Whether you are just learning to crochet or you are a veteran, everyone likes to have easy crochet patterns that they can complete very quickly. When a beginner uses an easy pattern and does not have any problems completing a project, this provides incentive to do more and more projects and to graduate to more difficult ones with intricate stitching details. One of the easiest patterns to crochet is that of an afghan made of Granny Squares. There are two basic stitches in this pattern and you can make it as large or as small as you wish.
You need to use weight worsted wool and a Size G crochet hook. You can have all the same color or you can use contrasting colors so that you have all different colored squares in the afghan. Many people who do a lot of crocheting use this type of project to use up all the extra pieces of wool that they have lying around.
To get started making a Granny Square, you make a loop with an end of the wool. Insert the needle through the loop to pull the wool through. This makes a chain stitch and you need to make eight of these stitches. Then you join the loop that you have on the needle to the beginning loop to make a circle. To do this, simply insert the needle through the knot at the end and wrap the wool over the needle pulling it through. From now on you work within the circle that you just made.
You will need to use the double crochet stitch and the chain stitch for the rest of the pattern. Start off the second round by chaining three stitches. This is equivalent to one double crochet and it is how you will begin every round. After you chain the three stitches, wrap the wool around the needle and insert it into the circle, pulling the wool through the circle. Then wrap the wool around the needle again to draw it through two loops on the hook. Repeat this again so that you have one loop left. This is a double crochet stitch. For the rest of this round, make one more double crochet stitch and chain three. Make three double crochets and chain three stitches, three more times, ending with a chain three. Join to the top of the chain three with which you started the round.
The next round allows you to make your corners so that you have the shape of a square. You start off in the same way as you started the previous round. In each chain three space, you make two sets of three double crochets and three chains. These will be the corners of the square. When you start the third round, you always do the two sets in the corners, but now you will have chain three spaces along the sides. You only do one set of three double crochets in these spaces.
You can end the square at any point once you complete a round and you think the square is large enough. Now you can start another square of the same color or use a different color. As you complete the squares you sew them together to make an afghan.