Read Crochet Patterns: One-Color Granny Squares – Round 3

How to Read a Crochet Pattern for the Third Round of a One-Color Granny Square

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the details of how to make a Granny Square.

The first article on how to make a Granny Square talked about making the initial ring, into which the first round will be worked.

The second article on how to make a Granny Square talked about working the first round.

The third article on how to make a one-color Granny Square talked about working the second round.

There is also an article giving an overview of what is involved in a Granny Square.

This article will explain how to work the third round. It will look like this when it is done:

Remember, from the third article on how to make a Granny Square, this is what it looks like after the end of Round 2:

It's time to get started on the instructions.

One Color Granny Squares: Round 3

Here are the instructions:

Rnd 3: Slip st to next ch-2 space, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same ch-2 space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, * (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch-2 space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, *. Repeat from * to * twice more; join.

Now, there are THREE ways to figure out what's happening, before picking up your hook and yarn.

First, here are the Whats and the Wheres:

• The Whats: Slip stitches, ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 1, 3 dc, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 1, 3 dc, ch 1) repeated, join
• The Wheres: in next ch-2 space, in same ch-2 space, (in next ch-2 space, in next ch-1 space) repeated

So essentially, in this round, you work groups of 3 dc's separated by either ch 1 or ch 2. And these are going to be worked in the ch-1 or ch-2 spaces formed from the previous round. Remember, the first 3-dc group is actually a "ch 3, 2 dc". And there are those slip stitches at the beginning, and a join at the end.

Second, here is the pattern broken down by Beginning, Repeat, and Ending (remember that this is an important skill to learn in order to read crochet patterns).

The Beginning: Slip st to next ch-2 space, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same ch-2 space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, The Repeat: * (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch-2 space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, *. Repeat from * to * twice more; The Ending: join.

Third, here is another view of the instructions for both Round 2 and Round 3, in which the differences between the two sets of instructions are highlighted. This analysis shows you that FOR THIS PATTERN the new round is not that much different from the old round. (Of course, in some patterns, there is absolutely no correlation between the two rounds!).

In the above shot, there are highlighted bars in Round 2, because that way I could show where the changes for Round 3 happened.

How to Crochet the Instructions

Here’s where the good stuff is: how to crochet this round of the Granny Square, with photos.

The Beginning

Here are the instructions for the beginning of the round:

The Beginning: Slip st to next ch-2 space, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same ch-2 space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1,

And now, one step at a time, with photos.

Remember that at the end of the previous round, you joined to the top of the beginning ch-3 of that round, as shown in this photo:

You have to work slip stitches until you have reached the next chain-2 space (the hole formed by a chain 2 in the previous round).

Slip stitches again are used here as almost-invisible travelling stitches.

And here are the three slip stitches, finishing with the one worked into the chain-2 space of the previous round:

The next step is to chain 3 stitches. As noted in article on Round 1 or a Granny Square, this is also a positioning stitch.

The next step is to work 2 double crochets, chain 2, and 3 more double crochets all into the same chain-2 space that you slip stitched to. Then chain 1. (And remember, chains are not worked into anything - they just dangle from the hook!) This completes what is called the corner group.

But there is still more to the Beginning section.

Move your eyes to the next ch-1 space - it is one of the Side spaces, not a Corner space. Work 3 double crochets into that ch-1 space. And then chain 1.

Here is what it looks like. Note the chain 1 by the hook.

As you can see, the Beginning is one fourth of the entire round.

Now, on to the repeats.

The Repeat

Now we're into the Repeated section:

The Repeat: * (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch-2 space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, *. Repeat from * to * twice more;

Find the next ch-2 space (a corner space), and work 3 double crochets, 2 chains, and 3 double crochets (a corner group) all into that space. Finish with a chain 1.

Then find the next ch-1 space (a side space) and work 3 double crochets into that space. Finish with another chain 1.

Anyway, here is what the first instance of the repeated section looks like - remember that Chain 1 at the end!

Notice that there are two corner groups and two side groups shown, one each from the Beginning and the Repeat.

And the round is about halfway done!

But we need to do that Repeated section twice more.

This shows all three repeats done (plus the beginning, of course).

The repeats are all done. Now it's time to finish off the round.

The Ending

And here are the instructions for the Ending:

The Ending: join.

Notice again that it doesn't actually tell you where and how to join. By this stage in the pattern, you should have picked up the fact that the join is by means of a slip stitch into the top of the Chain-3 at the beginning of the round.

By the way, some of you might be puzzled as to where to insert the slip stitch that forms the join. This photo might help. The two black lines point to the top of the two true double crochets from the very beginning, while the red line point to the third of the three chains at the beginning. Insert your hook for the slip stitch where the red line is pointing.

So here is the result, the end of Round 3:

You can see that the little project is looking quite square now. In the corners are chain-2 spaces, and along the sides are now two chain-1 spaces.

To Be Continued

The final article on how to make a one-color Granny Square will explain how to work Round 4 and subsequent rounds. It's just a bit more complex - but at the same time, pretty easy to understand!