Crochet Tutorial: Granny Square (2024)

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Self-taught crochet artist. I've made things from beanies to change purses to sweaters to amigurumi.

In this tutorial, we'll crochet a granny square. We'll also go over changing colors in a new round and two different methods of joining squares together. We'll go over a sewing method of joining, and a no-sew method, both having their own advantages and disadvantages. And I'll give you a basic rundown of reading simple crochet patterns.

What you'll need:

• Practice yarn: I would recommend something similar to the yarn you want to use for your actual project, as long as the yarn is simple. Don't start with a silky or fuzzy yarn or anything with too much texture, it'll make it harder on you as a beginner if you can't see your stitches. But I wouldn't recommend using your actual project yarn unless you have a lot of it. We're going to do a color change in row 5 and unless your pattern calls for that, you'll just be wasting the yarn when we fasten it off and switch colors.
• Crochet hook: Most yarns have a recommended hook size. Mostly, it doesn't matter what size hook you use for granny squares, as you'll just stop doing rows when you get the correct sized square. But I always suggest beginners use a hook bigger than the recommended size for the yarn, maybe even two sizes bigger. Bigger hooks are easier to learn with.
• Yarn needle: You'll need a yarn needle regardless if you choose to do the no-sew method for joining the squares together. Yarn needles have a bigger eye than sewing needles and a dull point.
• A plan: I learned this lesson the hard way in my first granny square blanket. Don't just make granny squares at random and hope you can Tetris block them together later. Know what you're making, be it a purse, or a skirt, or a blanket, and know how many you need and what size you need to make them. For your first few practice squares, this tutorial is probably all the plan you need. But once you move into the actual project, make sure you know what you're doing.

In round one, we're going to do our crochet straight into that magic circle. Making it and the tail end the base of the center.

Chain 3 to give your future double crochet some height, this chain 3 counts as your first double crochet stitch.

Into your magic ring, you're going to do two double crochet stitches. If you haven't done a double crochet before, I've got a tutorial that shows you the basics of a double crochet into a chain. The premise is the same but instead of working the stitch into a chain loop we're going to work it into our magic circle, making sure we're catching the tail end of the stitch also.

Work 2 double crochets into your magic ring and then chain two.

This is a shell stitch, it's used in a lot of projects, sometimes with three stitches, sometimes with a lot more. And this is the stitch you're going to be repeating over and over.

The new chain 2 is the corner of your starting square.

Yarn over and work three more double crochets into the magic ring and chain two for the next corner. You'll do this two more times until you have four sides and four chain 2 corners. Ending with a chain 2 corner.

Now we get the benifits of starting with a magic loop rather than a chain. You're still catching the tail end in each of these stitches, so when you pull on it, it'll shrink the circle. Since we're doing a granny square that is supposed to have gaps, don't pull it tight, just shrink it so your square is just the right shape.

Slip stitch into your starting chain 3 stitch.

The slip stitch is like a half single stitch. You go into the top of your starting chain 3, yarn over back to front and pull it through, but instead of another yarn over pulling through both loops you're just going to pull the same yarn through the one loop on your hook.

Now you're going to repeat the first steps of round one,

ch 3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc

Translation: Chain 3, work 2 double crochet into the same chain 2 corner, chain 2, work 3 double crochet into the same chain 2 corner.

Here's where the pattern changes a little and you'll start to see the repeat. See, the reason we chained 2 in between those two shells is because it's a corner. You'll have to work two shells into that corner, just like you just did for round one's corner. Except not every shell is going to be a corner, and the inside shells don't need enough space for two shells to be worked in. Since we're preparing for an inside shell next round, we'll only need to chain one this time. Then we'll work the same two shells into the next chain 2 corner, chain one in between corners and work our way around all four corners.

(ch 1, 3dc, ch 2, 3dc) x3, ch1, slip st into starting ch 3

Translation: chain 1, work 3 double crochets into the chain 2 corner, chain 2, work 3 double crochets into the same chain 2 corner. You'll do the instructions in the parentheses 3 times, once for each of the remaining corners, and end the row by chaining 1 and slip stitch into your first chain 3 stitch.

So that makes the pattern for this round look like this:

Round 2: ch 3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc in same ch 2 space, (ch 1, 3dc in next ch 2 space, ch 2, 3dc in same ch 2 space) x3, ch1, slip st into starting ch 3

Round 3 is where you really start to see the pattern forming. Since now, we're adding inside shells too. (Remember how we prepared for that earlier with chain 1 spaces instead of chain 2?)

Start round 3 the same way you started round 2. Slip stitch your way to the corner chain 2 gap and:

ch3, 2dc, ch 2, 3dc, ch1

Got that? Work your chain 3 and two double crochets into the chain 2 corner gap, chain two for next round's corner, then work three more double crochets into the same gap, and chain one for next round's inside stitch.

