New to Granny sq - how-to ? inside

[chie96]

Good afternoon! I am brand-new to crochet and would like to make the Afghan Squared afghan on the Lion website for DH for Christmas. The directions say: Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as dc), 2 dc in ring, ch 2, (3 dc in ring, ch 2) 3 times, sl st in top of ch-3. Fasten off. OK - am I supposed to ch 2 after each dc or only after I have made the first two, and then again after I have made 3 more? I have tried this first round over and over today and it simply isn't looking like it should! TIA if you can help!

[Boogs]

The directions say: Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as dc), 2 dc in ring, ch 2, (3 dc in ring, ch 2) 3 times, sl st in top of ch-3. Fasten off. OK - am I supposed to ch 2 after each dc or only after I have made the first two, and then again after I have made 3 more?

To start off with you will do 2 dc in the ring then chain 2 then you will do 3 dc in the ring and chain 2 three times like so:

dc, dc, ch 2,
dc, dc, dc, ch 2,
dc, dc, dc, ch 2,
dc, dc, dc, ch 2
sl st in top of ch-3.

Does that help?

[chie96]

Yes, that does help, TY. That is what I have been doing all day, but when I get to the 3rd time of dc,dc,dc,ch2 it goes haywire and ends up looking really "strange". If I ever get to the sl st in top of ch-3 part, could you help me to understand what the "top of ch-3" means if I am only doing ch2 after the dc? Thank you so very much!!!

[msboni83]

the slip stitch in the top of the chain 3 refers to the chain 3 at the very beginning of the round. The slip stitch connects the end to the beginning to complete the round. Hope that helps

[PamJ]

Hi Laurie,
Did you figure it out? It's such a pretty afghan!
I just wanted to make sure you started off making the ring before starting round one. "With A, ch 4, sl st in beg ch to form a ring."
After doing the slip stitch in the beginning chain, you have a circle. When you chain 3, it extends up from the circle and counts as a dc for the first set of 3 dcs. If you look at the picture, you see the ring in the center, then 4 clusters of 3 dc around it with a ch2 between each cluster. When you have completed the 4 clusters/ch2 in the ring, you'll be back to the first ch 3 (which was counted as a dc for the first cluster). Slip stitch into the top of it--that would be the 3rd (top) chain of the ch3. You now have a closed circle of 4 clusters, each separated by a ch 2 space. You will continue closing each round before beginning a new round.
Here's a good video that shows slip stitching into the first ch3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MwD5tSyyoyE&feature=related This one is good for making a granny square in general, although she does the last sl to the ch 3 a little differently: http://youtube.com/watch?v=gJCd_-V2D5k&feature=related

[chie96]

the slip stitch in the top of the chain 3 refers to the chain 3 at the very beginning of the round. The slip stitch connects the end to the beginning to complete the round. Hope that helps

Thanks again! I finally got Rnd 1 figured out (I think)!
When I make the sl st to complete the round, am I going through both strands of that stitch, or just one? I think I read somewhere to go through both top strands of the st???