Left Hand Motif of the Month Jan. 2013: Traditional Granny Square Workshop with Free Crochet Pattern

Alright, so I'm going to show you how to make the traditional granny square, which is used in the baby granny square blanket. The link is below, so you can grab that pattern to make the project that's shown there. But the basic instructions are the same no matter what size you're making. So I wanted to show you what different yarn and hook sizes do to this traditional granny square. So I'm going with a worsted weight yarn and a size H or 5mm hook to show you the kind of drape and effect that you get from a smaller hook. Using a worsted weight yarn. So to begin the pattern and I'm also going to change color So I'm going to show you how to change color and weave in your ends on this one And I'll also show you a bigger size hook with this same kind of yarn In a single color so you can see lots of different options. So to begin this project it tells us to chain four So we're just going to do four normal chains, and then we're going to join it with a slip stitch. So I always just kind of fold it together and make sure the tail's on the bottom when I join. I just make it a habit. It's not really important where your tail is for this project, because you're going to be working into your chain. So I'm just going to slip stitch. It doesn't really matter where you join it either. You don't have to catch two loops or anything, because you're not going to see any of this ring. It's going to be completely crocheted over. Now I'm going to chain five. This is going to be the beginning of the very first round, and I need to chain five, which is going to count as one double crochet, which is this first chain three, and then the next two chains count as a chain two. Now my pattern is telling me that I need to dc three times in the ring, which is double crochet three times inside this ring. So I yarn over to begin my double crochet, stick my hook through this ring, yarn over, lay over. I call this a lay over because you're just kind of laying it over the top of your hook to catch it. So just turn your hook down and pull it through. Then yarn over and do your double crochet by pulling through the first two loops, and then yarn over and pull through the next two. I'm going to do two more of those. And as you work around this ring, you're going to see that the whole thing is going to Just go away, and it's going to become part of the project, because all of these double crochets are going to be worked around here. So I am just finishing off the third double crochet, and I have a repeat, it's telling me to chain two, and then to do another three double crochets in the ring again. So I just keep reaching through the center, pulling up that loop, and you'll notice that I always push my hook so that all of my loops rest on my shaft. And what that does is give all of my stitches the same gauge and the same height. You can see there are some people that do different types of crocheting where they might lift on their loop or pull down on their loop and that'll give you a different gauge. But I find that keeping it on the shaft gives me the most consistent, because if you're lifting your loops, you're not always going to lift them to the same height. So you're going to have different sized stitches. So if you find that your projects are a little wavy, or a little inconsistent, try putting all of your loops on the shaft of your hook, and you'll find that it's probably a lot straighter. So now I have two sets of three double crochets. I need to make another one. You'll see that it has a repeat on the pattern which I have put right above so you can see how it actually looks. The great thing about this pattern it gets really wordy in the written pattern but once you understand the easy repeat of this pattern you don't even have to read the pattern. You can just look for the color changes if like you're reading my pattern that has specific color changes or make up your own as you go. So I chain two, and then now I'm only going to do two double crochets, and the reason being is because I want even sides of three double crochets. So this first chain three is counting as one of my three double crochets that need to go on this side of the square. So I'll show you a little bit more what that means after I finish these last two double double crochets. You'll see that my ring is completely full of double crochets. Then I need to join my hook at the top of my chain three. So make sure you're finding that very first chain three. It might have gotten a little hidden from your rings, or you can count backwards from your chains up here. This is your very first double crochet, so that's one chain, two chain, and that's the third chain, where you can pull this to un... To uncover that very first chain down here, it can get kind of small. So sometimes it's better to count backwards. So I have one, two, and three. And I like to catch the back loop and the bottom bump at the same time when I have these kind of joins, just to make it a little less noticeable. You'll see that the hole is kind of small. If I were to grab just the back loop, it kind of pulls up on the other chains and makes a bigger hole. You can see that hole is bigger. So if you want a less noticeable hole, just go through that back loop and then the bottom bump of that chain to catch two loops. You can see if I spread this out here that I have two loops. Alright, then I have finished the first round of my project and I have three double crochets on each side of my square. Now the next round I'm going to do in green again just so we don't have to fasten off just yet. Um, the first part of the instruction for round two is slip stitch in your next chain. So that's just this chain right here. This is to set us up properly for our round so that we have, um, the same instructions round after round so it's even less, um, problem memorizing this and being able to just sit back and make anything out of this, um, motif pattern. So I'm going to chain 5 again, and once again it's going to count as one double crochet, and then a chain 2, and what I'm doing right here is making this corner again. So this is the round 2 corner for this portion of my project. Now, I'm sure that doesn't make much sense, but it will once I finish it. So I'm going to