A yellow granny square with a purple sunburst and a white crocheted skull, on dark wood beside a lit jack-o'-lantern, candles, a book marked Spells, a Witch's Brew bottle and a witch's hat

Three skull granny squares on dark wood beside a lit jack-o'-lantern, a bowl of pumpkin sweets, a black mug of cocoa and autumn leaves

Two hands holding a yellow granny square with a purple sunburst and a white crocheted skull in the middle, on cream linen beside balls of yarn

Pirate Skull Granny Square Crochet Pattern

$2.59

A written PDF pattern for a granny-square coaster with a white skull in the middle of a purple sunburst, on a yellow square about 12 cm (4¾ in) across.

A 25-page pattern, every count checked before it was published — including round 5, where the circle turns square: all 48 stitches used, 12 along each side.
A quick make from leftovers. About 1½ hours, and about 7 g of purple, 10 g of yellow and 2 g of white.
Yours to keep. Download again any time, free, forever.

Or get all five Halloween squares

Halloween Granny Square Crochet Pattern Bundle – 5 Patterns $5.99 — this one is included. On their own they are $2.59 each. See all five →

SKU: c17 Category: Halloween

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Description

Everything about this pattern, before you pay for it

Most pattern listings tell you after. Here is the whole spec.

What it is	A written crochet pattern, delivered as a PDF. The file itself is titled The Pirate Skull Who Guards Your Mug.
What you make	A granny-square coaster with a skull in the middle: a purple circle with twelve picot-tipped rays and yellow between them, two yellow rounds that turn it square, and a small white skull — three teeth, two eye sockets, a nose and a rounded top — sewn onto the centre.
Finished size	About 12 cm (4¾ in) square. The skull is about 5 cm (2 in) wide.
Hook	3.0 mm — the only hook in the pattern.
Yarn	5-ply combed cotton, about a DK weight, in three colours: purple for the circle, yellow for the rays and the square, and white for the skull.
Yarn needed	About 7 g (15 yd) of purple, 10 g (20 yd) of yellow and 2 g (5 yd) of white.
Time to make	About 1½ hours.
Skill level	Confident beginner, which is what the pattern itself says: joined rounds, colour changes, a picot, a granny square, a small piece in rows, and sewing a piece on.
Techniques used	Magic ring · joined rounds, closing each one where it began · a stacked first stitch that counts as a double crochet · chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet and treble crochet · the double crochet increase · a picot on top of a double crochet · changing colour mid-round, and working over the colour you are not using · several stitches into one stitch or one space · skipping stitches to open the spaces of a granny square · closing a round with a sewn join · a foundation chain, worked into its back bumps · working in rows, turning at the end of each one · working into chain spaces and chain loops · sewing a small piece on with a yarn needle · weaving in ends
Worked in	The square in joined rounds: rounds 1–3 start with a stacked first stitch that counts, rounds 4–6 with a chain that does not. The skull in five short rows, turning each time.
Number of pieces	Two: the square, and the skull that is sewn onto it.
Numbered rounds and rows	11 — six rounds for the square, five rows for the skull.
Count checkpoints	Seven: 36 at the end of round 3; 48 at the end of round 4 — twelve purple rays and a yellow pair between each two; at the end of round 5, all 48 used, 12 along each side, 14 stitches between corners; 4 groups a side at the end of round 6; all nine chains used in the skull’s first row; 13 sc at the end of row 4; 11 stitches at the end of row 5.
The rays	Round 4 takes turns between purple and yellow every two stitches without cutting either yarn: the colour that is resting is carried along the top and worked over. Each purple ray ends in a picot, a small point of three chains.
The round that turns it square	Round 5 uses every one of round 4’s 48 stitches, with a corner on every third ray. Every side is written out — [tr, dc], dc, 2 hdc, 4 sc, 2 hdc, dc, [dc, tr] — and the picots are skipped.
The last round	A classic granny round: 4 groups of 3 double crochet along each side, and 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc at each corner.
The skull	Row 1 is the teeth: a chain of 9 with three double crochets in it, and the gaps between them are the chains they skip. Rows 2 and 3 make the two eye sockets and the nose, and rows 4 and 5 the top of the head.
Sewing	One seam: the skull onto the middle of the circle, with its own long tail, written out step by step. Round 6 also closes with a sewn join instead of a slip stitch.
Also needed	One stitch marker, a blunt yarn needle and scissors.
Pages	25
Terminology	US crochet terms
Language	English
Left-handed	Written for you too. Work it exactly as written and your coaster comes out a mirror image of the photos. Nothing else changes: the rays and the square are the same all the way round, and the skull is sewn on in the middle with its teeth towards one side.
Delivery	Download link on the confirmation page and in your email, straight away.

