The Corner to Corner Crochet Stitch is one of the most popular techniques in crochet. It’s easy once you get the hang of the sideways construction and works up really quickly. It has a great modern texture and is a favorite when working graphigans. To make a corner to corner crochet piece, work from one corner to the other by forming boxes. The number of boxes (also referred to as tiles, blocks, and squares) increase as you work from the corner out.
C2C = Corner to Corner
Working corner to corner allows you to crochet one piece instead of making multiple crochet pieces and seaming them together. You can easily add or subtract widths and lengths to your piece without having to stop crocheting. C2C crochet is an abbreviation of corner to corner crochet. You work up a c2c square or rectangle by crocheting a corner and moving outward to add boxes in 90-degree angles as you go. Once you reach the widest point with the two additional corners, you will start decreasing the number of boxes on each side until you get to the final corner.
You can make a corner to corner crochet pattern in a square or rectangle. For a rectangle, you will keep adding boxes on one side but not the other in order to make the longer shape. If you are a beginner, start with a granny square, dishcloth, or placemat in a solid or variegated color. Then move on to larger squares and rectangles or those with more complicated features, such as images.
Many corner to corner patterns include pictures. Because of the box or tile appearance, the images look “pixelated.” This adds a unique aspect to a C2C crochet project.
As far as stitches go in corner to corner crochet, there is a standard C2C stitch used in most patterns. It uses chains and double crochet to create the boxes and then the process repeats. The trickier part with corner to corner crochet is the fact that you are moving outwardly as you crochet, adding more boxes to each side.
Tips for Corner to Corner Crochet
Sarah from Repeat Crafter Me has the following tips on C2C for beginners.
- Carry your yarn up or over when you can instead of clipping off and reattaching during a color change. This will save you from weaving in a ton of loose ends!
- There will inevitably be places on your project (when following a picture graph) where the squares don’t touch and you want them too. For instance on an eye or mouth. Use the loose ends you have to your advantage. When sewing them in, stitch to connect corners of squares that should be touching.
- Create your own pixel graphs and C2C designs with graph paper and colored pencils! If you use transparent graph paper you can put a printed out clip art image under it and use it as a traceable guide.
How to do the Corner-to-Corner Crochet Stitch:
- Row1: Ch6, 1dc in 4th ch from hook and next 2 ch, turn (1 block made)
- Row2: Ch6, 1dc in 4th ch from hook and next 2ch (first block on row 2 made). Ss into top of ch3 at start of previous block, ch3, 3dc in ch3-sp (second block on row 2 made), turn
- Row3: Ch6, 1dc in 4th ch from hook and next 2 ch, *ss into ch3-sp on next block, ch3, 3dc in same ch3-sp; rep from * to last ch3-sp, 3dc in last ch3-sp (3 blocks made)
Repeat Row 3, adding a block on each row until you reach your desired width.
To decrease, you start each row by slip stitching into the last 3dc and ch sp from the previous row. Ch3 then work the pattern repeat across and slip stitch into the final ch3-sp (without working the 3dc). Repeat your decrease row until you have just one block left.
Thanks to Moogly for the video.