double crochet three times back into this chain two space. So it's very easy because all you have to do is just go around the entire chain. You don't have to catch a loop or anything. So this makes it very simple to work your stitches. So you're just going to do three double crochets in there. And then what we need to do is go work our next corner. So what we need to do is chain one. Because we want to make a space right here between this chain three. And now we're going to do three double crochets, chain two, three double crochets all into this chain space. So it's going to be kind of this stitch pattern again, but put just into this space. So I'm going to do three double crochets in that chain two. When you read the pattern it says make three double crochets in the chain two space. Whenever it tells you to make stitches into a stitch, it's always referring to the stitches of the round or row below, which is your round one. So I made three already, now I'm going to chain two to make a corner again and do another three double crochets. And you'll get the hang of this stitch pattern very quickly, probably by round three you'll be a master at it, and you'll be able to just keep on going. So that's the repeat. You're going to chain one. Always chain one at where you need to skip a side. So I'm skipping this side of the double crochets. And then I'm going to make my corner where I'm going to do three double crochets, chain two, and then three double crochets again. So I'm going to work around to right at this chain one over here and come back. Okay, so I finished off these other two corners and I'm back over here. I just need to do my chain one. And then, as in the last round, I have already one double crochet of this final double, three double crochets that I need to do to finish off this corner. So all I need to do is two more double crochets in this space, and then I'm going to join my round. It's funny we call it a round because it's square, but that's just what we do when we work in circles. Again, you can just count backwards to find the top of the three chain, just in case your very first one is a little squished. So you go one, two, and three, and you're going to join that with a slip stitch again. Now we're going to change colors, so that if you are working a granny square motif and you want to change colors, this is going to be the best way to do it. On my pattern, it's already telling you to switch colors, and you can, you can just on this slip stitch switch colors, but what I like to do is wait for the next slip stitch. So watching this tutorial will give you the little inside track on how to make the most clean color change. So what I'm going to do is grab my yarn, and I'm using very colorful orange and green here. Make sure you have a nice long tail that you can weave in. I'm going to show you after I do a couple stitches how to... Actually, after I finish this whole round, I will weave in this end so you can see how I do it. So if you're a little confused on sewing in ends, what you can do. So to... I'm sorry, I need to do my slip stitch first. So I'm going to join this yarn in the middle of this very first slip stitch of my next round. So I'm going to insert my hook into the next chain. And then I'm going to join my yarn, so I'm going to lay it over my hook and then pull through the stitch and pull through the loop on my hook, and that just kind of gives a really nice clean color change. It's a little easier to explain in videos, which is why I don't put it in the pattern, because trying to explain that just ends up confusing more people than helping. Now we're just going to continue on with our pattern, and I'm just going to leave the green attached for now. I'll cut it off at the end of this round so I can show you how to weave them in. So again, we're going to chain 5, and you're going to start picking up on what you need to do next, just from previous rows. And some people will just kind of run the inside yarn around the edges. You can always crochet around it. So if I did my 3 double crochets in this chain 2 space, you can lay your yarn and crochet over it. And that'll work for the most part. I'll actually, I'll do it for a couple of stitches just to anchor it in there. But I still want to cut it and actually sew it in because that's going to make the join a lot tighter. It's going to weave it in a lot tighter so that it's not prone to poke out. So I'm going to do, I'll do three and then I'll let it flop out after that. And I'll sew it in at the end. It also makes your stitches a little bit thicker, so you don't want to do too many strands like that, because it will alter the look of your project. So now I've done my three double crochets into the chain two space. Now I need to go work three double crochets in my next chain space. But since I'm working the side of my project, instead of chaining two, because I only chain two in my corners, I just chain one. And then I'm going to do three double crochets So if you're working the straight part of your granny square, in the next space I come to. you do three double crochets in each space, separated by a chain one. So I'm going to chain one. If you're working the corner spaces, you're going to chain, or I'm sorry, double crochet three times in there, and then chain two to make the corner, and do another three double crochets. And that's all you have to do for this motif, As you repeat that over and over again. So every side, you're doing three into every space that you come to, and the corners, you're doing six double crochets separated by a chain two. So I'm going to finish up this round, or I'll get back over to here so we can go over that again, and then I'll show you how to cut these ends and weave them in. Alright, I'm back around the entire project, and I'm back to that beginning chain 3, so I'm going to chain 1 to make it back over to this corner, into 2 double crochets to finish off this corner part, and then again I'm going to join into the top of my chain 3, so I have 1, 2, and 3, so I'm just going to slip stitch in there. Then I'm going to stick a stitch marker in here so that I don't pull these stitches out as I'm showing you how to weave in your previous ends. And projects will usually tell you to weave in as you go, so I'll usually work around like this and then I'll start