Granny Square Skirt - The Pattern

Hello everyone! This post has been a long time coming (two years, to be exact!) but it's finally here--the pattern of my granny square skirt...

...which can also be worn as a poncho!

Please note that I have used UK crochet terminology throughout.

So here we go...

The skirt is made of a waistband consisting of rows of back loop double crochet (bldc) in black yarn, joined at the ends and edged with a round of double crochets (dc), as shown in the graph below, where the X symbol stands for 'bldc'.

Below is a pic of the finished waistband: as you can see, working in the back loops of the double crochets creates a ribbed piece which has the added advantage of being quite stretchy.

Then the body of the skirt is crocheted from the waist down, creating four corners as you go along...

...and working in the following order: three rounds of treble clusters in various colours, one round of double crochets in black, and repeat...

...until desired length is reached, finishing with a round of crabstitch in black.

A simple crochet chain in black is finally threaded through the base of the waistband.

Materials needed:
1 100g ball of black DK yarn (referred to below as "yarn A")
1 100g ball of DK yarn for each desired colour. I used 9 different colours for my skirt, worked randomly, the only rule being that no colour should be repeated twice in a row (but by all means, do break the rule if you so wish!).
1 4mm crochet hook
1 tapestry needle to weave ends in.

Stitches and abbreviations used (UK terminology):
ch: chain
dc: double crochet
bldc: back loop double crochet
tr: treble
cr-st: crabstitch



PATTERN:

Waistband:

Tension: 10x10cm= 20 bldc x 16 rows with a 4mm hook
Size measurements at waist, approx. 70cm. To adjust to your size, increase or decrease number or rows, making sure you always have a multiple of 4.

With yarn A, Ch11, turn.
Row 1: dc in 2nd ch from hook, dc in each ch to end, ch1, turn.
Row 2: bldc to end, ch1, turn.
Rows 3-112: repeat row 2, do NOT fasten off

Fold piece in half, aligning first and last rows together, and join them with a row of slip stitches to make a ring. Fasten off and turn piece inside out. The side now facing you will be the right side of the waistband.

Rejoin yarn A into one edge of ring, ch2, dc in each row end around the edge, closing round with slip stitch. Fasten off. Repeat for other edge.


Skirt:

Round 1:
Change colour, rejoin yarn into any dc in either edge of waistband. Ch3 (counts as 1 tr), 2 tr, ch2, 3tr in same dc (corner made), **skip 3dc, 3tr in next dc, *skip 2dc, 3tr in next dc*, repeat *to* 6 times (if making a different size, divide number of waistband rows by 4, then divide result by 3, and substract 3 to find how many repeats you need. In this case: 112/4=28; 28/3= 9.33; 9-3=6), skip 2dc, 3tr, ch2, 3tr in next dc (corner made)**, repeat **to** twice, repeat **to** once, omitting the corner stitches, slip stitch to beginning. Fasten off.

Round 2:
Change colour, rejoin yarn into ch2 space of any corner of the previous round. Ch3 (counts as 1 tr), 2 tr, ch2, 3tr in ch2 space of corner from previous round, *3tr in next space between tr from previous round*, repeat *to* until next corner, **3tr, ch2, 3tr in corner, repeat *to* until next corner**, repeat **to** twice, slip stitch to beginning. Fasten off.

Round 3:
Change colour, repeat round 2.

Round 4:
Change back to yarn A, rejoin into any corner, ch1 (does not count as a stitch), *1dc, ch2, 1dc in corner, 1dc in each tr till next corner*, repeat *to* 3 times, slip stitch into 1st dc.

Round 5:
Change colour, rejoin yarn into any corner. Ch3 (counts as 1 tr), 2 tr, ch2, 3tr in corner, **skip 4dc, 3tr in next dc, *skip 3dc, 3tr in next dc*, repeat *to* until 3dc before next corner, skip 3dc, work 3tr, ch2, 3tr in next corner**, repeat **to** twice, repeat **to** once more, omitting the corner stitches, slip stitch to beginning. Fasten off.

Rounds 6-7:
Repeat round 2.

Round 8:
Repeat round 4.

Rounds 9-x:
Repeat rounds 5, 2, 2, 4, finishing on a round 4, until desired length is reached. Do not fasten off.

Final round:
Ch1, 1 cr-st in each dc until corner, 3 cr-st in corner, repeat 3 times, slip stitch to beginning. Fasten off. Weave ends in. Block if necessary.

Tie:
Chain until you have enough length to wrap around your waist and tie a bow knot. Thread through every other dc at base of waistband.

And there you have it. I realise it may look a bit daunting at first, but I think once you've got past round 2, it gets much easier to see what you are doing. If anything is unclear or you spot a mistake, please let me know. Oh, and do share pics of your makes! :)