Crochet is a Mood: Intro to Granny Squares

1. Crochet is a Mood: Intro to Granny Squares: Hey friends is Jessica and I'm back for another exciting crochet class. Today we are going to be learning all about her granny squares. I'm sure you've seen these. When you think of crochet, everybody thinks of a granny square. And it's one of the first projects that most crocheters learn how to make. They are extremely versatile. You can use scrap amounts of yarn. You can turn them into blankets, you can turn them into pillows, scarves, shawls, purses. Really, it's limitless. So once you learn this fun basic little square, you are often running. And today I have decided to include a fun little twist with our granny squares. Granny squares are one of the first projects. Many crocheters learn. So with that in mind, I encourage beginners to take this class, but it is for all experience levels. Today we're going to go through how to make a granny square from start to finish. How to add a border color. So changing colors and how to attach them so you can attach as you go. The fun project that I have in store today for this class is a crochet, is a mood blanket. So I've designed a really cool PDF mood tracker, and a place where you can design your color palette and correspond your mood for the day with a yarn color, with the thought of crocheting a square a day to match your mood. So you will then have a blanket of whatever size you want that shows the different types of mood you've been for the past couple of months or a year, or however you decide you want to make your blanket. And for me, even doing this for the past two weeks has helped me be more centered and aware of my moods and to take better care of myself so I can be more positive and happy and relaxed and silly around the house with my kids. So this is really great for boosting your mood. If you ask me, I want you to have a few materials for class today, you will need some yarn. I used worsted weight yarn in my granny squares, but any weight works just keep in mind that the size might vary a little bit. I chose six different colors and a border color. You'll need a crochet hook I used in an "H" hook. You will need scissors and you will need a yarn needle. So let's jump straight into the first lesson and get going. But first, I want you to follow me on Skillshare so you can learn about all of my latest classes and patterns. You can find more of my patterns and see what I'm up to at. But first crochet.com and on Instagram. @But first crochet, You know, like, but first coffee, but it's yarn. So with that being said, let's hop straight on in. 2. Materials: All right. Jumping straight in here. I'm going to tell you the materials you're going to need to make your granny square. On top today you will need several colors of worsted weight yarn. I have six different colors. I also am going to have a border color. I'm using the brand I love this yarn, which can be found at Hobby Lobby, which I know that's difficult to get when you're outside of the United States. But as long as you're using a worsted weight yarn, actually any yarn is fine. If you are using a thinner yarn, you're squares just not going to come out quite as large. But I am using hobby lobbies. I love this yarn which is a worsted air in weight yarn. This is pink. I'm also going to have a border color. I'm going to be using white. I have a pretty yellow color. This is called lemon ice. This green color called Ocean. We have a light peach, soft blue and orchid. You can use less colors, you can use more colors. Whatever floats your boat, that's where the creativity part comes in. And that's what makes it fun. You get to pick your colors and choose the color that feature viewed for that day. You're going to need an H has 500 millimeter crochet hook. Mine is a clover, a more hook, my favorite type of hook. I have some fun scissors, but just scissors that will cut your yarn. A yarn needle. Always have coffee. The coffee is optional. Right here we go. 3. Round 1: Let's get started making our granny square. So grab your mood of the day and today I'm gonna be using this ocean green color, which is Bye. I love this yarn which can be purchased at Hobby Lobby. The first step is to make a slipknot. Make a loop. Take your short tail, pull it through your loop. Gently pull that tightens up. Take your H hook, put it inside your loop and tighten it. But not too tight. It should still move freely up and down your hook. Now we're going to start out by making a chain of four. We're going to yarn over, grab your yarn and pull it through the slipknot. There's one chain. Repeat that again. Yarn over. Grab your yarn and pull it through. That's two chains. Again, yarn over, pull through. 