Crochet Blanket Patterns

Four ways to create a crochet blanket

Almost every design here uses one of four structures, and choosing between them decides what the project feels like to make. Motif blankets, such as granny squares, Sweetheart Granny blankets and the Midwife in a Square baby blanket, are built from small units joined at the end: endlessly portable, easy to put down, but with a lot of ends and a joining session at the finish. Row-by-row blankets, including the Diamond Bobble and Sweet Summer designs, grow as one piece, so there is nothing to join but the project gets heavier in your lap as it goes. Worked-in-the-round blankets like the Celtic Mandala Throw spiral outward from a central ring and can simply be stopped when they are big enough. Strip blankets sit in between: long panels joined at the end, with fewer seams than motifs and more portability than one huge piece.

Picking by skill and patience

• Absolute beginner: a plain double or treble crochet blanket in one colour, or a classic granny square.
• Building confidence: stripes with colour changes and a simple border.
• Texture: bobbles, puff stitches and front-post cables, all of which use stitches you already know worked differently.
• Colourwork: gingham blankets and rainbow designs, where you carry or join colours cleanly.
• Long haul: a mandala or continuous motif throw with a repeating chart, best kept at home.

Size and yarn quantity, honestly

This is where blanket projects can go wrong. To start, rough finished sizes are worth knowing: a pram blanket about 60 x 80cm, a cot blanket about 90 x 110cm, a lap blanket about 100 x 120cm, and a sofa throw about 130 x 170cm. The amount of yarn you’ll need increases with area, not with length, so making a blanket half as wide again roughly doubles the yarn if you also lengthen it. Crochet uses appreciably more yarn than knitting to cover the same area, so a DK sofa throw can run well past 2,500m. The reliable method: crochet a 15cm square in your chosen stitch, weigh it, work out the area of your target blanket and do the maths to scale. Buy the whole quantity in one dye lot; a colour shift in the middle of a blanket is obvious in daylight.

Borders, joins and blocking

The border is what makes a blanket look finished rather than stopped. Even a single round of double crochet worked evenly, with three stitches in each corner, will square everything up. For joins on motif blankets, whip stitch through the back loops gives a flat, nearly invisible seam; a slip stitch join gives a raised ridge; join-as-you-go saves an entire evening of sewing at the end. Block motifs before joining, all to the same measurement, using a blocking board or pins on a towel. Blocking is not optional on granny squares, which come off the hook slightly wonky and dry perfectly square.

Fibre choice and care

Acrylic and acrylic blends are the workhorse for blankets: warm, washable, affordable in the large quantities a throw needs, and unbothered by children. Cotton gives a heavier, cooler blanket with beautiful stitch definition, good for summer and for a crisp granny square. Wool is the warmest and blocks best but needs careful washing. Chunky yarns make a quick, cosy blanket but a very heavy one at full size. Weave ends in over several stitches in two directions so they never work loose in the wash, and machine wash acrylic blankets at 40 degrees, drying flat rather than tumbling on high.

Crochet blanket questions

How much yarn for a crochet blanket? Swatch, weigh and scale to your finished size. A sofa throw in DK can easily exceed 2,500m.

What is the easiest crochet blanket pattern? A granny square blanket, or a plain treble crochet rectangle with a simple border.

Which hook size should I use? Whatever gets the pattern's tension, but going half a size up gives blankets a softer, more fluid drape.

Do I need to block a blanket? Motif blankets, yes, before joining. One-piece blankets benefit but can usually get away with a good wash.

Which yarn is best for a baby blanket? Soft, machine-washable acrylic or a cotton blend, because it will be washed constantly.