf of this wonderful design and happy crocheting.