The Granny Square Blanket, Easy for Beginners -

The granny square blanket is a perfect beginner project for a new crocheter. It involves a simple 3 double crochet cluster stitch that is worked into the spaces of the row below. If you haven’t made a granny square before, please check out this post where we go over everything!

Granny Square refers to the 3 double crochet cluster, that is worked in a square or rectangle. In our case, for this blanket, we’ll work in a rectangle, and create a spiral, so there is no end to a row. However, you can end your rows, as we did in the granny square tutorial, by slip stitching to the top of the chains, and then chaining 2 to begin the new row. This makes sense if you’re planning a specific stripe to your blanket, like in the blue and white blanket, shown below.

In that blanket, I actually made it striped, but it does not go around like the square blanket we’re going to make today, but I think it turned out beautifully. I’ll probably put together the pattern and post it later. But, it was actually made from a really thin yarn that didn’t stay together well and as I tried to work with it, it fell really flat and didn’t hold any shape, when I tried to make a blanket with just 1 strand of it. Luckily, I didn’t buy it. It was found in a bag at the bottom of my mom’s knitting stash, and she didn’t like it, so gave it to me. I ended up using an additional strand of a light weight (3) white yarn I had, and a 6mm crochet hook, and worked it together. I switched to 2 strands of the white for the plain white stripe. Then, when it was big enough, I added a simple scalloped border, which we’ll discuss in a future post.

What can you do with Granny Square?

There are virtually endless possibilities when it comes to changing colours, from a full rainbow, like the pic at the top, to a single colour for the whole blanket, to a simple stripe, like the blue and white above, and everything in between! If you can imagine it, you can do it. I have made so many of these blankets, and each time is so different! I made a huge couch blanket in navy, burgundy and white, for my favourite hockey team, Go Avs!

And an awful one that had no plan, just used what I had, and was black, white, purple, green, and had random striping, that my dog just loved. I’d love to see where your creativity takes you so show me your creations! Tag me on Instagram @purple.rose.crafts and I’ll share your creations to my stories.

How to work Granny Clusters

If you just want the pattern for this granny square blanket, skip to the bottom. But if you want to learn how to make it, start here:

Step 1: chain a multiple of 3, and add 2 chains, for the initial dc. We’re going to do 23 chains, for our foundation row.

The starting foundation for everything granny square, is the 3dc cluster. Many different adaptations of this have been created over the years, but this is where the granny square came from. In many granny square patterns, they use chains to hold stitches together, but I don’t find this necessary, as the granny stripe works just fine without them.

Step 2: dc 2 into the third chain from your hook, then *skip 2 and dc 3 into next chain,* continue skipping 2 and dc 3, until you reach the last chain. In the final chain, double crochet 12. This will look a bit like a circle. but it’ll straighten out when the next row is worked over it. Now, your work should have created a rounded end, and now you’ll be facing back along the bottom of the chains.

There are 2 options now, you can make your 3dc into the spaces of the initial clusters, or into the bottom chain of the other side. In the YouTube tutorial below, I show both, and for this blanket, I used the latter. Continue working your clusters along the second side of the foundation row, until you get back to the other corner.

You’ll be dc 6 into the last chain, and an additional 6 over the 2 chains from the beginning of this row (this is now creating our spiral). If you’d rather end the row as we did in the previous post, dc 9 in total into the final chain, and slip to the chains at the beginning of the row. (you’ll do this to end each row, going forward, and begin the row by chaining 2, and dc2 into the same space, but I won’t include those instructions further, I’ll continue providing the directions for the spiral).

Now, we’ve come around our second end, and now every cluster will be worked between 2 from the row below. Work each cluster, until you get to the dc 12. Now, you’ll create a corner (dc 6) between the 3rd and 4th dc, then skip over to between 6th & 7th, put 1 cluster here, then make your second corner between dc 9 & 10. Continue working clusters into the spaces between until you reach the other end, and create the 2 corners as we did above.

You’ll continue working clusters into the spaces along the sides, and 6dc into the center of each corner, until your blanket reaches the desired size. You can then bind off by cutting your yarn and pulling the tail through the loop and weave in your ends, or you can add a border. I like a single crochet border to give some definition to the border. To do this, single crochet in each stitch (not cluster), and make 3 sc in the center of each corner.

Granny Square Blanket Pattern

Materials:

Yarn I am using: Bernat Pop in Planetary (3-4 balls is recommended)

4.5 mm crochet hook (though a 5mm is recommended on the yarn package)

3 mm crochet hook, for weaving in ends

Size: as large as you’d like it to be (gauge is not important for this pattern)

Set up: pattern can be worked over any multiple of 3 chains + 2. Keep in mind the blanket expands in all 4 directions, so keep the first row small.

Pattern

Chain 23

Row 1: dc 2 into the 3rd chain from your hook. *Skip 2, dc3 into next ch* continue to the last ch. dc 12 into last chain. then, working back along the opposite side of the foundation chains, dc 3 into the chain where the initial clusters were created, along the second side. In the final chain dc 6, and then dc 6 more into the 2 chain from the beginning of the row.

Row 2: work a 3dc cluster into the spaces between the clusters from the previous row. At the corner, work corner (6dc) between third and fourth dc, a cluster between 6th & 7th dc, and a second corner between 9th & 10th dc. Continue working clusters along the second side, and make the other corners the same.

Continue working clusters along the sides and corners into the center of the previous row until your blanket is as large as you’d like. Begin your border at a corner, if you’d like to add one. I like single crochet for a couple of rows around the outside, sc 3 into the corners. Check out the YouTube tutorial below if you have any questions, and feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what else you’d like to see me show you!