Mar
The Basic Setup For Your Granny Square Cardigan
So I made one of these back in spring 2022 when I had way too much time on my hands and honestly it kept me from checking my phone every five minutes. You’re basically gonna make a bunch of squares and then figure out how to turn them into something you can actually wear. The math part is annoying but whatever.
First thing is deciding how many squares you need. I did mine with about 35 squares total but that was for a size medium kind of situation. Measure yourself or just hold up a square to your body and estimate how many across your back, how many down the length. I used Red Heart Super Saver because it was cheap and I wasn’t sure if I’d even finish the thing. The color was called “Soft White” but it looked more like old cream to me.
Making The Actual Squares
Each square starts with a magic circle or just chain 4 and slip stitch it closed. Then you do chain 3 which counts as your first double crochet. Work 2 more double crochets into the ring, then chain 2 for the corner. Keep going around doing 3 double crochet, chain 2, until you have four corners. Slip stitch to the top of that starting chain 3.
Round two is where it actually starts looking like a granny square. Slip stitch over to the corner space (the chain 2 space from last round). Chain 3 again, then work 2 double crochet, chain 2, and 3 more double crochet all in that same corner space. That makes your corner. Then chain 1 and in the next corner space do the same thing – 3 double crochet, chain 2, 3 double crochet. The chain 1 between corners is important or your square gets wonky.
Keep adding rounds until your squares are about 6 inches across. Mine ended up being like 6 and a quarter inches because I wasn’t super precise about it. You want them all roughly the same size though or you’ll hate yourself later when you’re trying to seam them together.
The Part That Actually Annoyed Me
Weaving in all those ends was absolutely the worst part of this project. Every single square has at least two ends and if you change colors it’s even more. I was watching The Office for like the third time through while doing this part because I needed something familiar that I didn’t have to pay attention to. Some people say to weave as you go but I’m not that organized so I had this huge pile of finished squares with tails hanging off everywhere.
Also joining the squares is tedious. There’s different methods but I just whip stitched them together with a yarn needle. You line up two squares wrong sides together and just stitch through both loops along the edge. Try to keep your tension consistent or you’ll get puckering between squares.
Layout and Planning
Lay out all your squares on the floor or bed before you join anything. You need to figure out the actual cardigan shape. What I did was make a rectangle that would wrap around my body. The basic layout is like… you need squares across the back, then the two front panels that are narrower, and then sleeves.
For the back I used 5 squares across and 5 squares down. Each front panel was 2 squares across and 5 down. The sleeves were 3 squares across at the widest part and 4 squares down. But this totally depends on your size and how long you want things. My cat kept walking on the squares while I was laying them out which was super helpful obviously.
You can also do the sleeves tapered by using 3 squares at the shoulder and then 2 squares as you go down toward the wrist. I didn’t do that because it seemed like more math than I wanted to deal with.
Joining Everything Together
Start by joining your back panel squares into one big rectangle. Then do each front panel separately. Then the sleeves. Once you have these bigger pieces it’s easier to visualize how it’s gonna come together.
The shoulder seams connect the front panels to the back panel. You basically leave the top 3 or 4 squares on each side of the back unattached to anything yet. Those will be your shoulders. Join the top squares of your front panels to those shoulder squares on the back.
For attaching sleeves you need to figure out where the armhole is. I basically just held it up and eyeballed it. The top of the sleeve gets sewn to the shoulder seam area and then down the sides of both the front and back panels. If you made tapered sleeves this is where that shape helps it actually fit like a sleeve instead of just a rectangle hanging off your arm.
Then sew up the underarm seams and the side seams of the body all in one go. Start at the bottom edge of the cardigan, sew up the side, and when you get to the armpit area just continue sewing down the sleeve seam to the cuff. Do this on both sides.
Edging Makes It Look Finished
You don’t technically need edging but it makes it look way more intentional and less like you just stuck a bunch of squares together. I used single crochet around all the edges – the front opening edges, the bottom hem, the neckline, and the cuffs.
Start anywhere and just single crochet into the edge stitches of your squares. In the corners you might want to do 3 single crochets in the same stitch so it lays flat and doesn’t pull. I used Caron Simply Soft for the edging because I wanted something a little nicer than the Red Heart I used for the squares and it actually made a noticeable difference in how it felt.
For the front edges where the cardigan opens you can do multiple rows of single crochet to make it sturdier. I did 3 rows. This is also where you’d add buttonholes if you want to close it with buttons, but I just left mine open because I was gonna wear it over t-shirts anyway.
Random Tips That Helped Me
If you mess up a square just remake it. I know that sounds obvious but I tried to fix one that was turning into a parallelogram instead of a square and I wasted so much time when I should’ve just started over from the beginning.
Count your stitches on every round when you’re first starting. After you make like 10 squares you’ll get the rhythm and won’t need to count anymore but at first it’s easy to accidentally skip a corner or add stitches where they shouldn’t be.
The yarn you choose matters more than I thought it would. I made a second one in fall 2023 with some scratchy acrylic I got on clearance and I literally never wear it because it’s uncomfortable. Spend a little more on yarn that feels good if you’re actually planning to wear this thing. Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice is a good middle ground between price and softness.
Don’t make your squares too big. I thought bigger squares would mean less sewing but then the cardigan ends up looking really chunky and costume-y. The 6 inch squares worked well for a normal looking cardigan that I could actually wear out of the house.
Sizing Adjustments
If you need it bigger just add more squares. For width add more squares across the back and front panels. For length add more rows of squares going down. The sleeves might need to be longer too if you’re taller or have longer arms.
You can also adjust after you’ve already sewn everything together by adding a row of squares around the bottom hem or making the sleeves longer. That’s actually one nice thing about this construction method – it’s pretty forgiving if you need to modify things.
For smaller sizes you could do 4 squares across the back instead of 5, or make your individual squares smaller like 5 inches instead of 6. Just remember that smaller squares means MORE squares total which means more ends to weave in which brings us back to my least favorite part of this whole project.
What Yarn Amounts You Actually Need
I used about 8 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver for the main cardigan in spring 2022. That was for all the squares plus edging. But I also ran out partway through and had to go buy more and of course the dye lot was different so there’s a slight color variation that you can see if you look closely but nobody else has ever noticed.
Buy more yarn than you think you need. Seriously just get an extra skein or two. You can always use it for something else later but running out in the middle is annoying especially if you can’t find the same dye lot.
If you’re doing color changes or stripes in your squares you’ll need less of each individual color but more colors total obviously. I’ve seen people do rainbow cardigans with a different color for each square which looks cool but that’s so many ends to weave in I can’t even think about it.