Counted twice

My grandmother taught me on her porch, and she said the same thing every time I tangled the yarn: slow down, count twice, rip it out if it’s wrong — there’s no shame in starting over.

So every pattern in this shop gets counted twice. Once when it’s written. Then again, before it goes on sale: every round is re-added, stitch by stitch, and checked against the round before it.

That’s the whole thing. It’s not clever. It is just the step almost nobody takes, because until a pattern is written down properly you can’t take it — and because nobody was ever asked to show their working.

I’m asking to show mine.

Skull squares are everywhere, and plenty of them are free. In June 2026 a maker who now shares her own wrote that she had to find three different ones and fix them herself before one worked.

The worst thing a pattern does is not be difficult. It is to be wrong early, so that you find out several rounds later and spend the next twenty minutes wondering whether it was you. A missing stitch on the last side of a square is exactly that kind of wrong: the corner is a little off, the next round does not quite fit, and there is nothing on the page to tell you it wasn’t you.

On this one, there is. The checkpoint at the end of round 5 has you count the last side before you close it.

No more counting the same round for the third time, writing it out on paper to make it add up, and still not knowing whether it’s you or the pattern. The count in the pattern is right. If yours doesn’t match it, the slip is in the round you just made — undo that one round and carry on.

You probably have one project in a bag somewhere, stopped at a round you can still name. Often it stopped on a count that wouldn’t come out. Every count in this one comes out, which leaves you the part you came for: finishing it, and handing it to someone without an apology.

Here is a real page of it

A pattern that was never crocheted can show you a photograph. It cannot show you a page.

A laptop and a phone side by side showing a page of the skull granny square pattern PDF

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What you may do with what you make

What you crochet is yours to sell. Yes — sell them. Sell as many as you like, wherever you like. No credit required and no limit on quantity; the only thing you can't sell is the pattern file itself.

The pattern file itself is not for resale or sharing. For your own use only. Please don't share, resell, or repost the file, or any part of it — send people the shop link instead.

That's the whole licence, and it is here, above the buy button, because finding out afterwards that you're not allowed to sell what you made is a genuinely rotten way to find out.

Anything not covered: [email protected].

Who made this

I'm the maker behind Willa Hooks. One person, three kids, and a shop that fits into the hours around them.

I learned to crochet from my grandmother. Years later I picked her hook back up — still in my sewing box, worn smooth where her fingers used to be — and started making small things to order. Custom work comes in waves, though, and a family eats every week. So in the quiet stretches I started writing patterns down: every stitch, every count, the way she would have explained them. Patiently. As if the person reading had never held a hook and deserved to feel capable from the first row.

Once a pattern is written, it works quietly in the background while I'm at the school pickup line. That is the whole business model, and it is why I would rather sell you one pattern that is right than a hundred that are nearly right.

Read the longer version →

Questions

Is this a written pattern, or a video?

A written pattern. Every file is complete on its own: numbered rounds, the stitch count in brackets at the end of each one, checkpoints at the rounds where a miscount shows up, and the finishing steps. A few of them also have a video link inside the PDF — you never need it to follow the pattern.

How do I get it?

The download link appears on the confirmation page and lands in your email straight away. You can re-download from that link, free, for as long as the shop exists. If it ever goes missing, email me and I'll send it again.

What skill level do I need?

It depends on the pattern, so every pattern says so on its own page rather than here: the spec table lists every technique that pattern uses, and the description points out the rounds that need care. I would rather be precise than tell you everything is easy.

Do I have to sew?

That varies from pattern to pattern too, and each pattern's page says which pieces are sewn on, which are glued, and which are worked straight into the fabric.

Can I sell what I make?

Yes — sell them. Sell as many as you like, wherever you like. No credit required and no limit on quantity; the only thing you can't sell is the pattern file itself.

Do I get updates if a pattern changes?

Yes, free. If I improve something or fix anything, everyone who has already bought it gets the new version.

What if I'm left-handed?

Work it exactly as written. Every stitch count is identical; your finished piece comes out as a mirror image of the photographs.