Granny squares are classic for a reason! You can make them big, small, tight, loose, from a single color or many colors. The only guidelines are to find a beautiful yarn and to have a fun time inventing each unique square. Follow along with our How To Make A Granny Square tutorial to learn all the ins and outs, from slip knot to heirloom blanket!

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Here’s what we’ll cover in this tutorial…

  • Making A Slip Knot
  • Holding The Yarn + Hook
  • Working Basic Stitches
    • Yarn Over
    • Chain Stitch
    • Foundation Ring + Slip Stitch
    • Double Crochet Stitch
  • Granny Square Pattern

LEARN TO CROCHET

MAKING A SLIP KNOT

All crochet starts with making a slip knot around the tip of your crochet hook. Here’s how to do it . . .

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Make a loop about 5 or 6 inches from the end of the yarn. Bring the yarn that is on top around to the back of the loop. Slide the hook under the yarn that is behind the loop.

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Gently tighten the knot around the neck of the hook. You’re ready to begin!

HOLDING THE YARN + HOOK

There isn’t just one correct way to hold the yarn and hook. What’s important is that you feel comfortable and that you keep the yarn at a consistent tension. Here’s how we like to hold the yarn and hook…

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Hold the hook in your right hand, grasping it between your thumb, index, and middle fingers. Wrap the working yarn once around your left pinky, then bring it up the inside of your hand and pass the yarn between your middle and index fingers.

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Use your left thumb and middle finger to hold the work, while your left index finger guides the yarn. Your pinky acts like a gear, keeping the tension consistent.

WORKING BASIC STITCHES

YARN OVER

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

The most common maneuver in crochet is the “yarn over.” You yarn over before stitches, between stitches, during stitches, all the time! A yarn over is simply the act of wrapping the working yarn over the hook from the back to the front, shown above.

CHAIN STITCH

Most crochet projects begin with making a “chain.” To make a chain you first tie a slip knot on the hook and then pull successive loops through the loop on the hook. Here’s how…

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Yarn over and grab the working yarn with the hook. Gently pull the yarn through the loop that’s on the hook. That’s one chain stitch.

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Repeat this step as many times as the pattern specifies, creating a chain of interlocking loops.

Chain stitches don’t just occur at the beginning of a crochet pattern. They are also used to create open spaces and to imitate a conventional stitch at the beginning of a round or row. You’ll see chain stitches used for both purposes when you make a granny square.

FOUNDATION RING

Granny squares are worked around and around in a square, so they require a Foundation Ring. That means starting with a length of chain stitches and joining the last chain stitch to the first chain with a slip stitch. Here’s how to do all of that…

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Chain (ch) 6 stitches. Then, find the first chain stitch you made (the V right above the slipknot and tail) and insert the hook into the center of that stitch.

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Yarn over and pull the yarn through the chain, so there are two loops on the hook. Pull the first loop through the second loop, so that one loop remains on the hook.

The last two steps are a slip stitch (sl st), i.e. a stitch you make by yarning over, pulling the yarn through the work and then directly through the loop(s) on the hook.

DOUBLE CROCHET STITCH

There are a handful of basic crochet stitches with names like single crochet, half double crochet, and the one that you need to make a granny square: double crochet. All are variations on the same theme, so if you learn the double crochet stitch, you’re well on the road to learning all of the others! Here’s how you make a double crochet in the context of a granny square…

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Yarn over, then insert the hook where the pattern tells you to, in this example, into the middle of the Foundation Ring. (For a granny square you will always make the double crochets either into the Foundation Ring or into a space created by chain stitches in the previous round.)

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Yarn over again and pull the yarn from the back of the Foundation Ring, through the center of the Ring, to the front of the Ring. There are now three loops on the hook.

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Yarn over again, then pull the yarn through the first two loops on the hook so that two loops remain on the hook.

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Yarn over and pull the yarn through both loops on the hook, leaving one loop on the hook. That’s a double crochet, and now you know everything you need to know to make a granny square… Give it a try!

GRANNY SQUARE PATTERN

FOUNDATION RING

With the Inner Color, ch 6 and join into a ring with a slip stitch.

