Skull granny square or appliqué

Halloween skull, so spoOOooky! | beginner Pattern

This pattern includes steps to create a skull appliqué or granny square.

You'll need roughly 4 yards (~144 inches) of yarn for the skull and 10 yards (~350 inches) for the square. Optional stitch marker placements are noted, helpful for beginners or when using dark yarns.

Enjoy! 👻

I used Lion Brand DIY Glow Cozy yarn in white and aqua to create the squares pictured in this pattern.

beginner

20-45 minutes

Color 1: 4 yards, Color 2: 10 yards

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Required Tools

1x5mm crochet hook

Recommended Yarn

No yarns added

Stitch Abbreviations

chChain

sl stSlip stitch

dcDouble crochet

hdcHalf double crochet

mcMagic circle

Before you begin...

Key:

MR – Magic Ring (or Magic Circle)
CH – Chain
SL ST – Slip Stitch
SC – Single Crochet
HDC – Half Double Crochet
DC – Double Crochet

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Part 1: Skull

(Make 1)

This is the skull in the center of the granny square.

Round 1

Round 1 forms the start of the skull, 2 eye sockets, and the nose socket.

Start with a MR (magic ring).

CH 1, DC 9* into the MR (*optional: place a stitch marker in the top of the first DC), CH 5, DC 1 into the MR, CH 3, DC 1 into the MR, CH 5, tighten the MR, then SL ST to join into the first DC you placed into the MR.

Round 2

Round 2 completes the skull and forms the teeth.

[CH 1, SC 1] into the same stitch as the final SL ST from the previous round, SC 1* into the next 8 stitches along the top of the skull (*optional: place a stitch marker in the fourth SC at the top-center of the skull if you are doing the granny square).

SC 6 into the first eye socket chain space.

[SL ST, CH 2, DC 2, CH 2*, SL ST] into nose socket chain space (*optional: place a stitch marker in the first CH if you are doing the granny square), SC 6 into the next eye socket chain space, then SL ST to join with the first SC in the skull after the eye socket chain space.

Cut your yarn and pull through.

Part 2: Granny square

Part 1: Skull

(Make 1)

This is the skull in the center of the granny square.

Round 1

Round 1 forms the start of the skull, 2 eye sockets, and the nose socket.

Start with a MR (magic ring).

Round 2

Round 2 completes the skull and forms the teeth.

SC 6 into the first eye socket chain space.

Cut your yarn and pull through.

Part 2: Granny square

(Make 1)

Creates the square around the skull.

Round 2

CH 3* to counts as the first DC of this round (*optional: mark the third chain with a stitch marker). DC 1 into the next 4 stitches.

[DC 2, CH 2, DC 2] into the corner chain space, DC 1 into the next 8 stitches. Repeat this step 3 times.

[DC 2, CH 2, DC 2] into the final corner chain space, DC 1 into the next 3 stitches.

SL ST to join in the optionally marked third chain from the start of this round.

You may cut your yarn and pull through or complete more rounds of the granny square.

Round 1

Switch to your second yarn color. Start with a slip knot on your hook.

SC 1 into the optionally marked SC at the top of the skull, HDC 1 in next stitch, DC 1 in next stitch, [DC 2, CH 2, DC 2] in next stitch to form the first corner, and then DC 1 in the next stitch.

HDC 1 in next 4 stitches, [DC 2, CH 2, DC 2] into next stitch to form the second corner, then DC 1 into the next stitch.

Skip the stitches on the side of the teeth; now working into the top stitches of the teeth: SC 1 into the top of the first DC, SC 1 into the top of the second DC, and SC 1 into the next stitch (this is the optionally marked first chain from the CH 2 in the skull step).

Skip the stitches on the other side of the teeth; now working back into the bottom of the next eye socket: DC 1 into the next stitch, [DC 2, CH 2, DC 2] into the next stitch, HDC 1 into the next 4 stitches.

Skip over what looks like the stitch where you pulled your loop through in the skull and DC 1 into the following stitch, [DC 2, CH 2, DC 2] into the next stitch, then DC 1 into next stitch, and lastly HDC 1 into the last stitch.

SL ST to join with the first SC from this round.

Round 3+

Add additional rounds to make the granny square larger.

For each additional round, CH 3 and then DC 1 along each stitch, followed by [DC 2, CH 2, DC 2] into each corner chain space.

When you get back to the start of the round, SL ST into the top of the CH 3 to join.

Repeat for additional rounds. When you’re done with your final SL ST, cut your yarn and pull through.

Weave in your ends and you’re done!