How to Crochet Mitered Squares – Guest Post by Mary Beth Temple of Hooked for Life

Learning how to crochet mitered squares is easier than you might think! And they are the basis of so many amazing designs.

So I’m super excited to have a guest post by Mary Beth Temple today, renowned author and designer, and blogger at Hooked for Life! She is a crochet expert – and she’s going to tell us all about crocheted mitered squares!

Disclaimer: This guest post was written by Mary Beth Temple, 2019, all rights reserved, text and photos used with permission.

How to Crochet Mitered Squares

There are a zillion variations on mitered squares but to get the hang of things, we are going to focus on ones made with single crochet. Here are two variations.

First off, for both variations, chain an even number of stitches. For the sample below, I chained 22.

Variation One:

A bit of math – sorry!

First off deduct 1 stitch for the turning chain – you will want an odd number of stitches. In my example that leaves 21.
Then deduct 3 stitches for the central decrease. That leaves me with 18.
Now take that and divide it in half – that’s 9 stitches on each side of the central decrease.

So my first row is:

Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook, and in each of next 8 ch, sc3tog, sc in each of last 9 ch. Ch 1, turn. 19 sts

Row 2: Sc in each of first 8 sc, sc3tog, sc in each of last 8 sc. Ch 1, turn. 17 sts

Row 3: Sc in each of first 7 sc, sc2tog, sc in each of last 7 sc. Ch 1, turn. 15 sts

If you are sensing a pattern here – you got it! You keep repeating the last row, and there will be one less stitch on each side of the central decrease after every row, two stitches decreased in total. When there are only 3 sts remaining, sc2tog and end off.

Some people, especially if they’re working on larger squares, use a stitch marker to mark that central decrease, and instead of counting each row, they just stitch to the stitch before the marker, sc3tog there, and then move the marker to that central decrease.

Variation Two:

I started with the same 22 stitch chain.
Deduct 1 for the turning chain = 21 stitches
Deduct 5 stitches for a double decrease = 16 stitches
Divide that in half = 8 stitches

The first row for this variation is:

Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each of next 7 ch, sc2tog over next 2 ch, sc in next ch, sc2tog over next 2 ch, sc in each of last 8 ch. Ch 1, turn. 19 sts

Row 2: Sc in each of first 7 ch, sc2tog, sc in next sc, sc2tog, sc in each of last 8 ch. Ch 1, turn. 17 sts

Row 3: Sc in each of first 6 ch, sc2tog, sc in next sc, sc2tog, sc in each of last 7 ch. Ch 1, turn. 15 sts

Just like the first variation, keep repeating the last row with one fewer st on either side of the decrease, and when there are only 3 sts remaining, sc3tog and end off.

Pick your variation and go to town! Variation 1, as you can see in the photo, has a slightly more obvious “seam” because of the sc3tog, while Variation 2 has a more rounded corner because of the way the decreases are spread out.

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Now that you’ve made your squares – it’s time to join them together! CLICK HERE to go to Mary Beth’s How to Join Crochet Mitered Squares Tutorial!

And here’s some inspiration for you – the Mosaic Tile Wrap by Mary Beth Temple! Isn’t it lovely?!

Thank you so much, Mary Beth! This tutorial is a great tutorial on how to crochet mitered squares -and I love that there are two ways to make them!

Be sure to check out more of Mary Beth’s work at Hooked For Life, and you can see many of her books on Amazon!

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