Granny Squares & Join for “design and plan your own traditional granny square sweater” Workshop

This is the motif we will be using as our starting point for the workshop – How to design and plan your own traditional granny square sweater which I am teaching at the Wooly Good Gathering in Edinburgh.

Important – why you need to make these exact granny squares & joins for the course

The step by step process you’ll be learning to design and make your own granny square sweater, can of course be applied to just about any crochet square, however for the purpose of the workshop, please use this exact pattern & join so that you can easily follow the instructions in our workshop.

Five Round Round Granny Square Instructions

Tools & Materials

DK yarn in the colours of your choice – a total of approx. 10m / 11yds / 4g per motif (cotton or super-wash wools work up best).
3.5-4mm hook – depending on your personal gauge, i.e. a larger hook if you are a tight crocheter or smaller hook if you are a loose crocheter. We are aiming for a granny square with a bit of drape to make the sweater hang properly, so please go up a hook size of your squares are coming up a bit stiff.

Key US terminology (British terminology in brackets)

beg – beginning
ch – chain
dc – double crochet (tr – treble crochet)
sl st – slip stitch
sp – space

Round 1: 4ch and join in 1^st ch to form a ring; 5ch (counts as 1dc & ch2sp in this and all subsequent rounds*); (in ring – 3dc, ch2) 3 times; 2dc in ring; join with sl st in 3^rd ch of beg ch5; fasten off.

*If this results in a larger space compared to the other 3 corners, you can switch to a 4ch at the start of each round, you’ll still end the round by making a sl st in the 3rd ch.

Round 2: Join new colour in any ch2 corner sp* – 5ch & 3dc in same sp; (in next corner sp – 3dc, 2ch, 3dc) x3; in first corner sp – 2dc; join with sl st in 3^rd ch of beg ch5; fasten off.

*For this and all subsequent rows, it’s best to avoid the same corner that you finished the last round on.

Round 3: Join new colour in any ch2 corner sp – 5ch & 3dc in same sp; (between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc; in next corner sp – 3dc, 2ch, 3dc) x3; between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc; in first corner sp – 2dc; join with sl st in 3^rd ch of beg ch5; fasten off.

Round 4: Join new colour in any ch2 corner sp – 5ch & 3dc in same sp; [ (between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc) x2; in next corner sp – 3dc, 2ch, 3dc ] x3 ; (between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc) twice; in first corner sp – 2dc; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch5; fasten off.

Round 4: Join new colour in any ch2 corner sp – 5ch & 3dc in same sp; [ (between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc) x3; in next corner sp – 3dc, 2ch, 3dc ] x3 ; (between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc) twice; in first corner sp – 2dc; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch5; fasten off.

Round 5 Join new colour in any ch2 corner sp – 5ch & 3dc in same sp; [ (between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc) x3; in next corner sp – 3dc, 2ch, 3dc ] x4 ; (between next 2 dc clusters – 3dc) twice; in first corner sp – 2dc; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch5; fasten off.

Sew in all ends, except the final tail.

Make a Swatch with your Granny Squares & Join

Make a total of 4 motifs, joining in the 5th and final round.

You can use JAYG if you want a different colour for each final round or the continuous granny stitch join if you want the final round to be the same colour for all motifs.

Instructions for JAYGO can be found here (opens in new tab): https://youtu.be/tUhf46WwypY?si=OVk7ol2mV3KFGvNa

Instructions for Continuous Granny Stitch Join can be found here (opens in new tab): https://youtu.be/8Ab16zBWkQ4?si=FCCsa4HFv6M0MXx7

Wash, Block & Dry your Swatch

IMPORTANT : you must not skip this part! It’s a vital part of the design process.

Instructions on how to wash, block and dry your swatch can be found by clicking here.