All Hail The Granny Square!

From its thrifty roots to modern runways, granny squares have won our hearts!

- Judy Darley

We love a granny square. Thrifty, speedy and primed for experimentation, they tick all our boxes for wind-down crochet time. For most of us it will be one of the first projects we turn to once we’ve mastered the basics, and for those with design aspirations, it’s the perfect medium to try out a few ideas.

Lucy of Attic 24 tackled her first granny square just days after getting to grips with crochet. “I learnt the basics of crochet from a friend one afternoon, and attempted my first granny square a day later,” she says. “I made just one wobbly square before deciding to go for it – every square from then on went into my first blanket.”

LOOKING BACK

The 1970s were a massive moment in granny square’s fashion history when they were seen on runways in everything from trousers and matching waistcoats to floor-length gowns.

The practicality of these small squares gained popularity in America around 200 years earlier. With yarn scarce, early settlers used their oddments and unpicked old knits, hooking them into squares to sew together.

Designer Sharna Moore says, “I think they were known as patchwork squares. Mishmash scraps and fibres unravelled from old sweaters and socks were worked into squares and stitched together to make blankets and rugs.”

It’s likely they became dubbed ‘granny squares’ due to division of chores within families – as grandmothers were less physically strong, they would have taken on craftier tasks.