Changing Colors Without a Mess
Okay. Last time we made a granny square, round by round, all in one color. Today we make it stop being one color, which is the whole point of a granny square if you ask me. Nobody makes a granny square to leave it beige.
Here's the good news. Changing color on a granny square is one of the easier color changes in all of crochet, because you're already stopping at the end of every round to slip stitch and turn or chain up. That's your natural exit point. You're not changing color in the middle of a row like some poor soul knitting stripes. You're changing at a corner, where there's already a seam.
The basic method
You finish your round. You've done your last stitch, and normally you'd slip stitch into the top of your starting chain to close the round. Instead, here's what you do:
- Work your last stitch of the round in the old color, all the way through, so it's sitting there finished.
- On that very last "yarn over, pull through" of the last stitch, switch to the new color instead of finishing with the old one. Pull the new color through those last two loops.
- Now the new color is live on your hook and the old color is hanging off the back, done with its job.
- Cut the old color, leaving a tail about four inches long. Tie it off loosely or just let it sit — you'll weave it in later, same as always.
- Chain up with your new color to start the next round (chain 3 usually counts as your first double crochet, depending on your pattern).
That's it. The color changes right at the corner, right where the round closes anyway, and it looks clean because the seam is already there hiding it.
Where people make it messy
They try to change color mid-stitch, halfway through a shell or a cluster, because they run out of yarn at a weird spot or they get impatient. Don't do that as a beginner. Plan your changes at the round breaks. If you're following a pattern that tells you to change color every round, it's already set up this way for you. If you're just doing it because you feel like it, wait until you close a round.
The other mess-maker is tension. When you pull that new color through on the last stitch, don't yank it. Pull it snug but not tight. A too-tight join pulls the corner in and your square stops laying flat. A too-loose join leaves a gap you can see light through. You're aiming for the same tension as the rest of your stitches, which takes some practice and I won't pretend otherwise.
About all those ends
Here's the part nobody warns you about. A granny square with four colors in it has, at minimum, eight ends to weave in — a start and a finish for every color, every round, times however many rounds you did. That adds up fast, and if you're making a blanket out of, say, forty-nine squares, you are looking at a genuinely absurd number of yarn ends by the time you're done.
I'm not going to lie to you about this. It's tedious. It's the least fun part of the whole project. But it's also why I taught you to weave in ends properly a few lessons back — this is where that skill earns its keep. Do it as you go, square by square, rather than letting a shoebox full of finished squares pile up with their ends flapping loose. Trust me on that one.
Which brings me to my blanket. I've had a granny square blanket going, off and on, for about two years now. I keep starting other projects in the middle of it — a washcloth here, somebody's baby blanket there — and the granny squares just sit in a bag. I am not embarrassed about this and I've also made zero effort to fix it. Both things are true. Some projects are meant to be picked up and put down for years, and I've decided that's allowed.
A word on color choice
For your first few squares, keep it simple. Two colors, maybe three. A center color and an outer color is plenty to learn the technique on. Once you've got the mechanics down, go wild — that's when granny squares get fun, honestly, seeing how a weird color combination turns out. I've done squares I thought would be ugly that ended up being my favorites in the whole blanket, and squares I thought would be gorgeous that I frogged. You won't always know until it's done.
One opinion, since we're here: acrylic is completely fine for this. People get snobby about wanting "real" wool for granny squares and I understand the appeal, but I've made these out of cheap acrylic from Macey's for decades and they're still around, still holding their color, still getting used. Save the fancy yarn for when you want to treat yourself, not because somebody made you feel bad about the cheap stuff.
Before next time
Practice one color change on a square you don't care about — just to see the join before you commit to it on something you like. Bring whatever colors you're leaning toward for your real squares and we'll look at them together.