The Granny Square, Round by Round (They're Fussy, I Know)
The first granny square I ever finished sat crooked on my kitchen table for a week before I let myself call it done. Last lesson you made your ring — chain 4, join — and if it flopped over twice before it behaved, you're in good company. Today we build on it.
I'll tell you straight before we start: granny squares are fussy, more so than the washcloths were. There's more counting, more of that "wait, which corner am I on" feeling, and a real chance you'll get to the end of round two and realize you did something sideways two rounds back. That's normal. I won't pretend this part is relaxing, because it isn't. It's counting. More on that in a minute.
Round 1: into the ring
You've got your ring from last lesson, and now we fill it.
Chain 3 — that counts as your first double crochet, so don't work an actual stitch into that chain. Then work 2 more double crochets into the ring. That's your first "group," 3 double crochets total.
Chain 2. That's a corner space.
Now 3 double crochets into the same ring again. Chain 2 again. Do that a total of four times, until you end up with four groups of 3 double crochets, each with a chain-2 gap between them. Join the last chain-2 to the top of your starting chain-3 with a slip stitch.
Give the tail a little pull to snug up the center hole. Not too tight — you still need to see daylight through it — just enough that it isn't gaping.
That's round one: four little clusters, four corners. It should look vaguely like a pinwheel that hasn't committed to a shape yet.
Round 2: where the corners happen
This is where people get lost, so ease off the pace here.
Slip stitch over to the first chain-2 corner space from round 1. You're not counting stitches one at a time now, you're counting into spaces — that's the trick that sets granny squares apart from everything we've done before.
In that corner space, work: 3 double crochet, chain 2, 3 double crochet. That's your corner for this round — two clusters and a chain-2 sitting right in the same little gap.
Chain 1. Then move to the next space — there'll be a gap between the two clusters along the side, not just at the corners — and work 3 double crochet there.
Chain 1 again, then into the next corner space: 3 double crochet, chain 2, 3 double crochet.
Keep going around. Four corners get the big treatment (cluster, chain 2, cluster), and the sides between them get one plain cluster of 3. Join at the end the same way as before, a slip stitch into the top of your starting chain.
(You will lose track of which space is a corner and which is a side at least once. Everybody does. Stop, count your corners — there should be four — and if you've only got three, or somehow five, that's your sign to back up a few stitches and look again, not to push forward and hope it fixes itself. It won't.)
About the counting
Years ago a woman in Relief Society told me crochet was "so calming and mindful." I told her it's not calming, it's counting, and went back to counting. I wasn't trying to be short with her. I just don't think it does anybody a favor to walk into this expecting it to feel like a candle and a bath. Granny squares especially — this is arithmetic with yarn. Four corners, counted every round, and don't trust your eyes until you've actually counted them. Once you make peace with that, it gets easier, because you stop waiting on a feeling that was never going to arrive and start simply doing the math.
A word on gauge, since we're making a blanket
Sooner or later somebody asks me about gauge, because that's what every pattern tells you to check first. For a washcloth I told you not to worry about it. For this blanket I'll soften that a little — if your squares come out wildly different sizes from each other, it'll show when you sew them together later. So check that your squares stay roughly the same size as you go, especially once you're making more than one. But don't reach for a ruler and panic over an eighth of an inch. Close is fine. This isn't a doily.
Rounds 3 and beyond
Same idea, every round: corners get 3-double-crochet, chain-2, 3-double-crochet clusters, and the sides between them get plain clusters of 3, separated by a chain-1. Each round adds one more plain cluster per side than the round before, because the square is getting bigger and needs more filling in. Corners always stay corners. Count them every single round before you join.
Most of my beginners' squares stop at three or four rounds for a blanket like this. Go bigger later if you get hooked — some people do. I had one former student who quit after two squares entirely, and that's fair; they're not for everybody.
Before next time
Make two full squares, three rounds each, and count your corners out loud while you work if you have to. Bring both to class even if the second one looks better than the first — it will, and that's normal too.