Want to know how to design your own crochet blankets? This post will walk you through the steps you need to create your own unique designs.
In our first design your own post, we discussed how to design your own crochet scarf. The second post looked at how to design your own crochet cowl. A basic blanket is not much more difficult to create than a scarf, it’s just on a bigger scale.
How To Design A Crochet Blanket:
1. Choose your yarn.
I love to use thick yarns that work up quickly when I create blankets, but have also used down to worsted weight. For a summer baby I would likely go with a DK or worsted weight yarn.
2. Decide on stitch pattern and swatch.
Make your swatch at least 4″ x 4″ to get a good idea of the stitch count. Then, use a ruler to figure out how many stitches and rows per inch. With some stitch patterns this can be hard to see, so sometimes I will figure out how wide/tall the swatch is and use that as my guide. (Example, my 4″ x 4″ swatch is 20 sts wide and 16 rows tall.
3. Decide on size.
Wow, when researching this I discovered there are lots of different sizes for blankets!! I created this infographic to help you decide what size to make, but there were differing numbers for some of the sizes. I often like to make mine 24″ x 36″ but didn’t see that measurement in very many places.
Jill
I’m having a really difficult time finding information on how to create a pattern if you don’t want to use the same stitch throughout. For example, if I start off with a few foundation rows of double crochet and then want to add a row of treble clusters (or bobble clusters) separated by a few chains (to give a “flower petal” look, how do I then switch back to a more “basic” stitch in the following row? I’ll need to do something to achieve the appropriate height, correct? I know each cluster = one stitch, but how do I decide which stitches to use to bring the pattern back to a straight line? Single crochet in some areas, double crochet in others, a few trebles? LOL. This is what I’m saying–this must be the “big secret” when it comes to crochet design, because no one is talking about the more complicated/math/maintaining dimensions over a course of rows. Everyone says the same thing: “Come up with an idea. Crochet a swatch.” That’s obvious. 🙂 Where do we learn the technical details? Trial and error? Thank you!
amanda
To be honest, a lot of that really is just trial and error! I know for me that has been the case. I started out with no knit/crochet design experience but I did know how clothing was constructed. However, figuring out how certain stitches work together is always a hit or miss. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. 🙂 I know that’s not super helpful, but that’s the way I’ve found it to be.
Jill
I would like to put an Asian design on a crouched planet for my 16 year old grandson. How can I do this?
amanda
You can use a graph to do a c2c afghan or if you have a graph you can work 3 dc for each square instead of working the c2c method.