How to Make a Crochet Granny Square (2024)

Needlecrafts

Crochet

Beginner Crochet

Amy Solovay

Amy Solovay is a needlecraft expert and professional textile designer who designs knitted, printed, and woven fabric for mass production. She shares her lifelong love of needlecrafts by writing tutorials and patterns. Amy has over 20 years of professional textile design and writing experience.

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Updated on 09/16/22

Project Overview

Total Time:1 hr

Skill Level:Beginner

The granny square pattern has variations that are easy and come together quickly. Once you learn how to make a classic crochet granny square, you can start with the same first two rounds of the traditional granny square pattern, then add on to it with two more rounds of single crochet stitches. You'll end up with a four-round square that's a bit smaller than a basic four-round granny square.

The single crochet stitches create a nice finished edge to the square, so you can use single squares on their own as coasters. You also can stitch a long row of them together to make a skinny granny scarf or join many squares to create a blanket.

You can work this versatile design with any thread or yarn and any size crochet hook. It's usually ideal to choose a hook size suitable for your thread size, but you can play around with different options to get tighter or looser granny squares. You can also vary the size of this square by changing the crochet hook and yarn weight; a larger hook with bulkier yarn will create a bigger square. The examples in this tutorial use DK and worsted weight yarn, both worked with a size I/9 5.5 mm crochet hook.

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What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

Crochet hook

Materials

Thread or yarn

Instructions

Begin the Granny Square
To start forming the granny square, make a circle. To create your circle, make five chain stitches and then join them with a slip stitch to form a ring.
Form Round 1
Work the first round of the square with clusters of double crochet stitches, and chain stitch the corner spaces. Use the following process:
1. Make three chain stitches. (This counts as the first double crochet stitch.)
2. Work two double crochet stitches in the center of the ring.
3. Make two chain stitches followed by three double crochet stitches in the center of the ring. Repeat this step two more times.
4. Make two chain stitches.
5. Slip stitch to join to the beginning of the round.
You should have a total of 12 double crochet stitches in this round, counting the first chain of three as one double crochet stitch.
Form Round 2
Work your way over to the corner by crocheting several slip stitches until you get to the next chain-2 space. Begin the next round in this space following these steps:
1. Make three chain stitches. (This counts as the first double crochet stitch.)
2. Make two double crochet stitches, then two chain stitches, and then three double crochet stitches in the same space.
3. Make two chain stitches followed by three double crochet stitches in the next space. Then make two chain stitches followed by three double crochet stitches in the same space. Repeat this step two more times.
4. Make two chain stitches. Slip stitch to join the end of the round to the beginning.
You should have a total of 24 double crochet stitches in this round. Each corner of the square will have six double crochet stitches separated by a chain of two.
Form Round 3
Work several slip stitches, so your next round can start in a chain-2 space. Then use the following process:
1. Crochet one single crochetstitch in the first corner.
2. Make one single crochetstitch in each of the next three double crochet spaces.
3. Make one single crochetstitch in the chain-2 space.
4. Repeat the previous two steps.
5. Make two chain stitches to create the corner.
6. Repeat all the steps above three more times to finish the other three sides, beginning with one more single crochet in the same corner after your chain-2 space.
7. At the end of the round, slip stitch to close.
You should have nine single crochet stitches per side for a total of 36 plus a chain-2 space in each corner.
Form Round 4
For the last round, you'll single crochet all the way around the square with a chain-2 space at each corner. Follow this process:
1. Crochet one single crochet stitch in the first corner.
2. Single crochet in each single crochet stitch across the side.
3. In the corner, make one single crochet stitch and a chain-2.
4. Repeat the steps above three more times to complete each edge of the square.
5. Join the end of the round to the beginning with a slip stitch.
You should have a total of 44 single crochet stitches in this round with 11 single crochet stitches on each side of the square.
Finish the granny square by cutting the yarn, leaving a tail at least 6 inches long. Weave in the end. Or you can choose to grow the granny square with the next step.
Grow Your Crochet Granny Square
To make this granny square larger, repeat round four as many times as you'd like. With each round, the stitch count will increase by two on each side. Don't forget that each corner should have two single crochet stitches with a chain-2 between them.
Depending on your materials and your tension, you might find a large square begins to get tight. You canloosen your stitches and/or add more stitches in the center of each row to compensate for this.
You also can vary the design by adding more rounds of the double crochet clusters like in round two. For example, make four rounds of a classic granny square and finish with two rounds of single crochet. Advanced crocheters can have fun playing with different variations.