Crochet guide
How to crochet a blanket
A plain crochet blanket is a large rectangle. You make a chain as wide as the blanket, work back and forth in rows of one stitch until it is long enough, and finish with a border. This guide takes the decisions in order and links the page or the tool for each one.
On this page 11 parts
Before you start
A first blanket needs only what you already know: a chain and one stitch. If you have not made those yet, begin with how to crochet and come back.
This guide is a plan, not a pattern. It gives no stitch counts, because they depend on your yarn, your hook and your hands. For a blanket written out row by row, see the blanket patterns.
Stitch names on this page are United States terms, with the United Kingdom name in brackets where it differs.
1. Pick a size
Blankets run from a small baby blanket to a cover for a large bed. A first blanket does not have to be big: a baby blanket or a throw has far fewer stitches than a bed cover. The blanket size chart lists the common sizes.
2. Pick a stitch
Any stitch can make a blanket, and one stitch repeated is enough. Double crochet (UK treble crochet) is a common choice for a first one, and so is half double crochet (UK half treble crochet). Crochet stitches for blankets compares ten stitches by the fabric each makes.
3. Pick a yarn and a hook
A thicker yarn is worked with a larger hook and covers the same width in fewer stitches. Buy all the yarn at once and check that every ball has the same dye lot on its label, because the color can differ a little from one lot to the next.
For the hook, start with the size named on the yarn's label. The hook size by yarn weight chart gives the usual range for each weight of yarn.
4. Work out the starting chain
Make a small swatch in your yarn, hook and stitch, and count how many stitches fit in an inch. Multiply that by the width you want. Then add the turning chains your stitch needs. The starting chain calculator does the sum from your swatch, and how to measure gauge shows how to count.
A blanket does not need an exact size, so a chain that comes out a few stitches over or under does no harm.
Make the chain loosely. If your chains come out tight, make them with a larger hook and change back for the rows.
5. Estimate the yarn
Weigh your swatch. The blanket yarn calculator turns the weight and the size of the swatch into an estimate for the whole blanket. Round up when you buy.
6. Work the rows and keep the edges straight
Work back and forth until the blanket is as long as you want. The edges stay straight when every row has the same number of stitches, so count each row, at least at first. Stitch markers help you keep count on a long row. See straight edges, counting stitches and rows and using stitch markers.
7. Join new yarn
A blanket usually takes more than one ball. Bring in the new ball on the last pull of a stitch, at the end of a row where you can. A change of color is made the same way. See joining new yarn and, for stripes, changing colors.
8. Finish with a border
A border gives the blanket clean, even edges. The plainest one is a round of single crochet (UK double crochet) all the way round, with three stitches in each corner. Then weave in every end. Finishing a blanket takes these steps one at a time.
Other ways to build a blanket
A blanket in rows is the plainest kind. Two others are common: small squares made one at a time and joined, and corner to corner, worked in diagonal rows. For a first blanket, one piece in rows has no joining to do. See joining squares and corner to corner.