31 more time, yarn over, pull through four. You have four chains. Next we're going to make this line of chains into a circle. To do that you are going to slip stitch into the very first chain, or the fourth chain from the hook. The chain on the hook, 1234. Take your hook and insert it into the first chain. Yarn over. Pull through the first loop. Then pull through again through the second loop. Now you've got plus small circle. We'll begin our first round. First, we need to build up some height. We're going to do that by chaining three yarn over, pull through for one. Yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through three. This chain three is always going to count as a stitch. Going to count as one of your double crochet stitches. Next we are going to double crochet two times, right in the center of this circle. So you kinda have to move the stitches out a little bit. You can see the center. We're going to place two double crochets in the center. To make a double crochet, we're going to yarn over. Insert your hook into the center. Grab your yarn, pull up a loop. Three loops on your hook. Yarn over, pull through the first two loops. Two loops remain. Yarn over, pull through the last two. There's one double crochet completed. Repeat that. Yarn over. Insert your hook back into the center. Grab your yarn, pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. This counts as a cluster of three double crochets. Our chain three, which counts as one stitch. Then here's our second and our third. Next, we need to make our corner. To do that, we're going to change to one. Next. We're going to make three more double crochets, right in the center of our circle here. Yarn over, insert your hook, grab your yarn, pull up a loop. Yarn over. Pull through the first two loops. Yarn over, pull through the last two loops. There is one double crochet. Repeat that two more times. Now we have our second cluster of three double crochets. And you can see our square starting to form. Now, this is a corner. Here's a side, here's a side. We're gonna repeat this. Again. We're going to chain 21. Turn your work a little bit. Now we're going to make our three double crochet cluster again. Yarn over, insert your hook into the center. Grab your yarn, pull up your loop. Yarn over, pull through two. Yarn over, pull through two. Again. You guessed it. We're going to chain to again. We have our two corners here. This will be our third corner. Three double crochets in the center ring. There's 123. We have three corners. We need to make our fourth corner to finish the first round. To do that, let's chain to yarn over and over again. Chain to now work going to join to the third chain. From the bottom of our chain, 3123. We're going to insert our slip stitch into here. This is the first stitch. We want to go into the third chain, right? In this space. We're going to complete our first round by placing a slip stitch here. Insert your hook, yarn over, pull through both loops. There is the first round of your granny square. One corner 234. Each time we build around, you're going to add another cluster of three to each side. Now we'll move on to round two. 4. Round 2 : Let's begin our second round of our grainy square. The first round you can see our four corners. We're going to start round too, by making a chain of three. One, 23. Next we're going to move over to this corner space. And we're going to place three double crochets chain to three double crochets. And we're going to do that in all of the corners. Urine over, make your first double crochet in the corner space. There's one. There's 23 double crochets chain too. Then we're going to place three more double crochets back into the same corner space. There's 1, 2, 3. Repeat the same pattern. Moving over to this next corner, I'm going to place a cluster of three double crochets. So yarn over, insert your hook, grab your yarn, pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through the first two loops. Yarn over, pull through the last two. Again. Three double crochets. Chain 2, 1, 2, and place three more double crochets in this corner space. So now we've made our second corner. Rotate your work a little bit. We're going to come over here into the third corner. And you guessed it, three double crochets. Chain of 23 double crochets all in the corner space. Gene 2, 3 More double crochets in the corner. Go at your own pace. Faster or slower, pause, take a break. Whatever feels good. So we have three corners finished here. We're gonna go into the last corner. What shall be slightly different because we already have our first stitch, which is our chain 3. In this last corner, we're going to place three double crochets chain too. And then we only need two double crochets because this counts as our first stitch. So that'll make it a cluster of 33 double crochets. So here's my first one. My second, and my third. My chain two. Then two double crochets, one, N2. Now we have to join these two double crochets with our chain 3. And we'll do that by making a slip stage in the third chain. At the top of our chain 3, so 1, 2, 3. Insert your hook yarn over, grab your yarn and pull through the stage. And then pull through that last stitch to complete your slip stitch. And that will also complete round 2 of your granny square. 