ROUND 1

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Ch 3 (this chain will look and act like a double crochet [dc]), then make 2 dc into the ring, ch 2. This ch 2, and every ch 2 that follows, forms a “corner space.”

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

[3 dc into the ring, ch 2] 3 times. (This means to make 3 double crochets, followed by 2 chain stitches; repeat; and repeat again . . . 3 times total.) 

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Find the third chain of the beginning ch-3 (marked here with a black dot), slip stitch into third chain of the ch-3 (i.e. insert the hook into the third chain, yarn over and pull the yarn through the chain stitch and then through the loop on the hook).

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

If you want to change colors, like in our example above, cut the yarn, leaving a 6-inch tail, and pull the tail through the remaining loop on the hook.

If you want to continue with the same color, then there are no further steps – you’re all done with Round 1! 

ROUND 2

This round continues to set up the Granny Square’s corners. Here is how corners work in this and all following rounds… Into each corner you will make the same cluster of stitches: 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc. The first corner of every round begins with the second set of double crochets, which is actually made up of a ch 3 (that looks like a double crochet) and 2 dcs. The round ends with the ch 2 that connects the two sets of double crochets. Let’s try it, right after we talk about how to join a new color!

NOTE: If you’re sticking with the same color and don’t need to learn how to join a new color, skip down to Continue, below!

JOINING A NEW COLOR

  • Post Image
  • Post Image

Leaving a 6-inch tail, join the next color to any corner space by inserting the hook into the space, then pulling the yarn from the back of the work through the space to the front, and make a slip stitch.

You’ll use this same technique regardless of which round you want to change colors on!

CONTINUE

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Ch 3, make 2 dc into that same corner space.

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

[Ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) into next corner space] 3 times, ch 1, 3 dc into beginning corner space, ch 2, slip stitch into third chain of beginning ch 3.

Let’s decipher that a little! Usually, crochet patterns [bracket] instructions that you need to repeat. The number of times to repeat the bracketed section is written after the second bracket, like “3 times.” Each time you repeat the bracketed section, simply follow every instruction inside the brackets. Sometimes there are repeats inside the brackets too. These are written in (parentheses). Parentheses may also indicate a group of stitches that you need to make into the same place, a corner space for example. 

Here, now, are steps 3 and 4 explicitly written out. Compare this to steps 3 and 4 written in crochet pattern language and you’ll soon be fluent!

Ch 3, 2 dc into same corner space, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) all into the next corner space, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) into the next corner space, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) into the next corner space, ch 1, 3 dc into beginning corner space, ch 2, sl st into third chain of beginning ch 3.

ROUND 3

Now that you’ve gotten the hang of corners, you have to also start working sets of 3 dcs across each side. The sets of 3 dcs are separated by a ch-1, and you will work each set into the space created by the previous round’s ch-1. If you’re changing colors, join your new color now!

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Ch 3, 2 dc into that same corner space.

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

[Ch 1, 3 dc into next ch-1 space, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) into next corner space] 3 times, ch 1, 3 dc into next ch-1 space, ch 1, 3 dc into beginning corner space, ch 2, sl st into third chain of ch-3.

ROUND 4

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Ch 3, 2 dc into that same corner space, [(ch 1, 3 dc into next ch-1 space) 2 times, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) into next corner space] 3 times, [ch 1, 3 dc into next ch-1 space] 2 times, ch 1, 3 dc into beginning corner space, ch 2, sl st into third chain of ch-3.

ROUND 5 + BEYOND

Most granny squares consist of only a few rounds, but if you want to keep making your square bigger, just repeat Round 4, making 3dc into each ch-1 space along each side.

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Once your granny square is done, weave in all the ends and gently wet block it… Then make one, two, or a few dozen more, and when you’re ready to join them all together, visit our Sewing Crocheted Squares Together Tutorial!

Free Boundless Granny Square Blanket Pattern

How To Make A Granny Square | Purl Soho

Put these new skills to use with our free Boundless Granny Square Blanket pattern, one giant granny square with boundless possibilities. All you need is 1 Cotton Pure On A Cone and some Cotton Pure skeins for the stripes, plus your new granny square expertise… Have fun!

More Crochet Tutorials

Explore all of our free crochet tutorials to keep expanding your crochet know-how!