How to Crochet a Blanket Afghan Tutorial for Beginners

How to Crochet a Blanket Afghan

Are you new to cro­chet and look­ing to cre­ate a cozy, beau­ti­ful blan­ket or afghan? Look no fur­ther! In this tuto­r­i­al, we will guide begin­ner cro­cheters through craft­ing their very first cro­chet blan­ket or afghan. We’ll explore a sim­ple pat­tern that uses basic cro­chet stitch­es and col­or changes to achieve stun­ning results. Whether you’re aim­ing for a lap blan­ket, throw blan­ket, or even a large blan­ket for your liv­ing room, we’ve got you cov­ered with free cro­chet pat­terns, expert tips, and a video tuto­r­i­al. So grab your yarn and your hook, and let’s get start­ed on your jour­ney to mak­ing your favorite blan­ket.

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**Select­ing the Right Yarn and Hook Size:**
To begin your cro­cheted afghan or blan­ket, you’ll want to con­sid­er the type of yarn and hook size. For begin­ners, we rec­om­mend using acrylic yarn, which is wide­ly avail­able and easy to work with. Depend­ing on your pro­jec­t’s size and the desired warmth, you can choose worsted weight, bulky weight, or even chunky yarn. The larg­er the yarn weight, the quick­er your project will come togeth­er. Select a hook size that com­ple­ments your yarn, typ­i­cal­ly indi­cat­ed on the yarn label.

**Start­ing Chain and First Row:**
Your jour­ney starts with the start­ing chain, which deter­mines the width of your blan­ket. For a square blan­ket, cro­chet the desired num­ber of chain stitch­es. Prac­tice basic cro­chet stitch­es like sin­gle or dou­ble as you work your first row. The choice of stitch can cre­ate dif­fer­ent tex­tures, from the sim­plic­i­ty of sin­gle cro­chet to the clas­sic look of dou­ble cro­chet.

**Col­or Changes and Intri­cate Designs:**
Adding vari­ety to your blan­ket is easy with col­or changes. You can work with dif­fer­ent yarn col­ors to cre­ate beau­ti­ful pat­terns and intri­cate designs. Whether you opt for a striped effect or intri­cate motifs, col­or changes are a fun way to per­son­al­ize your project.

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I will show you how to make a straight­for­ward baby blan­ket using a spe­cif­ic cro­chet stitch. This stitch can be used for shawls, scarves, afghans, or any­thing sim­i­lar. I’m using this pro­jec­t’s G hook with Sparkle Red Heart yarn from Wal­mart. To start, your chain count should be an odd num­ber, and you can make the chain count up to 42 inch­es for the length of a blan­ket. Addi­tion­al­ly, I’ll be using a turn­ing chain of three. If you need more cro­chet tuto­ri­als, I have a playlist for blan­kets and Afghans in the descrip­tion below. Please sub­scribe if you haven’t already. Alright, let’s get start­ed.

First, cre­ate a slip knot on your hook and an odd num­ber of chains, ensur­ing they are loose­ly cro­cheted. Add three more chains for your turn­ing chain. How­ev­er, you can opt for a turn­ing chain of two. After cre­at­ing an odd num­ber of chains, work in the third chain from the hook with a sin­gle cro­chet, which involves yarn­ing over and pulling through two loops. Con­tin­ue work­ing sin­gle cro­chets until you reach the end of the row.

For the next row, begin with a chain of two. Yarn over, and in the next stitch, work a half-dou­ble cro­chet by pulling the yarn through all three loops on the hook. Repeat the process for anoth­er half dou­ble cro­chet. Skip the next stitch, then work two half-dou­ble cro­chets in the same stitch. Repeat this pat­tern across the row, skip­ping a stitch and work­ing two half-dou­ble cro­chets. I’m using an H hook in this video, but you can use any hook you choose. How­ev­er, I rec­om­mend a G hook for a loos­er stitch. You can increase your hook size if you want a more open stitch.

As you reach the end of the row, skip a stitch, then work a half dou­ble cro­chet in the last stitch. Chain one and work a sin­gle cro­chet in each stitch across. This pat­tern repeats; the next row will be done in half dou­ble cro­chet.

Con­tin­ue with this pat­tern, chain­ing two and turn­ing your work. Work half dou­ble cro­chets and two half dou­ble cro­chets in the same stitch, then skip a stitch and repeat this pat­tern. This stitch cre­ates a beau­ti­ful tex­tured pat­tern, and using a slight­ly small­er hook can make it look even more detailed.

The result is a love­ly, stretchy fab­ric. One side show­cas­es the metal­lic sparkle yarn, while the oth­er has a dis­tinct tex­ture.

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**Afghan Pat­terns and Free Cro­chet Blan­ket Pat­terns:**
A world of afghan pat­terns and free cro­chet blan­ket pat­terns is avail­able to explore. From clas­sic rip­ple blan­kets to mod­ern linen stitch designs, you’ll find the per­fect pat­tern to match your skill lev­el and style. And the best part? Most of these pat­terns are free!

Click Here for the Cro­chet Blan­ket Blan­ket Pat­terns
As you approach the final rows of your blan­ket or afghan, pay atten­tion to the fin­ish­ing touch­es. You’ll com­plete your work with a slip or sim­ple stitch­es, ensur­ing your project is neat. The last stitch is a moment to savor, as you’ve cre­at­ed a beau­ti­ful cro­chet blan­ket with your own two hands.

In this cro­chet tuto­r­i­al, we’ve cov­ered the basics of mak­ing your first cro­chet blan­ket or afghan. Whether you’re a new cro­cheter or an expe­ri­enced yarn enthu­si­ast, there’s always a new project to tack­le. Your jour­ney to a great blan­ket starts with select­ing the suit­able yarn and hook size, cre­at­ing a start­ing chain, and exper­i­ment­ing with dif­fer­ent col­ors and stitch­es. Explore the range of afghan pat­terns and free cro­chet blan­ket pat­terns avail­able online. So, embark on your cro­chet­ing adven­ture and make a beau­ti­ful blan­ket per­fect for baby show­ers, per­son­al use, or dec­o­rat­ing your liv­ing room. Don’t for­get to check out our pri­va­cy pol­i­cy and terms of use while using the free cro­chet pat­terns and resources we’ve shared. Hap­py cro­chet­ing!

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