weaving in these extra bits. And it just makes it easier so you don't have to do all of these at the end. You can wait until the end, totally up to you. But when you have color changes, I want to show you How you should be working these as you do when you have color changes. These are my needles. Depending on what kind of yarn you're using will kind of dictate the kind of yarn needle you should use. I'm going to use this one with a nice big hole. It's nice and straight so it's easy to weave in. This one, these little bent ones I like using for amigurumi because you can get around those three-dimensional objects very easily. So I'm going to begin by threading my needle. And don't do both colors at once, because you have separate colors, you need to weave them in at different areas. I'm not going to weave the green into the orange because it might show through. I need to weave it in through the green. So to thread the needle easily, I lay it over the top, and then I pinch it nice and tight and pull the needle off. Then I turn it and stick that end right through the hole easily. So you don't have to worry about if you have like a frayed end trying to thread that needle. So that was the fasten off portion of your pattern. Now the weaving in is actually sewing in. You can use a hook. If you grabbed a hook with a smaller shaft, a smaller sized hook, you could pull through so that if you don't have yarn needles, you can pull through each stitch and just go back back and forth through all your stitches But a yarn needle makes it much faster and easier. and pull the loop through. So what I do is I try to find thick parts of my stitches. So I try to weave through all those thick parts that will keep my tail hidden as best as it can, but also not pull my project in strange places. So I'm not going straight across and pulling it tight because I'm going to close off all these holes. I have to make sure that I'm staying. Where my stitches are and what I do is I work I pull on my project to pull the loop to pull the yarn So that it's laying in there nice and slack and that'll help keep it from poking out Now by going back and forth, it's going to secure it even more So don't just work in a big circle and leave it go one way and then stop and then go the other way And since it's the same color If you go over the top of a stitch, you're not really going to be able to tell. So the more you weave it in, the more secure it's going to be. So if you have the time and you don't mind doing it, just keep going until you run out of yarn. And I'm going to stop here since you'll probably get very bored watching me sew this entire thing in. And then when I cut it, I pull up just slightly so that when I cut it, it kind of pulls back into the project and hides itself. And you can pull on it some more, make sure it's not poking out. If it pokes out, just take nice sharp scissors so you can get close to the project and cut it. Just don't cut your actual yarn though. Don't cut your project. Same with the orange. I'm just going to weave it in and make sure that I stay on the orange. If you're making another round of orange, you might want to wait to weave it in until you make that second round. Whatever color you're using, because you're probably not going to use this color combination. This is just what I grabbed out of the stash. The yarn that I use in the actual Baby Granny Square project is a super bulky yarn, so this project works up really fast. If your yarn needle is not big enough for that thick of a yarn, then you're going to You're going to use your hook. So sometimes you, because of how these are spaced, you won't be able to go back and forth just yet. So you might have to go over to your next portion of stitches to be able to go back and forth. And this is all you're going to do when you need to weave in. Just work it back and forth as much as you can to secure it well, especially for things that will get lots and lots of use like blankets and get lots of washings. So what I'm going to show you. Now, these granny squares are great because you can make them any size you want. You can stop here and make lots of these sizes and then sew them together. Or, like my baby granny square blanket, you just keep going until you get the size you want. So it just makes one giant square. Now, I want to show you, this is worked in an H hook, and this one, in a single color, is worked in a J hook. If I just hold it like this, you can see how much it drapes, and that's just kind of like how it falls. This one, if I hold it, you see it really doesn't bend at all. And if I keep going, it's really not going to bend too much. And that's because the H hook is making these stitches much more dense. So if I lay this over the top, you'll see that my stitches, this is the same round, how it's a little bit taller. And this is just a lot softer and stretchier than this one, this one's much more dense. So that's something to keep in mind depending on what you want your outcome to be. If you want a dense, thick project, go with a smaller hook. If you want a more floaty fabric that's lighter, go with a bigger hook. It's going to use a little bit less yarn also, and work up a little faster. But as you can see, all these stitches are after you finish these. How many rounds did I do? I did three. One, two, three. Okay, so the fourth, all you're doing is chain one, three double crochet in the space. Chain one, three double crochet in the space. Chain one, three, chain two, three, all in that chain two space. So just over and over again, around and around until you get the size that you want. So you can make 12 inch squares out of the granny squares. You can make four inch, whatever size you want. And changing color as much as you want. You could change color every single round. A lot of ends to weave in, but you can do it. So this is the traditional granny square motif. Go ahead and download that project that I have so you can try out your own. That's super bulky. It will work up really fast. And that is it. So if you have any questions, just leave them below. If there's any certain motif that you really like that you want to see right away, leave a comment and I will look it up and get it out for you. I have lots and lots of reference books so I could probably find it. And that's it. Thanks for watching.