Crochet Sunburst Pillow

Last week I finished up the classes for my master’s degree — woo! Technically I won’t actually have the degree until August (ugh, bureaucracy) but at least I’m done with all the work. This summer is a whirlwind of weddings, workshops, and getting SS+S up and running, then in August I’ll start my new job teaching high school biology! I’m part excited and part absolutely terrified, but at least I have a little time to prepare!

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So in anticipation of the launch of the brand-spanking-new YouShouldCraft.com, I’ve been working on finally finishing crocheting the sunburst granny squares I shared on Thrifty Below back in January. Right, I know, I know… that was six months ago. But f’real, life has been crazy. ANYWAY, I stitched ’em together to make a pillow, and I’m officially in love with how it turned out!

I’ll stop talking (typing?) because you’re all here for the tutorial, right?! How many of you just skip the beginnings of blog posts and just scroll right to the recipe or craft tutorial? It’s cool, sometimes I do it too. Especially if I’m in the middle of a hot and heavy Pinterest sesh — I just skim super fast and figure I’ll come back later when I want to make whatever the post is about.

Supplies:
18 completed Sunburst Granny Squares (I made mine two different shades of blue)
Worsted weight yarn in a coordinating color (I used Red Heart Super Saver in Soft Navy, Soft White, and Periwinkle)
J-10, 6.0mm crochet hook
Tapestry needle to weave in ends
Scissors
Pillow form

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Before you begin, you may want to consider blocking your crocheted granny squares. I didn’t bother because the pillow is going to get all puffed out from the stuffing anyway, but it would have helped when I was connecting the squares.

Next, line up your squares in the desired pattern. There will be nine squares (three rows of three) per side. I only used two colors, so I just rotated between them. I made each side of my pillow the same, with five periwinkle granny squares and four navy granny squares.

Pick two adjacent squares and place them on top of each other, with the wrong sides together. Connect your coordinating yarn in the corner.

Crochet single crochets into both loops of both granny squares and continue until you’ve reached reached the next corner.

Line up the next two squares, then stack them as you did with the first ones.

Carefully stitch a single crochet into the corner of the second set of sunburst squares, then continue crocheting. Add the final pair of squares, single crochet them together, then tie off. I weaved in the ends a little here, but left some extra to weave into the border. You can do this however you like.

I single crocheted two parallel sections first, so that the perpendicular lines would both go over (instead of one over and one under). I’m honestly not sure if anyone would have noticed, but that’s the kind of thing I think about so… yeah.

Single crochet along the remaining two lines, connecting all nine of your granny squares. Tie off and weave in ends.

Do it all over again for the back of the pillow. You should now have two three-by-three panels for each side of your soon-to-be-finished pillow.

Take the two sides of your pillow and stack them with the wrong sides together. Connect the yarn a little before a corner (so you don’t end up finishing on one). Using the same method you used before, begin single crocheting in both loops of both panels. Stitch two single crochets in the corner-most stitch (most likely the chain stitch).

Continue single crocheting until you’re about 3/4 of the way around the pillow. Since I used a pillow form, I wanted to leave a hole big enough to fit it. Don’t tie off the yarn yet, you’ll continue single crocheting once the pillow form has been inserted.

Put in your pillow form and finish crocheting the edging. Weave in the ends.

That’s it! Enjoy your new pillow!

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