The crochet granny square .... my favourite and how to avoid it going out of shape!

Hi lovely crocheters,

I have been busy this week with making tutorial videos, editing and uploading them to my YouTube Channel ..... and taking lots of lovely pictures to share with you here on my blog. My all time favourite basic crochet stitch has got to be the treble crochet (double crochet in US) and using it to make the Granny Square,

so I thought I would share with you this step by step tutorial on how to make the perfect GRANNY SQUARE.  If your new to crochet this is perfect for you because once you have mastered the treble stitch (double crochet in US) you will be keen to start making things with your new found talent!!  The granny square has got to be the most popular amongst newbies as its so simple but very effective and you can create cushions, throws, blankets or even bags without too much complication .... and that's what you need when your new to crochet as it can be sometimes overwhelming to begin with.  And if you are an accomplished crocheter its sometimes good to have a refresher course on the good old GRANNY SQUARE as it can easily be forgotten about.



I will also be adding a crochet tip on how to avoid your crochet going out of shape ..... towards the end of this post!






So why not grab a coffee, a hook (4mm) and some yarn (DK) ....... it doesn't really matter what yarn you use ...... just so you can crochet along with me.

Stitches we will be using are:-

UK                                                               US
sp ...... space                                                 sp ...... space
ss ....... slip stitch                                          ss ....... slip stitch
ch ....... chain stitch                                      ch ....... chain stitch
tr ........ treble crochet                                   dc ........ double crochet

I will be talking in UK terminology ..... but for you lovely people in the US you can follow along too by simply following the stitch guide above!

Lets start with a slip stitch and then chain 4, then insert hook into the 4th ch from hook and slip stitch to close and form a ring.

Next we will ch3 to form our first tr, then into the centre of the ring we have created we will then 2 tr, then ch2, 3tr, ch2, 3tr, ch2, 3tr then finish with a ch2 then insert hook into top of ch3 at the beginning  and ss to close this first round.

You should have 4 corner ch spaces.

Now you can either stay with the same yarn or change colours here .... throughout this tutorial I will be changing colours ..... I mean it's got to be done right?  ..... all those gorgeous yarn colours out there ...... and its ideal for using up your left over yarns too! 

Change colour by simply tying it to any ch space corner ..... then we will ch3 ( this will be our first tr) then 2tr into the corner space, then into next corner space ..... 3tr, ch2, 3tr, then continue like this into the next corner space.

When you come to the last corner space where you started the round we will finish with 3tr, ch2, then ss into top of 3ch to close this round.

We should now have something like this picture above ..... 4 ch space corners and  1ch space on each side.

Then we will fasten off yarn and change colour ...... I have chosen cream .... attach the yarn to any ch space it doesn't matter where ..... I have placed mine in the ch sp along the side .....then ch3 and 2tr into that ch sp .....

then 3tr, ch2, 3tr into corner space then 3tr into the side ch sp .....

finish with a ss to top of 3ch to close round ..... fasten off and change colour ......

Ch3, then 2tr into same sp, then continue along with 3tr into ch sp and 3tr, ch2, 3tr into every corner space and then ss to top of ch3 to close the round.

it goes without saying that wherever there is yarn involved a cat will appear ...... Toffee Pie ..... loves to get involved with my crochet and help .... NOT!

Any how back to my lovely professional blog post ...... LOL .... reality!!!!

Your granny square should be taking shape and looking like this picture above ......  you can either finish here on round 4 or continue going around and around to your hearts desire ..... changing yarns and so on and so forth ......

I continued with another 2 rounds for this tutorial as I wanted to show you what it looks like as you get bigger and bigger ....

BUT ..... a word of warning ...... if you are planning to continue to grow your granny square beyond 4 rows you may notice this start to happen ...... picture above ..... a wonky granny square ..... and this does not look good ...... so if you are planning on making a cushion cover or blanket you will need to change your routine right at the beginning ....... by flipping your work on every row ...... I have a YouTube Tutorial specially for this so it may help if you watch it to see what I mean ...

as there is nothing worse than merrily crocheting away for hours on end and umpteen rounds only to find that your beautiful project looks out of shape and very annoyingly unprofessional .... if you are anything like me it drives me mad if my work does not look right!  OCD I'm sure!!! 

I hope this tutorial has helped you with your very first granny square ... but I can promise you it wont be the last ..... they are very addictive!

If you are wondering what yarn I have used in this blog post I will list them below:-

Stylecraft Special DK yarn

Colour recipe ..... cream, claret, duckegg, meadow, buttermilk and camel.

I love this yarn and use it in many of my projects simply because there are over 82 lovely shades to choose from and they are 100gm balls and are under £2.00 making them very economical and go a long way!

Well I hope you are feeling inspired and will be making lots of granny squares .... I would love it if you could share your projects in the comments box below and subscribe to my YouTube Channel so you can crochet along with me!!

Until next time .... take care and happy crochet!

Jayne

XOXO