If you don't want to do granny squares -- for example because you think they are ugly or because you don't have any use for them -- then you do not have to do them. My advice is to wait until you find one that makes you go "oh my that is the coolest thing ever! i have to have that!" For example, I have resisted granny squares until I saw the stained glass afghan square, which is something I actively want to make, so I will.
Saying you need to make granny squares is like saying that you need to make doilies. Maybe you like doilies and want to make one, so do. Maybe you have no use for a doily and no place to put it once it's finished and nothing to do with it, so don't. What you do need to learn is how to crochet in the round in addition to crocheting flat. But whether you do those rounds in making a granny square, a doily, or a bag to hold your yarn stash, or a cat bed, or a skirt, or a sheep, that's all up to you!
I mean, consider the doily. The doily is intricate and beautiful. It is hard work. You use yarn that is about as thick as a cobweb and spend a bazillion hours and you can be truly proud of yourself when you're done. (But then what? What do you do with it once it's finished? That's why I don't do doilies. But some people do and I am impressed by them but I don't need to make a doily to become proficient at crochet.)
I say all this because you don't seem to enthusiastic about the idea of granny squares. I may be wrong -- you may be looking forward to them, in which case you should find a pattern that you like and have fun!
I don't know if you have the same texture sensitivities that I do, but if you do, if you can only tolerate certain types of socks or certain fabrics then be careful about making socks or gloves or things to wear. One thing that causes me trouble is that the yarn feels somewhat different on the skein than it does once the finished item is worked up. One thing you can do, once you have a finished non-clothing item, is to try holding it against different parts of your body, like the soles of your feet or the palms of your hands. If you get the "get it off me get it off me get it off me aahhhhhhhhh" reaction, then don't make clothing for that body part with that type of yarn. It sucks, because my hands and feet have similar, but slightly different groups of fibres that they react unkindly to, so when I'm buying socks, I will hold them in my hands and pat them and touch them and I sometimes still end up buying socks that put me on the verge of a meltdown whenever I try to wear them.
Anyway, crocheting in the round is not much harder than crocheting a rectangle. The stitches are exactly the same. You can make an oval by crocheting a rectangle and then when you get to one edge, instead of turning, just keep going around the sides and the bottom and back around the other side in spiral. To make it flat, you need to do increases: this is not hard. You just make one crochet stitch through the loops as normal, and then instead of going on to the next loop for putting your hook in, you make another crochet stitch in the same place you just made a stitch in. You probably did this by accident a few times when you were making your first rectangles.
Yarn is expensive. There's this skirt I want to make but it would cost me $85 in yarn to make it. No can has :(
no subject
Saying you need to make granny squares is like saying that you need to make doilies. Maybe you like doilies and want to make one, so do. Maybe you have no use for a doily and no place to put it once it's finished and nothing to do with it, so don't. What you do need to learn is how to crochet in the round in addition to crocheting flat. But whether you do those rounds in making a granny square, a doily, or a bag to hold your yarn stash, or a cat bed, or a skirt, or a sheep, that's all up to you!
I mean, consider the doily. The doily is intricate and beautiful. It is hard work. You use yarn that is about as thick as a cobweb and spend a bazillion hours and you can be truly proud of yourself when you're done. (But then what? What do you do with it once it's finished? That's why I don't do doilies. But some people do and I am impressed by them but I don't need to make a doily to become proficient at crochet.)
I say all this because you don't seem to enthusiastic about the idea of granny squares. I may be wrong -- you may be looking forward to them, in which case you should find a pattern that you like and have fun!
I don't know if you have the same texture sensitivities that I do, but if you do, if you can only tolerate certain types of socks or certain fabrics then be careful about making socks or gloves or things to wear. One thing that causes me trouble is that the yarn feels somewhat different on the skein than it does once the finished item is worked up. One thing you can do, once you have a finished non-clothing item, is to try holding it against different parts of your body, like the soles of your feet or the palms of your hands. If you get the "get it off me get it off me get it off me aahhhhhhhhh" reaction, then don't make clothing for that body part with that type of yarn. It sucks, because my hands and feet have similar, but slightly different groups of fibres that they react unkindly to, so when I'm buying socks, I will hold them in my hands and pat them and touch them and I sometimes still end up buying socks that put me on the verge of a meltdown whenever I try to wear them.
Anyway, crocheting in the round is not much harder than crocheting a rectangle. The stitches are exactly the same. You can make an oval by crocheting a rectangle and then when you get to one edge, instead of turning, just keep going around the sides and the bottom and back around the other side in spiral. To make it flat, you need to do increases: this is not hard. You just make one crochet stitch through the loops as normal, and then instead of going on to the next loop for putting your hook in, you make another crochet stitch in the same place you just made a stitch in. You probably did this by accident a few times when you were making your first rectangles.
Yarn is expensive. There's this skirt I want to make but it would cost me $85 in yarn to make it. No can has :(