Granny squares have officially hit the Fashion Bigtime, friends. The legendary Comme des Garçons has put out a granny-square scarf, available in black/off-white and grey/off-white at La Garçonne. Of course, they don’t call it a granny-square scarf; it is a Square Crochet Stole (“crocheted … in alternating nested square pattern”). It’s granny cool, for sure, but if I ever drop $495 on a scarf, it won’t be 70% acrylic. Of course, anyone who can crochet a granny square could make themselves a 100% cashmere version for less than that — or a merino one that looks like a bargain by comparison.
My crochet skills are rusty, at best, but there’s no better learning or re-learning project for crochet than this ultra-basic form of the granny square. And it’s easy enough to seam a bunch of them into a long rectangle. But the striking thing about the Comme scarf is the diagonal of the pattern, and the trick to that is the half-squares (aka triangles) needed to fill out the edges. Friday night I sought out two good solid videos: how to crochet a granny square and how to crochet a half-granny square.* Then I sat down and made my first granny square in decades, and was reminded again of how much I love the motion of a crochet hook — truly addictive. So there may be some squares and half-squares in my future.
You could do this in any yarn and weight you like. Just make a square you like the looks of, measure it, then calculate or diagram how many you’d need — laid on a diagonal — to get the width and length you want. And from that, figure out how many triangles that leaves along the four edges. (Note that you’ll need four half-triangles — quarter-grannies? — for the four corners.) I’m guessing the CdG stole is worsted weight, each square about 5 or 6″ wide, and that they’re laid out four or five across and twelve or thirteen down. It lists a finished size of 25×77 inches, which is pretty deliciously voluminous.
For those with more advanced crochet skills, check out the pinwheel motif version being sold alongside the grannies.
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Relatedly, ICYMI for this week is Things that make me want to crochet.
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*Note that the first video uses the term “treble crochet” and the second uses “double crochet” — they are different names for the same stitch.