Chain 4 and Join, Because Magic Rings and I Don't Get Along
Okay. New module, new shape. We're done with flat washcloths for now and we're starting granny squares, which means we're working in the round for the first time. That means a different kind of beginning, and I need to tell you something up front so you don't go home and watch a video that confuses you.
There's a method called a magic ring that a lot of patterns tell you to use to start something round. I cannot get it to behave. Forty-some years of crocheting and I still can't make a magic ring do what it's supposed to do without it coming loose or bunching up wrong. So we are not doing that. We're doing chain 4 and join, which is older, plainer, and works every time if you count right.
Here's the thing about granny squares nobody tells you at the start: they're fussy. Little stitch, little chain space, little stitch, over and over, and if you lose count in round one, every round after it is wrong too. So we go slow today. Slower than you want to.
What Chain 4 and Join Actually Means
You're making a small loop out of chain stitches, then closing it into a circle so you have something to crochet into. That circle is the center of your square.
- Make a slip knot and chain 4.
- Take your hook and put it through the very first chain you made, the one closest to the slip knot.
- Yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook, same as a slip stitch.
That's the join. You now have a little ring of chain stitches, closed up, with a hole in the middle big enough to work stitches into. That hole is where your first round goes.
(You will pull that loop too tight the first few times, and then you can barely get your hook back into the center. Loosen up. It should have a little give to it, like a buttonhole, not like a knot.)
Working Into the Ring
Once your ring is joined, you don't crochet into individual chains anymore, you crochet into the whole center hole. That's different from the flat washcloth where you worked into stitches one at a time along a row. Here, several stitches all land in the same little space.
For your first granny square round we're doing:
- Chain 3 (counts as your first double crochet)
- 2 double crochets into the ring
- Chain 2
- 3 double crochets into the ring
- Chain 2
- 3 double crochets into the ring
- Chain 2
- 3 double crochets into the ring
- Chain 2
- Join to the top of that first chain 3 with a slip stitch
That gives you four little clusters of three stitches with a chain-2 gap between each one. Those gaps become the corners of your square. This is the part where people's eyes glaze over, so if you need me to say it slower in class, ask. That's what I'm there for.
Why This Matters More Than It Seems To
I mentioned the mother-in-law taught me a lot of things, but she did not teach me a shortcut for counting. There isn't one. Granny squares are just counting with extra steps, and if round one is off, round two inherits the problem, and round three inherits it worse. So today, count out loud if you have to. I do, sometimes, quietly, and I've been doing this longer than some of you have been alive.
Jasmine, one of my past students, asked me to teach her granny squares specifically and quit after two of them. I don't blame her one bit. They're fussy work for a small return, especially at the start when your hands don't know the rhythm yet. If you hate this today, that's a normal reaction, not a sign you're bad at crochet. Stick with me through the module before you decide.
An Opinion, Since We're Here
Gauge doesn't matter much for this either, same as it didn't matter for your washcloth. If your square comes out a little bigger or smaller than mine, fine. As long as your squares match each other in the end, a blanket doesn't care whether it's twelve inches or thirteen. Somebody wrote a very intimidating paragraph about gauge at the start of every crochet book ever printed and I think it scares off more beginners than it helps.
A Cotton Story, Since We're Between Projects
Before we leave washcloths behind entirely, I'll tell you why I keep pushing cotton on people. One Christmas I made washcloths for the whole family, cotton yarn, nothing fancy. My son Jared, bless him, took his out to the garage and used it to wash his car. Didn't say a word to me about it, I just found out later. I decided that counted as a success. A washcloth that gets used hard is a washcloth that did its job, and cotton is the only yarn that can take that kind of use without falling apart or melting near anything warm.
Same principle applies now that we're building squares for a blanket. Pick yarn that can survive being an actual blanket, not just look like one on a shelf.
Before Next Time
Practice chain 4 and join a few times this week, just the ring part, until closing that loop feels normal in your hands. You don't need to finish a whole square before we meet again, just get comfortable starting one.