5. Round 3 : Round number three will work almost identical to round number two. Only we have a chain space to work in now. To begin round number three, start by chaining three, as in all of the other rounds. And this counts as our first double crochet in our cluster of three. So we're going to place our first cluster of three double crochets in this space here. This counts as our first step. So we only need to place two more double crochets in that space. So place your first double crochet and another one. And that completes the cluster, 123 stitches. The corners are going to be worked exactly like we did in the previous round. 123123. Next, we need to place three double crochets in this chain space. Yarn over. One double crochet, two in the same space, and three in the same space. The corner will work the same way. Three double crochets chain to three double crochets. Chain to three double crochets. Two corners are done. Next, we're moving on to this chain space here. And one more yarn. Three double crochets in the chain space to me and three, moving into the third corner. Three double crochets chain to be in three more double crochets in the corner space. Too. Egn 3 can see your square still building. Next, three double crochets go in the chain space. 1, 2, 3. Moving on to our last corner, like the other corners, double crochet, chain too. Three more double crochets. 123123 double crochets, 123. Now we need to join the round the end like before. We'll join with this slip stitch at the top of our chain 3. Insert your hook, grab your yarn, and pull through, and pull through. That completes our third round. You can see R-squares starting to build. Now we're maintaining our four corners. But now instead of one chain space, we have to chain spaces. Next will, this will grow again as we continue our rounds. So we'll move on now to round four. 6. Round 4 : Round four, here we go. Began around for by making a chain of three, 1, 2, 3. Next up is a chain space. We're going to make three double crochets in the chain space. 123. We're in the corner. Three double crochets, chain to three double crochets. You can see that making a granny square is very repetitive. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to make it without really putting a lot of thought into it. There is our corner. Looking at this side, we have two chain spaces coming up next. We're going to do a cluster of three double crochets in this chain space, and then again in this chain space. So I was doing a little bit of research on granny squares when I decided to make this class. And I wondered why they were called granny squares. And the reason is grannies apparently have bad eyesight. I'm not saying all grandes do an IDH1 and come up with the name. So don't be mad at me. But grannies had bad eyesight, so this was an easy pattern for them to do. Because you can do a lot of it by touch, because you can feel where your stitches are going to go by touch. So people with low vision, can, I guess make a granny square? So this made me think, maybe I should try to make one with my eye shut and see how it turns out. If you try it, let me know. We're in our corner. Same as every other corner. Three double crochets, chain to three double crochets. Another fun fact, granny squares. I often thought of the seventies when I think of granny squares, but they actually all the way back to the late 1800s. All right, Just like the last side, two spaces, a cluster of three double crochets here, and a cluster of three double crochets here. Working on Corner number 33, double crochets chain to three double crochets. Corner number three. We're going to place our cluster of three double crochets in these next two chains bases. There's 1, 2, and 3. Next space, another cluster of three double crochets. There's one, there's 23. Moving on to our last corner. Three double crochets, chain to three double crochets. Hopefully you're feeling the rhythm and seeing the pattern evolve as we've made it through this fourth round. Okay, so we are almost done. Our first stitch of the round as part of this cluster in this chain space right here. We need a place to more double crochets in here to complete the cluster of three. There's one N2 joined with a slip stitch to the top of the chain three. So chain one, chain to chain 3. Insert your hook, grab your yarn and pull through and pulsar again. Now you could keep going forever repeating the same process. Only you're going to have an additional chain space after each round on each side. So you can keep going if you want your square bigger, but I'm going to stop here. And then I finish this square off by changing one. I'm going to grab my scissors and snip the yarn. I pull my hook out, tighten up that stitch. And there is your granny square. One thing with granny squares is they create a lot of ends. And if you're going to make a blanket or a cushion or a sweater, whatever you're doing, I'm sure you're going to be making many squares. Definitely weave your ends in as you go. Otherwise, you're going to be so overwhelmed with ends to even by the end of your project. And for me when I'm done with the project, I want it to be done and have that satisfaction. I don't want to have to go and weave in a bunch of tails at the end. Like to do almost like a photo stitch here to kinda hide where this bump is up here. So once you thread your needle and come back through this way, and then back through the other way. And see how that