Granny Square Bracelet Tutorial

I have a hard time finding bracelets that fit my little twig wrists, so I have been on a mission to make some of my own. This granny square bracelet fits like a charm, it doesn’t slide up to my elbow every time I move my arm, and it has an easy-peasy snap closure. You should make one, too. It’s simple!

Here’s what you need: cotton crochet thread, a size 7 metal crochet hook, a Kandy Snap (hammer), a small tapestry needle, and a scissors. Oh, and a nice spot outside under a tree helps, too. You will need to know how to make granny squares and decrease single crochets. There are many methods for making a granny square, but for this tutorial you might want to know this: I do two chains in the corners and one chain in the side spaces (this will matter later on).

I made my squares to two rounds only. More than that and the bracelet was getting a little wide for me, but you can do as many as you want. I made the first square, then attached the rest with the join-as-you-go method (corners: ch 1, sc join, ch 1/sides: straight up sc join). Don’t forget to work over your loose ends as you go – weaving in ends is no fun!

Each of my squares ended up measuring about one inch, and I connected six squares together. The final bracelet turns out to be about 7 inches (you can make yours longer, of course, but more on that later). Don’t worry about those pesky loose ends – you’ll crochet right over them in a bit. When you’re done with your squares, you’ll add a flap on each end for the snap to have something to grab onto. Let’s call this part “the snap flap,” shall we? Here’s how to make the snap flap:

With the right side facing you, join thread in the upper right corner space of the end square, chain one. Make one sc into each space, and one sc into each dc (so, you’ll end up with 9 sc). For the next three rows: ch 1, turn, sc into each sc across (4 total rows of 9 sc).

In each of the next 2 rows, you will decrease one stitch at  the beginning of the row and one at the end of the row. This will start to form a nice little curve for your snap flap. Here’s how to decrease one sc: insert hook into st, yo, draw up a loop, insert hook into next st, yo, draw up a loop (3 loops on hook), yo and draw through all three loops on hook.

So, at the beginning of row 5, ch 1 and dec one sc (the photo above shows what this looks like right before the final yo and pull-through). The photo below shows the after. See? Now you have one sc where there was once two.

Sc into the next 5 sts (now you’ll have two sts left in the row), and dec one sc over the last 2 sts. Now your row has 7 sc. Follow this same procedure for row six. Row six will have a total of 5 sc. Cut your yarn and finish off. Follow all the snap flap steps on the other end of your bracelet. This is how it looks:

When you are done with the snap flaps, it’s time to finish everything up and make it pretty. With the right side facing you, join your thread in the side space of any square. Chain one, and begin to crochet around the entire perimeter of your bracelet. Don’t forget to work over your loose ends! Again, I made one sc into each space and one sc into each dc. Do not make a sc in the space between the squares. When you get to the corners, or curves, of your snap flaps, you will want to make one or more extra scs so as to keep everything flat. When you get back to the beginning, join to your first sc, cut thread, and weave in your end. Cut all other dangling ends that you worked over.

Here’s what the bracelet looks like now. It’s a little tense. I blocked it for a couple hours to make everything relax a little (I soaked it in water and squished it between two kitchen towels with a weight on top).

After blocking the bracelet, follow the directions on your snap package to attach the snaps. And ta-da! Done.

If you need your bracelet a lot longer, just add more squares. If you only need it a little longer, you can just add a few more rows to your snap flaps.

Did you make this project? Come on over and add it to the Speckless Makes Flickr group!