Granny Square Blanket

This granny square blanket is a cozy throw of 63 classic squares in chocolate, rust, camel, olive and burgundy, each one framed in cream and joined with a thin chocolate seam. It's the warm, vintage look of the blankets on every grandmother's sofa, worked in worsted yarn on a 5 mm hook. It measures about 50 × 64 inches and takes about 2,900 yards in seven colors.

Key Takeaways

• One square, three color recipes: every square has the same 7 rounds; only the colors of the first 5 change.
• The frame does the magic: a chocolate round and a cream round on every square make the scrappiest colors look planned.
• Slip stitch seams on the right side make the thin dark line between squares, with only 14 long seams to join.
• Make one square first and measure it: about 7 in. All 63 must match.

Why I love this granny square blanket

A granny square blanket is the most forgiving big project there is. You make one small square at a time, so it travels in a bag, and you can stop after any round. When the squares pile up in a basket, you lay them out on the floor and suddenly it's a blanket.

What makes this one look so rich is the frame. Every square ends with the same chocolate round and the same cream round. The cream makes a lacy grid across the whole throw, the chocolate gives each square a dark edge, and the seams add a thin brown line between them. Inside the frame, the centers can be as scrappy as you like.

Skill level. Easy. You need a magic ring, chains, double crochet, single crochet and slip stitches. If you've never made a granny square, Rounds 1 to 3 below walk you through every stitch, and the rest of the square is the same rhythm repeated.

Want a smaller project first? My Christmas granny square is a single square with embroidered pine sprigs.

What you'll need

Yarn: a soft worsted #4 acrylic, such as Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (170 yd / 156 m per 100 g ball). Acrylic is easy to wash and dry, which matters on a sofa throw.

Color	Used for	Amount (estimate)	Balls (170 yd)
Cream	Round 7 of every square, some centers, the border	about 850–900 yd	6
Chocolate	Round 6 of every square and all the seams	about 700 yd	5
Camel	Centers (recipes A and C)	about 450 yd	3
Medium brown	Centers (all three recipes)	about 450 yd	3
Rust	Centers (all three recipes)	about 270 yd	2
Olive	Centers (recipes B and C)	about 170 yd	2
Burgundy	Centers (recipe A)	about 40 yd	1

I worked these amounts out from the stitch counts, with a margin for tails, so treat them as estimates. Buy all the balls of each color at once, from the same dye lot if your yarn has one, especially the cream and the chocolate.

Hook and notions

• 5 mm hook (US H/8).
• A tapestry needle and scissors.
• A tape measure, and some pins for blocking.

Gauge and finished size

Gauge matters here, because 63 squares have to fit together. With worsted yarn and a 5 mm hook, your square should measure about 3½ in (9 cm) across after Round 3, and about 7 in (18 cm) after Round 7. If it's bigger, go down half a hook size; if it's smaller, go up half a size.

With 7 squares across and 9 down, the blanket is about 49 × 63 in before the border and about 50 × 64 in (127 × 163 cm) after it. These sizes are estimates from the gauge: measure your first square and multiply.

Abbreviations (US crochet terms)

• MR: magic ring
• ch: chain
• sl st: slip stitch
• sc: single crochet
• dc: double crochet
• sp(s): space(s)
• st(s): stitch(es)
• R: round

A cluster is 3 dc worked in the same space. A corner group is (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in the same corner space. All rounds are joined rounds worked on the right side, and you change color on every round, so each new color is joined in a corner space.

The pattern: one granny square (make 63)

Every square has the same 7 rounds. Rounds 1 to 5 use the colors of the recipe you're making (see the color recipes below), Round 6 is always chocolate and Round 7 is always cream.

Rounds 1 and 2

• R1: with the first color, make a MR. Ch 3 (counts as a dc), 2 dc in the ring, ch 2, (3 dc in the ring, ch 2) 3 times in total. Pull the ring tight and sl st in the top of the ch 3. Fasten off. (12 dc: 4 clusters and 4 ch-2 corner sps)
• R2: join the next color with a sl st in any ch-2 corner sp. Ch 3 (counts as a dc), (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in the same sp. Then (ch 1, corner group in the next corner sp) 3 times in total. Ch 1 and sl st in the top of the ch 3. Fasten off. (24 dc: 8 clusters, 4 corners and 4 ch-1 sps)

Rounds 3 to 7

Every round from here works the same way. Join the new color with a sl st in any ch-2 corner sp. Ch 3 (counts as a dc), (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in the same sp. Then work the 4 sides:

• Each side: ch 1, then (3 dc in the next ch-1 sp, ch 1) in each ch-1 sp of that side, then work a corner group in the next corner sp.

Work the side and corner 3 times in total. For the fourth side, work ch 1, then (3 dc in the next ch-1 sp, ch 1) in each ch-1 sp, and sl st in the top of the ch 3: the starting corner is already done. Fasten off.

The number of clusters along each side grows by one every round:

Round	Color	Side clusters between the corner groups, per side	dc in the round	ch-1 sps in the round
R3	recipe	1	36	8
R4	recipe	2	48	12
R5	recipe	3	60	16
R6	chocolate	4	72	20
R7	cream	5	84	24

Each side of Round 7 has 7 clusters (5 side clusters plus the half of each corner group), so 21 dc and 6 ch-1 sps between the two corner sps, 27 stitches in all. You'll use that number when you join.

