Design 102: Designing with Squares

Once you’ve gotten past the basics of knitting & crochet, you may be thinking about how to branch out and create your own unique items. Designing your own pieces doesn’t always have to involve complicated calculations and planning.  By piecing together blocks in creative ways, you can create many different accessories, home goods, and more.  So many of the things we make are rectangular–afghans, bags, pillows, scarves, etc.  Using squares that are different textures and colors is a fun way to design your own items!

The crochet Patchwork Bag is a great example of a project made from squares. It’s four squares for the front and four squares for the back, stitched together with contrasting yarn for the handles and embroidery to add interest. Here are a few other examples of designs made with just basic squares or rectangles like the crochet Granny Squares Scarf:

Or even the knit Curtain Call Shrug and the crochet Acorn Shrug (both made from folded rectangles):

In addition to using a unique stitch for sewing your squares together, you can make squares from any stitch pattern–see our Stitch Finder for some great ideas!  Using different stitches for small squares is a great way to test out a pattern stitch without commiting to a larger project.  Piecing squares together is also a great way to use up your gauge swatches.

Whether you’re designing your own home decor, children’s toys, or anything else you can imagine, we’d love to hear about your project.  Comment below or post pictures in our Customer Gallery.

Related posts:

• Design 101: Creating Your Own Color Combination
• Add a Stitch of Interest
• BK4K: Making Amigurumi using Geometric Shapes