Granny Square Chicken: I Turned Two Granny Squares Into a Chubby Crochet Chicken

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What can you make with two granny squares? A chicken! I'd seen the free Granny Square Chicken pattern by Sweet Softies and wanted to try it for myself. The designer's chicken is adorable, so I was curious whether mine would turn out anything like hers.

It starts as two Spring Court granny squares (also a free Sweet Softies pattern), then gets sewn together, topped with a crown and a little beak, given safety eyes, and stuffed. I worked through it one round and one step at a time, and here's how it went, including what I'd change next time.

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The Pattern

Granny Square Chicken by Sweet Softies (free written pattern + video tutorial): get the pattern
Spring Court Granny Square by Sweet Softies (free): get the square pattern
Sweet Softies' video tutorial on YouTube

All the instructions live on Sweet Softies' site, so head there for the written pattern. Below is my experience making it.

What I Used

Yarn: Caron Little Crafties Mini Yarn Multipack (20 colors, #3 DK/light), also at Yarnspirations
Hook: 2.75 mm. I started with a coated Prym hook and switched to a metal hook from Hobby Lobby (I think it's a store exclusive).
Safety eyes: 12 mm (safety eye assortment that includes 12 mm)
Stuffing: BUTUZE polyester fiberfill
Yarn needle and scissors

Picking Colors from a Mini Skein Pack

I used a Caron Little Crafties multipack, which comes with 20 different colors in little 20-gram balls. The colors in the pack don't have names, but that's no problem for a small project like this, where you only need a bit of each color. I wanted my two squares to look a little different from each other.

Two finished Spring Court granny squares with Caron Little Crafties mini yarn balls and a crochet hook — My two finished Spring Court granny squares

Making the Spring Court Granny Squares

The first step is making two Spring Court granny squares. They start out round, with the flower in the middle, and through round four they still aren't squares yet. Then the last rounds square them off.

This was my first time doing a drop stitch, which is part of the Spring Court square. I liked that there was a tutorial for it.

When I finished, one square looked a little bigger than the other. I think I just crocheted the pink one a little tighter.

Tip: Switch Hooks If Your Yarn Is Splitting

Around round three, I noticed a lot of drag with this yarn on my Prym hook, which is plastic or has some kind of coating. I kept splitting the yarn. So I switched to a metal hook, and it worked out a lot better. I didn't split the yarn after that. For some reason, this yarn and that type of hook just weren't working well together for me.

Sewing the Chicken Together

Once both squares are done, you sew them together on three sides. At this point I noticed my squares weren't very dense, so I wasn't sure how they'd look once stuffed. I decided to keep going and see.

Adding the Crown and Beak

Next comes the chicken's crown and a little beak. I went with yellow for the crown. Afterward I thought maybe I should have made it red or pink, but I just went with yellow.

Granny square with a yellow crocheted chicken crown and small beak added at the corner — Crown and beak added

Safety Eyes and Stuffing

I used 12 mm safety eyes. After putting them in, I stuffed the chicken, just a little and not too much. One of my eyes started coming out while I was stuffing it, so check that yours are secure. Then I sewed it closed.

Granny square chicken with 12 mm safety eyes, stuffed and ready to sew closed — Eyes in and stuffed

My Finished Granny Square Chicken

My chicken is done, and it's super cute, super chubby, and chunky! It took me a couple of hours from start to finish.

Finished crochet granny square chicken held in hand

It was super easy to put together, and I think it's a great use of granny squares. If you have some extra solid granny squares, you could make a whole bunch of these.

Here it is sitting in my Bernat Fab one-skein crochet basket.

Crochet granny square chicken sitting in a crocheted fabric-yarn basket with yarn cakes on a desk

What I'd Do Differently Next Time

Use a smaller hook. My holes came out too big. Next time I'd go down a hook size for a denser fabric.
Start with a metal hook for this yarn so it doesn't split.
Double-check the safety eyes before stuffing, since one of mine started coming out.

More Crochet Projects to Try

My one-skein crochet basket with Bernat Fab
My Amazon sunflower crochet kit review (another granny square project)
My Red Heart All-in-One yarn review (granny squares and tension tips)
3 changes I made to how I craft (why I finish projects and use up supplies)

Your Turn!

If you haven't made one of these yet, I hope you'll give it a try. It's a free pattern, and there's a video tutorial too. Have you tried it? And if there's another free pattern you think I should try in a video, leave a comment and let me know!

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Pattern credit: Granny Square Chicken and Spring Court Granny Square designed by Sweet Softies. Thank you, Sweet Softies, for such a sweet pattern!