National Granny Square Day

National Granny Square Day is August 15th – a day dedicated to crocheted granny squares. Crocheters around the world share their granny square creations on social media using the hashtag #grannysquareday.

With the help of AI, I found a little bit of history of the origin of the granny square: “The crochet “Crazy Afghan” pattern, which is considered the earliest known example of a traditional granny square, was designed by a Mrs. Phelps and published in Prairie Farmer magazine on April 4, 1885, inspired by the popular “crazy quilt” aesthetic of the time. This pattern translated the look of crazy quilts into crochet, featuring brightly colored sections and a black border, and laid the foundation for the iconic granny square design. 

While the full name of Mrs. Phelps is not documented, her design was a significant precursor to the modern granny square, emphasizing the use of colorful squares and contrasting borders. The pattern later evolved and became widely known as the “granny square” due to its association with grandmothers and the practice of using up yarn scraps. “

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For a more detailed history of the granny square, click here to go to The Yarn Queen . Included in this article is the original pattern for Mrs. Phelps granny square and more interesting information. Below is a picture of the granny square as shown on The Yarn Queen site.

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For more granny square ideas, click on these links to a few of my patterns that are available on this blog and Etsy.

Daisy Granny Square printed pattern on Etsy

Sunflower Granny Square pattern on Etsy

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The granny square in the heading is Not Quite Solid Granny Square and the first square in the posting is the Ashleigh Granny Square.

If you love crocheting granny squares, there are several books devoted to granny square patterns and hundreds of free patterns online – check Pinterest for pictures and links.

Happy Granny Square Day!

Kathy