Granny Square Bookmark

Peek-a-boo! What is peeping out of this book?

It’s a bookmark made of itty bitty granny squares!

I created this bookmark for someone who doesn’t crochet, whose favourite colour is green, and who is a librarian...and this person sent me the loveliest package of goodies in the post a few days ago...

Thank you so much, dear Suzanne! She knows I love my birdies, and I was very touched indeed to receive such pretties from Mrs. Bramble at Tales from My Craft Room! I will treasure these indeed.

Of course, I could just send a nice thank-you note, but I really wanted to send a little treat as well. So I chose to make her something that she most likely won’t have but hopefully will enjoy!

Would you like to make one? I enjoyed crocheting this with delicate DMC cotton thread and a 2mm hook, and I think I’ll buy some more colours and make some more for the book lovers in my life! Perfect stocking stuffers, or treats for teachers...

Granny Square Bookmark

You need:

DMC Petra Crochet Cotton Perle No. 5 (I used pale mint green and white, bought here)

2mm crochet hook

Method (written in UK terminology):

Using your first colour, ch 4, sl st to form a ring.

Round 1: ch 2 (counts as 1 tr), 2 tr, *ch 2, 3 tr. Repeat from * two more times (four clusters and four corners), sl st to top of ch 2 st. Fasten off.

Round 2: Join in next colour in corner, ch 2 (counts as 1 tr), (2 tr, ch 2, 3 tr) in corner space, *3 tr, ch 2, 3 tr in corner space. Repeat from * in remaining two corner spaces, sl st to top of ch 2 st. Fasten off.

Round 3: Join in next colour in corner, ch 2 (counts as 1 tr), (2 tr, ch 2, 3 tr) in corner space, 3 tr in side space, *(3 tr, ch 2, 3 tr) in corner space, 3 tr in side space*, repeat from * to * twice more, sl st to top of ch 2 st. Fasten off and weave in ends.

This pattern makes one granny square. I made four small squares for this bookmark, with the join-as-you-go (JAYG) method. JAYG is easy once you get the hang of it – you are basically slip stitching the squares together at adjacent stitches. Here is how you do the remaining squares:

Crochet the first two rounds of the next square.

Round 3: Join in next colour in corner, ch 2 (counts as 1 tr), (2 tr, ch 1, sl st to the bottom right corner space in previous square {see photo below} ch 1, 3 tr) in corner space.

Next step: sl st to previous square in the stitch to the right of the side space {see photo below}, 3 tr in side space,

sl st to previous square in the stitch to the left of the side space {see photo below}

(3 tr, ch 1, sl st to the bottom left corner space in the previous square {yep, you guessed it, see photo below} ch 1, 3 tr) in corner space,

3 tr in side space, *(3 tr, ch 2, 3 tr) in corner space, 3 tr in side space, repeat from * on remaining two sides, sl st to ch 2 st.

You should have happy squares joined together!

Edging: Join colour anywhere along one of the long sides of the bookmark, ch 1, *1 dc in each st along the side, 2 dc in corner space (I found that 3 dc in this Cotton Perle made my corners ruffle and fan out, so I changed to 2 dc, but if this causes your bookmark to curl, try 3 dc in the corner and chill out a bit, you’re tension is tight! ;-} ). Repeat from * until you meet back where you joined in your thread, sl st to join. Fasten off and weave in ends. Ta-dah!

Please do get in touch if you try this pattern, show me how it turns out, or if something goes wrong or you're muddled...

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x