The Classic Granny Square with a Twist

It's fun sometimes to go back to the basics, and nothing screams crochet like the granny square.  There are so many variations on making a granny square, and this website has quite a collection.

But, here is a photo tutorial on how to make a simple, classic granny square.  The interesting twist in how the square is started.  Enjoy!

I used some Red Heart worsted weight yarn and an H hook:

Round 1:  Chain 7.  In first chain (also referred to as "7th ch from hook"), make 3 double crochet (dc) stitches.   

 Then, chain 4 (that will be the corner) and 3 dcs into same first chain (second side made)

 Chain 4 (second corner made) and 3 dcs into same first chain (third side)

Chain 4, but this time, make only 2 dcs into first chain (first picture below) because you are going to slip stitch into the third chain of the original chains you made at the beginning and count that as the third dc to finish up the fourth side (second picture below)

Now you've finished the first round!

To start the second round, either cut and fasten off this yarn if you're going to use another color and attach the new yarn color in a corner, or slip stitch into the corner to keep using the same color (red in my case) and chain 3 (will count as a dc)

 

Now, make 2 dcs next to the ch-3

then chain 4 and 3 dcs (new corner)

To get to the next corner, chain 2, then 3 dcs in next corner

To finish this corner, chain 4 and make 3 dcs.  Then, chain 2 to get to the next corner.  Repeat the [3 dcs, ch 4, 3 dcs] to make the remaining corners.  When you've finished the last corner, chain 2 and slip stitch into top of ch-3 at the beginning of the round.

Ok, round 2 is done!  To make the third (and more rounds if desired), you'll want to fasten new yarn to one of the corners and make the corners in the same way as the corners in round 2.  When you get to a chain-2, make 3 dcs in that space and chain 2 to get to the next corner.

If you feel like the square is too air-y and open, then you can chain 3 in the corners (rather than chain 4) and chain 1 along the sides (rather than chain 2).

After the third round, my square is 5 inches.  The third round took up almost 19 feet of yarn!  The second round used up about 12 and 1/2 feet of yarn, and the first round used almost 7 feet.