makes it more seamless and it's not popping up there quite as much. And turn it over onto the back side and find a good spot to weave in your tail. All right, friends, you did it, you made your granny square. Four rounds basic granny square. There are a lot of different ways to make granny squares. If you hop on to Pinterest and type in granny square, you will see tons of variations. So this is not the sole way to do it. There's lots of ways, but this is a good wine for beginners. And I hope you enjoyed it. 7. Class Project/Mood Planner: For today's class project, I've designed a mood tracker so you can make a mood blanket out of your granny squares. So in the class resource section, you'll find a couple of PDFs where you can customize the colors to match what mood you're feeling for that day specifically. So this is the first one, and you can print this out on regular paper in use colored pencils or markers to choose your color palette. You can import it into GoodNotes or Procreate and customize it here if you like. So, you know, you can color in the different yarn colors that you plan to use for your mood blanket, any color palette you want. Then you can mark in here what each color represents. So let's say I think blue means that I'm feeling relaxed. So I'm in my relaxed mood. I can set that for for my blue. Let's say for peak is feeling and love. Let's say we'll just pick yellow. I'm just kinda making this up as I go. These aren't truthfully what I am choosing, but just to give you an idea of how you can play around with this worksheet. Yellow seems like a pretty happy color, so we'll put happy. You get the idea. These are the colors I chose for my MOOC Lincoln in case anybody's interested in replicating using the colors I selected. And then of course you can put your mood in to match that. And then I've also included a mood tracker. So you can again mark your different colors down here. So you can put yellow. I already had loved down here, but we said that was happy. So if you're tracking per month, you can write the month on here and then your different moods can correspond to the day of the month. So if you're feeling love, you can mark in love for day number 1. If you're feeling. We'll say orange, maybe you're excited. You can do this however you like. You can Maybe track a week and then make seven granny squares and attach them all at once. You can do it as you go one day at a time. You can, you know, do the whole entire year if you wanted to. The design is really up to you. You can make a blanket, you can make a pillow, you can make a shawl. It all is very flexible. Craft in is meant for self-care. So this has made me a lot more mindful of what kind of mood I'm in. If I'm feeling a little low, maybe I can pinpoint what's going on and what's causing that. And it's made me be more conscious into trying to be positive and to try to be in a good mood so that I can strive to crochet my happier, excited, productive squares. So have fun with it and definitely take advantage of these printouts for the class. 8. Border: Now that we've completed our granny square, you will need to, if you're making the mood blanket, you'll need to join the squares together. And to do that, my personal preference is to add a border that is the same color as the joining. Stitches are going to be, which in my case is white. You don't have to do a border, but I think it looks cleaner. And I'm going to show you exactly how to add the border in how to join the granny squares together. With your border color. Make a slip knot. The touch, your hook. And these rules apply if you want to change colors throughout your granny square. If you're changing colors, when you attach a new color, choose a corner and the corner. And you're going to attach your new color in the corner. I have my white on my hook and I'm going to attach it in the corner with a slip stitch. So I'm going to pull my yarn over here to the back so I can grab it with my hook. And I'm going to go underneath the corner. And then through the loop on my hook. Make your chain of three, One, 23, just like before. And now we're gonna repeat the same pattern as before with our three double crochet clusters in the chain spaces. And our three double crochets chain to three double crochets in each of the corners. So I'll do the first row of chains faces and corner with you. Then I'll meet you when we get to the last corner and to show you how to finish off, the first stitch is going to be in this chain space. So let's make our three double crochets. 12 in three. Not. Here we go. Another cluster of three double crochets. There's 1, 2, and 3. One more cluster of 3123. We've reached our corner. Make three double crochets, chain 2 and 3 More double crochets in the corner space. There's one. There's 23. Repeat that are cross these sides and I'll meet you at the very last corner. I've made my way around and I'm at my fourth corner. There's my first stitch. So in this last corner, you'll make three double crochets, changed to two double crochets, then join at the top of the chain three with a slip stitch. So there's 12312122 double crochets in the corner space. Join with a slip stitch at the top of the chain 3 and fastened off. And don't leave in my tails. And I'll be back to show you how to join your squares together. 