Granny Stripes are such a classic and simple design that you can really do anything with. I’ve seen scrap busting styles, where each row is a different colour, and something simple and beautiful like the blue and white stripe I did in the baby blanket pictured here.
But, I’ll let you in on a little secret. My mom was given a bag of this blue yarn, about 4 skeins, because she always made gorgeous baby blankets, but it was really thin and didn’t crochet nicely because it was too thin. So, it sat around for years in her stash, because she couldn’t make a blanket from it. I’m talking at least 5 years! Has that happened to you? You have this yarn that you just don’t know what to do with? Well this was it for her. She tried making a blanket with it and it was all wonky, and flimsy and all-round terrible.
Now, don’t get me wrong, my mom has made amazing blankets (I’ll have to photograph the ones she’s made for us and post on Instagram because they are awesome!) but for some reason this yarn just wasn’t working for her. So, about 6 or 7 years ago she gave it to me. I was making a ton of hats and she figured if I was donating them to the hospital for newborns anyway, then free yarn is perfect for projects like that. Well, the same thing happened to me. It was terrible. I hated working with it.
Then, somehow (Pinterest, anyone?), it struck me, use 2 strands at a time! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but I didn’t. So, I paired it up with a 3 weight in white, probably Bernat Baby, and a 5.5mm hook, and off I went, and it turned out amazing. I even decided to add the white sections so I dropped the blue and crocheted with 2 strands of the white and it was perfect, exactly what I needed. I ended up making a baby blanket and newborn hat for our neighbours who were about to have a baby. I’ll probably need to create a tutorial for the hat in another post because it was just so sweet. What do you think?
Granny Stripe Blanket
Now, I love a baby blanket that’s around 30×36″ so, for this blanket, aim for around 30″ long, with a little bit of stretch in your chain, and chain a multiple of 3 stitches and then add 2 for your turning double crochet. If you don’t know what that means, check out this post first, and come back.
Granny Stripe and squares blankets are worked with typically all double crochet making them a perfect beginner blanket, or just an easy one, if you need something simple to crochet. The main difference between the stripes and squares is that squares are worked in the round, and stripes are worked across. I tend to like stripes a little more because I have better control over the size of my blanket. With the granny square blanket, I am restricted by the number of chains in my starting row, and the blanket grows from there. Unless I have a specific calculator, it would be hard to be exact with my finished size. The good news is, there’s no one out there policing the size of your blanket, lol, so carry on.
Once you have your starting chains, row 1 looks like the collage below. Start with 1 dc in the 3rd chain, *skip 2ch, 3dc in next* repeat across until you have 2 chains remaining, 1dc in last chain only. Ch 2 for the beginning of the next row. Turn your work around.
For our second row, we’re using our ch2 as our first dc, then add 1dc into the space between the final cluster(3dc), and the final dc from the previous row. Then skip over to the space between the next 2 clusters and dc 3, continue working 3dc into each space, and finish the row with 1dc in the top of the chains from the row below. Follow this row until your blanket is your desired length and add a border.
I talk more about changing colours and how to carry your yarn along the side of the blanket in the video tutorial and click for crocheting a simple border, scallops, or fans.
In the video, I’m using Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly, and a 3.5mm crochet hook.
I will upload a full pattern to the store if you like to work from a specific pattern with everything included. Sign up for our email list to be notified when that is available.
As always, I can’t wait to see your creations from our tutorials. So post them on Instagram and tag us. I’ll share everything to our stories.
What else would you like to see us break down into a tutorial? Comment below.
Coming soon: we have to finish our granny square blanket, a chevron blanket, crochet dishcloths, a couple more hats and scarves, and the, oh so popular, pocket shawl (and that’s just crochet) 🙂
Can’t wait to see you next time!
Much love,