Weave in the ends as you go. With 7 colors per square, 63 squares make 882 tails. Weave each one through the backs of the stitches of its own color, then trim. You can also crochet over the tails of the previous round as you work, then trim them.

The three color recipes

Rounds 6 and 7 are the same on every square. Only Rounds 1 to 5 change:

Recipe	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Make
A	burgundy	cream	camel	rust	medium brown	21
B	cream	olive	rust	camel	medium brown	21
C	rust	camel	olive	medium brown	camel	21

Make it scrappy instead. Any five colors from the palette work for Rounds 1 to 5, as long as the chocolate and cream frame stays the same. Just never use chocolate for Round 5, or the frame disappears into the square.

Block the squares. Pin each square to 7 in on a towel or blocking board, and either hover a steam iron over it (don't press acrylic) or mist it with water and let it dry. Squares of the same size join much more neatly.

Laying out and joining the squares

Lay all 63 squares out on the floor, right side up, 7 across and 9 down, so you can see the whole blanket. Use the recipe letters in this repeat, so two squares of the same recipe never touch:

Row	Squares 1 to 7
Rows 1, 4 and 7	A B C A B C A
Rows 2, 5 and 8	B C A B C A B
Rows 3, 6 and 9	C A B C A B C

Each row starts one letter further along than the row above, so the same recipe runs in a diagonal across the blanket. Take a phone photo of the layout before you start: it's your map.

How the seam works

Hold two squares wrong sides together, right sides facing out, with their edges and corners matched. With chocolate, you sl st through the outer loop of each square, the front loop, which is the loop nearest its right side. The sl sts sit on the edge as a neat chain and become the thin dark line between the squares on the right side of the blanket.

Along one square edge, work 29 sl sts: 1 in the corner sps of both squares, 1 in each of the 27 dc and ch-1 sps, and 1 in the next corner sps. Keep them loose and even: a tight seam puckers the blanket.

Seam order: 8 long seams, then 6 long seams

1. Horizontal seams (8 of them). Fold the first square of Row 2 up onto the first square of Row 1, wrong sides together, so the bottom edge of the Row 1 square lies on the top edge of the Row 2 square. Starting at the left end, join chocolate with a sl st in the corner sps of both squares. Seam that pair with 29 sl sts. Without fastening off, pick up the next pair (square 2 of Row 1 and square 2 of Row 2) and seam it the same way. Carry on across the row: 7 pairs, 203 sl sts in one long seam. Fasten off. Join Row 3 to Row 2 the same way, and so on, down to Row 9.
2. Vertical seams (6 of them). Now the rows are joined into 7 columns of 9 squares. Seam the columns together the same way, from the top to the bottom: 9 pairs, 261 sl sts in one long seam. Where you cross a horizontal seam, work your sl sts into the same corner sps, right over the earlier seam, and keep going.

That's 14 long seams and only 28 ends to weave in. Weave each chocolate tail into the seam itself.

The border (cream)

Two rounds of cream single crochet frame the blanket and hide the ends of the seams.

• Border R1: join cream with a sl st in the corner sp at any corner of the blanket. Ch 1, 3 sc in the same sp. Work along each side: sc in each of the 27 dc and ch-1 sps of every square edge, and 1 sc in each corner sp where two squares meet (one in the corner sp of the square you're leaving, one in the corner sp of the next square). At each corner of the blanket, work 3 sc in the corner sp. Sl st in the first sc. (932 sc: 201 along each short side and 259 along each long side, plus 3 at each corner)
• Border R2: ch 1, sc in each sc around, working 3 sc in the center sc of each 3-sc corner. Sl st in the first sc. (940 sc)

Fasten off and weave in the ends. If you want a slightly firmer edge, work Border R2 with a hook half a size smaller.

Finish with a last block. Lay the blanket flat, mist it or hover the steam iron over it, and pat the edges straight. This sets the seams and evens out the border.

Make it yours — quick variations

Variation	Change from the base pattern
Lap blanket	5 × 7 squares (35), about 36 × 50 in. Border R1 has 5 × 27 + 8 = 143 sc on each short side and 7 × 27 + 12 = 201 sc on each long side, plus 3 at each corner (700 sc).
Bed throw	9 × 11 squares (99), about 64 × 78 in. You'll need about 1.6 times the yarn.
Cool sage version	Swap rust for dusty pink, camel for sage and chocolate for charcoal grey; keep the cream.
Pillow cover	3 × 3 squares for the front and a plain back: about 21 in square.
Cream seams	Seam with cream instead of chocolate for a softer, all-lacy grid.

Troubleshooting the three things that go wrong

The square isn't square (it twists or waves)

A twist usually comes from always joining the new color in the same corner. Join each round in a different corner. Waves mean the corners are too full: check that each corner has (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc), not ch 3.

My squares are different sizes

It happens when you crochet for weeks: tension drifts. Measure every tenth square against the first one. Block them all to 7 in before joining, and if one is still off by more than ¼ in, remake its last round with a hook half a size up or down.

The seams pucker or the blanket ripples

The slip stitches are too tight. Work the seams with a hook one size bigger (5.5 mm) and keep each sl st as tall as the stitch you're working into. Check by laying the first long seam flat: it should be as long as the squares.