Adding a Chain Round to Granny squares...a tutorial

Hello Lovelies ,
Have you ever made a motif that calls for a "chain round"? The first time I encountered this technique was when I tried   Lucy's much loved Hexagon pattern back in 2009.

HERE is a lovely image of one of these hexagons at the chain round stage.I will admit I found it rather tricky at first....all those slip stitches........ not the easiest when you are  starting out in (or in my case getting reacquainted with) crochet.

As I've become better at crochet I don't find it so difficult and I can spot when a chain round has been used
In this stunning SQUARE....a chain round has been used to define the circle to excellent effect.It's visible as the little white stitches in THIS gorgeous blanket where it has been used every alternate round to create an interesting variation on the traditional granny. In my own Kaleidoscope BLANKET It's used to attach the final , joining round .

It's benefit is that it keeps a shape clearly defined by utilising slip stitches and chains rather than multiple stitches into the existing round.........what am I waffling on about ??

Lets look at a photo, this is a granny square made in the conventional manner......

In the example below the final colour change round is attached to a chain round......

Can you see any difference ?? Maybe not but I hope so . Can you see the way the orange square still looks very square , where as the pink square has wavy edges ? yes ...good ....that is the correct answer :0)

When I decided to add a white border to my (mostly)solid coloured grannies I wanted them them to retain their square shape.
I haven't used a chain round on a square shape before and was struggling about what to do on the corners. After a quick search of my flickr favourites I found THIS image. With I bit of experimenting I figured out what I think is the correct method....it may not be what others do but it's working for me so I thought I would share my method here.

Here we go with my Tutorial...... written as usual in U.S. crochet terms.....I think I'm pretty bi-lingual in crochet speak now but still think primarily in U.S. so I guess I should stick with that ( all my previous tutorials are U.S. terminology )
Start with a granny square....

NOTE :-  I make my granny squares with no chains between clusters and 2 chains in the corners ....see my granny square tutorial in my side bar.
If you use a different method you may need to adjust the chain and subsequent round .


Attach the colour of your choice using  the method of your choice in a space along any side of your square. Chain 3.......

slip stitch into the next space.......

Repeat along the side and when you reach a corner slip stitch into the chain space.....

Chain 4 .......

and slip stitch into the same space.......

Repeat this pattern around.  Here you can see I'm into the third side and you can clearly see the little "ears" made by the chains at each corner .......

Continue around , making an "ear" at each corner ( it's not clear in this photo but they are there )........

When you reach the starting chain insert you hook under the chain and slip stitch

This is the chain round completed. Do not fasten off .....

Chain 3 then make 2 double crochet (d.c.) under the loop created by the chain round........

In the next loop make 3 d.c. and repeat under every loop till you get to a corner..........

into the corner chain (ear) make 3 d.c., 2 chain, 3 d.c......

Repeat all the way around for your first square. On subsequent squares stop at the 3rd corner

Chain 1 then join to the adjoining block with a slip stitch .....

3 d.c. the slip stitch into the corresponding space. This is the join as you go method and there is a clear tutorial on how to do this HERE if you need more help......

Repeat along the side and complete the round as normal on the final side by slip stitching into the top of the initial 3 chain ......

When attaching squares to two existing blocks only complete two sides then join as you go to the two adjoining blocks. In the corner slip stitch into the corner of the first block you have attached to ......

Then into the corner of the one you are about to attach to (do not use any) chains  .......

Here is a peek of how my blocks are looking .......I'm not sure why I'm calling them blocks..... I suppose they remind me of babies blocks , but they also make me think of a paint box with all it's squares of colour.....

I've haven't been at work this week , so between housework,baking  and family outings I've managed to make good progress on  these two baby blankets....my first crochet commission :0)
This is the first .It still needs a border but I'm now joining the blocks on the second blanket so I can delay making a decision on that.

Hope your week is going well.
Jacquie x