Now we'll do the inside stitch, which is just the same shell but only one of them this time:

3dc in chain one space, ch1

That's it, just a simple trio of double crochets and a chain 1 space for next row. See the pattern. Each row will have an extra inside shell, but since it's a square, we'll never have more than four corner double-shells. We'll repeat this pattern the whole way around, making round 3's pattern:

ch3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, (ch1, 3dc in next ch1 st, ch1, 3dc in next ch2 stitch, ch2, 3dc)x3 ch1, 3dc in last ch1 stitch, ch1, slip stitch in starting ch3.

Round 4 is going to be a review of all the things you've learned so far before we move into a color change. It's just the same pattern as row 3 but with one more inside stitch on each side of the square, as every round from here on out will be; just the previous round but slightly bigger.

Round 4: slip stitch to corner ch2 space, ch3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, (ch1, 3dc in ch1 space, ch1, 3dc in next ch1 space, ch1, 3dc in next ch2 space, ch2, 3dc in same ch2 space)x3, ch1, 3dc in next ch1 space, ch1, 3dc in next ch1 space, ch 1, slip st into starting chain.

See if you can finish the round without looking up at the previous round's pattern translations and don't be intimidated by the pattern, take it one stitch at a time. You can always remove your hook from the loop and pull on your working stitch and unravel a few stitches to back up a bit if you mess up. Crochet is forgiving like that. At least with this pattern, we don't need to count stitches.

Color changes! NOOOOO! Scary.

Except, it's not. Not in granny squares. Changing color in a granny square is actually easier than continuing the same color, if you can believe it.

As we learned above, when we're carrying our yarn over to the next round, we need to slip stitch all the way to the next chain 2 corner. But not so when you're starting with a new yarn. When you change color for a new round, you just slap it right onto that chain 2 space like it was meant to be. The trick is just securing the tail end of the new yarn and the freshly cut working end of the previous round. We'll start with the new yarn, since the old yarn is way over there at the start of the previous round. (It's actually only like two stitches away, but making the yarn jump two stitches can make the wrong side (the back) of your project look awkward, so we'll leave it alone anyway.)

Insert your hook into the chain 2 gap of the first corner and pull a loop of the new yarn through the gap. No need to slip knot anything, just make sure you leave a good-sized tail, so the end of the yarn doesn't come through the gap also.

Then chain 3 and move on with the pattern as normal.

Yep, it's that easy. You'll secure the tail end of the new yarn by working it into the base of your shells, making sure it's laying right on top of the chain as you crochet your double crochet around it. For extra security, do it for all five of your starting corner double crochets. We'll weave the rest into the pattern later just to make sure, but this makes for a good start.

Here's the pattern for round three in case you still need it:

Round 5: color change, ch3 with new color, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, (ch1, [3dc in ch1 space, ch1,]x3, 3dc in next ch2 space, ch2, 3dc in same ch2 space)x3, (ch1, 3dc in next ch1 space)x3, ch 1, slip st into starting chain.

The square brackets are no different from the parentheses. Simply do the enclosed instructions the specified number of times each time you repeat the parentheses instructions. So in this case, you'll make three inner shells per side of the square.

When you come to the last double crochet shell, you'll want to pick up the end of your previous color yarn and crochet over top of it, just like you did in the very beginning of the round with the new color's tail. Securing it until we weave it in with the yarn needle.

As noted in the caption above, the crochet only option looks nicer from the front of the work, as you can't see the joining yarn at all. This is incredibly helpful if your two granny squares are different colors, as you can't just match the color and hide it. I purposely used a different color, so the join would stand out and you still can't see it.

In this option, you'll just be using a simple slip stitch to join the back loops of each granny square together. This is the loop closest to the back side of the work, so you'll only be going through one loop per square, ending with two loops on the hook.

Do a slip stitch the same way as described earlier, all the way up the side of your project. Since it's a slip stitch, you can't really catch the tail of your yarn in the stitches, so make sure you weave it in early with your yarn needle.

You'll need to be careful to catch the chain stitches in the chain 1 and chain 2 spaces this time, instead of simply inserting the hook into the gap as you were doing while making the squares, otherwise you'll lose the invisibility as well as the clarity of your edges.

As mentioned before, this is the method I prefer. I like to have both sides of my project look nice, and the wrong side just looks so clean, even when you can see the yarn. If your project has multiple colors in the granny square, I recommend your stitching yarn be complimentary but not the same color as any of your squares, at least not on the outside edges. If you're going to let it show, incorporate it into the piece and use the same color throughout the whole work.

This method is similar to the new sew option in that we're joining the back loops of both squares together, but here you just need to insert the needle in and pull it through. Making sure it's going in the same direction every time you insert the needle. Pictured below, I'm always going from bottom to top, then bringing my needle back down and once again inserting the needle into the bottom and exiting the top. One sewing stitch per crochet stitch all the way across. Like option one you'll need to grab the back loops of the chain 1 and chain 2 stitches, but it is a bit easier with a needle than with a hook.