9. Joining: My border is completed on these two squares. And now all that I have left to do is join them together. With your border color. Make a slip stage. I'm sorry, make a slipknot. Always call this a slip stitch. Silly me. Insert your hook. Tight-knit. Alright, set that down for a moment. Now when you look at your granny square, the right side has been facing you the entire time. I flip this over. This is the wrong side and you can see it's not as clean, it doesn't look finished. This is the right side. When we join our squares, you want the right side to be facing each other. So kind of smush them together like a sandwich. So let's but those right sides facing together, line that up. We're going to join in a corner. So I've got my slipknot on and we're going to join just like we did when we were joining our border. Make a slip stitch. We're in the center of the corner. We want to make sure we insert our hook through the center of the corner on the other square so that everything lines up evenly. No place my hook through the center of the granny square that my yarns attached to. And then through this center corner of the other color. So you've got them both connected in the corner. And then make a single crochet. So grab your yarn and pull up a loop. Yarn over and pull through two. Now we're going to move down the line, making our stitches in between the posts of the state. Not the loops up here, but these posts. So my next stitch is going to go right in between these two double crochets of this cluster. So insert your hook. You can kinda pull that back so you can take a look at the other granny square and see that your hooks in and go right through here. So there's the corner and we're going to place our hook through in-between those two stitches. Take your yarn, grab it with your hook in. Pullets, 30. Yarn over again, pull through those two loops. Next stitch is going to go in-between these next two posts. So stick your hook through and secure hook through. Yarn over. Pull up your loop. Yarn over, pull through two. You should be in the chain space. Now. Let's take your hook through the chain space. And then through the other chain space. Grab your yarn, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through two loops. We repeat the same process until you get to the end of the, of the row. So insert through between these posts. Grab your yarn, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through to insert your hook. Now we're in the chain space again. In your last state should be in the corner of your two squares. Hook through the corner, hook through the corner. And the sheer stitch. Chain one to fasten off. Tighten that up. Then when you open it up, these are joined. So you can see adding that white border really helps blend the sea men and you can't notice it quite as much. So the idea is with your mood blanket, you have your color that corresponds to your mood for the day. You make your square, make your border, attach it. And then the next day, make your square, make your border. Please sum together right sides facing each other that attach them. And then you'll start to have a row of squares. And you can make good as long as you want. Once you're finished your row, then you'll move on to the next row and you'll, instead of attaching them together on the side, you'll attach it on the top. You can make this as big or as small as you want to. You can make one a square a day. You could make a square every other day, once a week, make a few and a day. Whoever you're feeling, that's kind of the fun of it. You could try to make one in a year, a month, whatever you wanna do. But I'm going to try to make a square a day. Crochet is a fabulous way for me to unwind these stress. So at the end of the day, I can think about and reflect on my day and how, what my overall mood was. Choose my color. Relax and unwind with my crochet and a little bit of Netflix, attach it, and then do the same thing the next day. And I've noticed that this has caused me to be a lot more mindful of how I'm feeling and my moods. And trying to consciously be happier. Be more fun with my kids and silly and excited rather than anxious and men, sad. So I am just a lot more aware of my feelings throughout the day, which I think is truly beneficial. So I hope you make a mood blanket and I hope you share it with me. I would love to see it. And if you follow me on Instagram, I'll be posting updates on mood blanket throughout the year so you can take a look and see how minds coming along. And I'd love to see how yours is coming along. Be sure to share it in the project gallery for today's class so I can look at your square or look at your blanket. And I would love to give you feedback. And I would just love to take a look at how things are going and how my teaching skills are improving. So thank you very much for joining me today and learning to make a granny square. And I hope you make your crochet is a mood. Like it. Until next time friends, I'll see a down in the yarn aisle.