Crochet Heart Granny Square Drawstring Pouch

How do you get a heart into a square? With stitch heights. The heart is a lumpy shape: tall where the lobes are, narrow at the bottom. The round that squares it off uses short stitches where the heart is already tall and tall stitches where it's narrow, until the edge is straight on all four sides. After that it's an ordinary granny square, and two of them make a little drawstring pouch.

Elise teaches it on her lilthings channel. It's a lovely lesson in using different stitches to fill a shape.

Video tutorial by Elise on her YouTube channel, lilthings: watch "crochet heart drawstring pouch absolute beginner tutorial🖇️how to crochet heart granny square pouch" on YouTube.

Written from the video. Round 3 depends on your heart's shape, so watch how Elise works it before you start.

Materials

• 5-ply milk cotton in pink, pastel yellow and white
• 3.0 mm hook
• Stitch markers, scissors and a darning needle

The heart (pink)

Round 1: 12 dc in a magic ring.

Round 2: chain 1 and skip 1 stitch, then work into the next stitches in order:

1. 8 tr in one stitch (right lobe)
2. 1 dc
3. 1 dc and 1 hdc
4. 2 hdc
5. 1 hdc and 1 dc
6. 1 dc and 1 hdc
7. 2 hdc
8. 1 hdc and 1 dc
9. 1 dc
10. 8 tr in one stitch (left lobe)

Skip the last stitch and slip stitch into the centre to make the dip at the top. That's all 12 stitches of round 1 used.

Squaring it off (yellow)

Round 3: join yellow. Work round the heart with:

• short stitches (sc and hdc) over the tall treble lobes,
• tall stitches (dc and tr) along the narrower lower sides,
• a chain 3 at each of the 4 corners.

The goal is four straight sides. Lay it flat after each side: if a side bulges, use a shorter stitch there; if it dips, use a taller one.

Border (white)

Round 4: 1 dc in every stitch along the sides and [2 dc, chain 2, 2 dc] in each corner space.

Make 2 squares: two hearts, or one heart for the front and a plain solid granny square for the back.

The pouch

1. Hold the squares together and seam three sides: left, bottom and right. Leave the top open.
2. Work 2 rounds of double crochet around the top opening. This is the drawstring channel.
3. Make two chain drawstrings and thread them through the channel in opposite directions, so each pulls from one side.

Tips

• Even corners. All four corners should sit at the same distance from the heart. Mark them before round 3 and adjust stitch heights between them.
• Block the squares before seaming. A little steam flattens round 3 and squares off the corners. The blocking calculator helps you pin to an exact size.
• Match the counts of both squares on round 4, so the seams line up.

Frequently asked questions