Sunburst Granny Square Blanket Tutorial

Hey everyone! Once upon a time I made a Sunburst Granny Square blanket for my niece, took some pictures and posted them on my old blog. And oh what a lot of question I got about it!! In particular:
1) What's the pattern?
2) What yarn did you use?
3) How did you join the squares?

So I thought it was finally time to write a proper post about one my favourite crafty projects of all time: The Sunburst Granny Square blanket!!

Now, the first thing I have to mention is that I did not design this from scratch. It is based on a pattern by Priscilla Hewitt, and the original pattern contains more rounds. I've posted the link to this original pattern severel times but apparently it doesn't work for a lot of you. If you are interested in the original pattern, please try this link - hopefully it will work.

Sizes & yarn
I used four rounds to make the Sunburst Granny Squares for the blanket, and they are about 4 inches in size. I used a 4mm crochet hook and Schachenmayr SMC Bravo. This yarn is 100% acrylic, machine washable and it comes in many, many great colors.

Stitches
Half double crochet (hdc): yarn over, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over and pull loop through stitch (3 loops on hook). Yarn over and pull through all three loops on hook.

Double crochet (dc): yarn over, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over and pull loop through stitch (3 loops on hook). Yarn over and pull through two loops on hook (2 loops remaining on hook). Yarn over and pull through two remaining loops on hook.

Puff stitch: *yarn over, insert hook in indicated stitch and draw yarn through stitch* three times (7 loops on hook). Yarn over and pull through all loops on hook. Chain 1 to lock.

Cluster stitch: *yarn over, insert hook in next stitch and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops* 4 times (5 loops on hook). Yarn over and pull through all loops on hook.

Treble stitch (trbl): Yarn over hook twice, insert hook into next stitch. Yarn over hook and draw yarn through stitch (4 loops on hook). Pull yarn through two loops (3 loops remaining on hook). Yarn over and draw through two loops (2 loops remaining). Yarn over and draw through the last two loops on hook.

Round 1
I prefer to start with a magic circle, but if you'd rather start with a chain: chain 5 and join with a slip stitch. Next, chain 3 to count as the first double crochet and work 15 more double crochet stitches into the ring. Join with a slip stitch to the top of the beginning chain 3. (16 double crochet stitches in total) Fasten off.

Round 2

Attach next color with a slip stitch to any dc, chain 1, puff stitch in the same stitch and in each dc around. Join with a slip stitch to the first puff stitch. (16 puff stitches in total) Fasten off.

Round 3

Attach next color with a slip stitch in the chain 1 space of any puff stitch, chain 2, (cluster stitch, chain 2) in the same space and in each chain 1 spaces around. Join with a slip stitch to the beginning cluster stitch. (16 cluster stitches in total) Fasten off.

Moment of choice: crochet together or join as-you-go?

Now you have a choice to make. If you plan to join the squares - to make a blanket for example - then you have to make a decision about how to join the squares before you start round 4. You have two options: finish all the squares seperately and sew or crochet the squares together* (in which case you can proceed with round 4) or join the squares as-you-go* (in which case you can proceed to make a required amount of three-round granny squares/rounds which you can eventually join).

* For a tutorial about crocheting squares together, click here. For a tutorial about joining squares as-you-go, click here. Both tutorials are from the wonderful Lucy of Attic24. 

For the blanket pictured in this post I used the first option (crocheting the finished squares together). As you can see in the above picture it looked very neat up close, but the overall effect was in my opinion a bit too wobbly (see picture below). This is probably because I did something wrong (like crocheting the squares together to tight?) but in any case I nowadays prefer to join my squares as I go, which gives a better 'flow' to the blanket in my opinion.

Round 4

Whatever you choose, you will need round 4 sooner or later. I prefer to use the same color (white or black) for every fourth round of every square to create unity, but of course you can use any color you want.

To start round 4 attach your next color with a slip stitch to any chain 2 space. Chain 4 to count as the first treble stitch and then crochet two treble stitches in the same space. Now, the next steps might sound a bit tricky, but it's not as bad as it seems: you're basically going to turn your Sunburst rounds into squares. In the picture below you can see which stitches you'll use for the straight lines (pink) and the corners (blue).

First crochet *3 dc in the next chain 2 space, 3 hdc in the next chain 2 space and 3 dc in the next chain 2 space*. You now made one of the four straight lines of your square. Next, you'll make your first corner: all in the next chain 2 space crochet 3 treble stitches, chain 3, and another 3 treble stitches. Repeat this sequence (straight line + corner) two times, then repeat from * to * (straight line) once. To finish your last corner: crochet 3 treble stitches in the same space as the beginning treble stitches, chain 3 and join with a slip stitch to the top of the beginning chain 4.

Fasten off and your Sunburst Granny Square is done!!

I had a lot of fun writing this tutorial, and if it proves at all helpful to anyone out there then that's a nice bonus ;) If you've made a Sunburst Granny Square blanket yourself, please post a link in the comments; I would love to see it! :)