Crochet Solid Granny Square Tutorial

Learn How To Crochet The Solid Granny Square in this Tutorial

Welcome back to the Tutorial of the Week!  Last week we covered the traditional granny square.  This week, we’re covering the solid granny square.

Why Solid?

Most people are content with the traditional granny square.  It’s recognizable right off, even by beginners.  But what if you don’t want the gaps?  What if you’d like a more solid look, but the freedom that granny squares give you when creating your masterpiece?

I think that granny squares in general, do give a certain amount of freedom—you can make them any color or multiple colors that you want.  Mix and match, create a design by arranging the granny squares in a certain way (pixel crochet), and so on.

The solid granny square offers another way to achieve this.

What you will need:

This post contains affiliate links.  Should you buy something from these links, we earn a small percentage of the sale, at no extra cost to you.  This helps us keep the blog going!

• Yarn—I used Red Heart Super Saver that I had on hand. Typically, any worsted weight yarn will do for grannies.
• 5mm hook—this is the usual hook size for worsted weight yarns.
• Yarn Needle—for weaving in ends.
• Stitch Markers (optional)
• Scissors

Abbreviations:

Ch(s)—chain(s)

St(s)—stitch(es)

DC—double crochet

SS—slip stitch

MR—Magic Ring (video tutorial here)

FO—fasten off

Magic Ring vs. Chain 4 and Slip Stitch:

There are two types of people in the “working in the round” crochet community: the magic ring (or circle) and the chain 4, ss to the first ch made.

Is one better than the other?  It’s a long-time debate.  My answer is: no.  Both of them trap the tail end for easy ends weaving.  Both of them provide a circle to work into (albeit one is larger than the other).  And both of them form the same end result: a ring. A circle.  It looks the same in the end.

So start this project with whichever method you use to make a circle.  No judgment here.  If you don’t know how to do the magic ring and want to learn, visit the Traditional Granny Square tutorial either on the blog here, or on the YouTube video here.

The Method:

As I mentioned above, create a ring and chain 3 to get started.  Ch3 does count as a stitch for the entire pattern.

ROUND 1

1. 11 dc into the ring (12 total)
2. SS to top of ch3 to join.

Round 2:

1. Ch3, dc in same place as ch3, ch1, 2dc—all in the same joining space.
2. Dc in the next two sts.
3. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next st.
4. Dc in the next two sts.
5. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next st.
6. Dc in the next two sts.
7. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next st.
8. Dc in the last 2 sts.
9. Ss to top of ch3.

Round 3

Now we’re just growing the square since in the previous round, we created the center and established corners to a rounded area

1. Ch3, dc in the next st
2. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next ch1 sp
3. Dc in the next 6 sts
4. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next ch1 sp
5. Dc in the next 6 sts
6. [2dc, ch1, 2cc] in the next ch1 sp
7. Dc in the next 6 sts
8. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next ch1 sp
9. Dc in the last 4 sts
10. Ss to the top of the ch3.

Round 4

It’s round 4 of the granny square  where I like to stop if I’m not making a giant granny square.  I personally prefer 4 round grannies to 5 rounders.  A lot of people do.  The repeat isn’t any of the rounds, but the technique involved in making the granny.

1. Ch3, dc in the next 3 sts
2. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next ch1 sp
3. Dc in the next 9 sts
4. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next ch1 sp
5. Dc in the next 9 sts
6. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next ch1 sp
7. Dc in the next 9 sts
8. [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in the next ch1 sp
9. Dc in the last 5 sts.
10. Ss to the top of the ch3. FO and weave in ends.

How to Continue on the Pattern:

As you can see, your granny gains stitches each round to make it bigger and bigger.  All you need to do to continue growing it, is after you have done your ch3, dc in each stitch over to the first chain 1 space, where you will complete a corner [2dc, ch1, 2dc], and then dc in each stitch along the next side until you come to another corner and make that corner pattern (instructions in the brackets) in the next ch1 space.

Continue on in this manner until you have come all the way around to your starting ch3, and slip stitch to join the round to the top of that ch3.

The solid granny makes a very cool throw pillow, especially if you change colors at some point in the pattern.

Links:

If you would like to see a video of this being done, head on over to our YouTube channel where we upload all of our crochet technique tutorials and stitch of the week tutorials.

Hit the like button on the video and subscribe to our YouTube channel—this helps us tremendously!

Thank you for joining us in our crochet journey!