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Granny square basics

The classic square from the center out: the cluster, the corner, how the rounds grow, how to change color and how to keep it square.

By The StudioPublished Aug 6, 20265 min read

The granny square is a small piece of crochet logic that has been passed around for a century: groups of three double crochet separated by chain spaces, growing outward from a ring, with a corner at each of four points. It teaches working in joined rounds, working into spaces instead of stitches, and changing color, all in a piece the size of a coaster. Once you can make one, you can make a blanket, a bag, a cardigan or a cushion.

The vocabulary

Cluster: three double crochet worked into the same space. The building block.
Corner: two clusters with a chain 2 between them, all in one space. It turns the square.
Side space: the chain 1 between clusters along a side. Some versions skip it and put clusters side by side.
Corner space: the chain 2 at a corner. Next round, the corner goes here.

Round one

1
Make a magic ring, or chain 4 and slip stitch to the first chain to form a ring.
2
Chain 3 (counts as the first double crochet). Work 2 double crochet into the ring: the first cluster.
3
Chain 2. Work 3 double crochet into the ring. Repeat until there are four clusters with a chain 2 between each.
4
Chain 2 and slip stitch into the top of the starting chain 3 to close the round. Pull the magic ring tight.
You have four clusters and four corner spaces. It looks like a small flower, not a square yet.

Round two

Slip stitch across to the nearest corner space (or join a new color there). Chain 3, and in the same space work 2 double crochet, chain 2, 3 double crochet: your first corner. Chain 1. In the next corner space, work 3 double crochet, chain 2, 3 double crochet. Chain 1. Continue around: a corner in each corner space with a chain 1 between. Close with a slip stitch. Now it is a square, with four corners and one side space on each side.

Every round after

The rule from here is always the same: a corner (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in each corner space, and a cluster (3 dc) in every side space, with chain 1 between everything. Each round adds one cluster to each side. Round three has two clusters per side, round four has three, and so on. Count clusters per side after each round; if two sides differ, a corner was missed.

Starting each round at a different corner, or in the side space after the corner, keeps the starting seam from spiraling up one edge. Many people join a new color at a new corner each round for the same reason.

Changing color

The classic look is a new color each round. At the end of a round, fasten off, leaving a tail. Join the new color with a slip stitch or a standing double crochet in any corner space and continue. Each round then has two ends; crochet over them for a few stitches as you go and weave the rest in on the back. For a single-color square, slip stitch to the corner and carry on without cutting.

Keeping it square

Granny squares tend to twist slightly because every cluster leans the same way. Three things help: work the chain 3 that starts each round slightly loose so the corner is not pulled in; turn the square over after each round and work the next from the other side, which reverses the lean; and block the finished squares, which straightens everything. Squares that will be joined must be the same size, so make them at the same tension and block them all together to one measurement.

Solid and other squares

The same corner logic makes a solid granny square: double crochet in every stitch along the sides, with a corner (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) at each corner, no chain spaces. It makes a denser fabric for bags and cushions. Circles inside squares, sunbursts and flower centers are the first round replaced by something round and then squared off with corners in the last round. Once the corner rule is in your hands, any motif is a variation.

Joined granny squares become a blanket, and the next articles cover exactly that: joining motifs for the methods, and seaming for the stitches. Even a stack of four-round squares in leftover yarn makes a good first blanket, and it is portable in a way a whole blanket is not.

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