Say NO! to holey corners

If you like to crochet granny squares (and I LOVE them) you have probably noticed that it is quite hard to avoid the holes in the corners. To make increases in the corners it is necessary to make spaces there – at least I crochet granny squares like this. These holes look very natural in lace blocks, but what if your square is stiff? Made in Overlay crochet, for example? I personally don’t mind combination of stiff and lace crochet fabrics, but if you want to make a pillow cover and your pillow’s fabric looks not very nice, then you will probably want to fill the holes in the corners somehow. I didn’t think about this at all before I saw grannies made by Els Quijt (Ravelry). She is following Circles of the Sun Mystery CAL and her blocks are among my favourite! Els came up with a great tip on how to “close” holey corners. With her kind permission and support I made a short photo-tutorial to illustrate this tip. By the way, this picture of a flower square you see – belongs to her. Isn’t it beautiful?

This simple tip is great not only because it is very practical, but because it also has a decorative function. Using it you will customize your grannies and add some ornamental charm to them.

To hide the holes in the corners of your granny squares you will use surface slip stitches and one of the longer stitches – dc, tr or dtr (US terms), depending on which stitches you already have in the corners. I made a sample block to show you how it works. You can see that the largest holes in the corners are on the round before the last. I used trebles there, so the best option would be to fill the holes with double trebles. (dc will work fine in the corners with hdc, and tr will help to hide the hole in the corner with dc’s).

Begin on any side of your square and on the round where you want to hide the hole. Start making surface crochet slip stitches over upper part of the stitches’ posts, just below the loops. On picture 1 you can see how I inserted the hook. If you have never done surface crochet before, please, see THIS POST. Be sure not to pull yarn too much while making surface crochet – the shape of your square should not be deformed!!

Continue making surface slip stitches until you come to the corner and make the last slip stitch by inserting the hook into the hole (picture 2). When you are done (picture 3), pull yarn to the front of your work (picture 4) so that it would be convenient for you to make a long stitch. Now yarn over (one, two or three times - depending on which stitch you are making) (picture 5), insert the hook to the stitch at the bottom of the hole (picture 6) but keep your hook in front of your work and make your stitch (picture 7).  In my case I inserted the hook in the same stitch where left tr (of the round on which I make surface crochet) was made. If the hole is too big, you may want to make two long stitches instead of one, it’s up to you. Then insert the hook after next stitch in the corner and continue making surface slip stitches (picture 7 and 8) until you come to the next corner. Repeat the same for each corner and you will get a nice decorative frame around your granny!

Me and Els Quijt hope you like this tip and will use it in your own crochet work :)

Remember to subscribe to a weekly newsletter not to miss a single pattern and tutorial. And you can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.