The Granny Square, Round by Round (They're Fussy, I Know)
Okay. Last time you got your ring made — chain 4, join, and if it flopped over twice before it behaved, welcome to the club. Today we build on it.
I'll tell you up front: granny squares are fussy. More fussy than the washcloths were. There's more counting, there's more "wait, which corner am I on," and there's 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'm not going to 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. Now we fill it.
Chain 3 — that counts as your first double crochet, 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.
Then 3 double crochets into the same ring again. Chain 2 again. Do that a total of four times, so 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.
Pull the tail a little 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: the part where corners happen
This is where people get lost, so slow down here.
Slip stitch over to the first chain-2 corner space from round 1. You're not counting stitches one at a time here, you're counting into spaces — that's the trick that makes granny squares different from what 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), the sides in between get one plain cluster of 3. Join at the end the same way as before, 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 you've somehow got 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
I had a woman in Relief Society once tell 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 favors to walk into this expecting it to feel like a candle and a bath. Granny squares especially — this is arithmetic with yarn. Four corners, count them every round, don't trust your eyes until you've actually counted. Once you accept that, it gets easier, because you stop expecting a feeling that was never going to show up and start just doing the math.
A word on gauge, since we're making a blanket
Somebody's going to ask 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 are wildly different sizes from each other, that'll show up when you sew them together later. So check that your squares are roughly the same size as you go, especially once you're making more than one. But don't get out 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 beginner squares stop at three or four rounds for a blanket like this. Go bigger later if you get hooked. Some people do. I know at least 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 do it 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.