Soft Summer Blanket

A few weeks ago I told you about a blanket I was making. The original plan was to make a boxy granny square cardigan. I made the cardigan – it looked appalling. I very nearly threw it in the bin – in a fit pique! Luckily sense prevailed and I didn’t. I un-picked the majority of seams and managed to salvage the majority to form the beginnings of a new blanket. The Soft Summer Blanket.

So what did I do since last we spoke? Well I have quite a few lap blankets for outdoor evenings and indoor sofa snuggling. I thought it might be nice to add some granny stripes and make a blanket large enough for a British single bed. Approximately this works out at 130cm width by 180cm length.

I have placed the squares in the centre and then worked the rows of granny striped around. The colours are soft with pinks and duck egg, but there is a zing with the yellow and a little low tone with the denim which knocks out all the sickly sweet colours. A few of you on instagram have asked me about the colours and have been keen to see if the finished result. For me this isn’t so much a designed pattern but more of a riff on a theme. The seasoned crocheter could easily copy what I have done – but for the beginner I thought I would just note down here more of a recipe.

If you do make a version do send me a photo – but also please do comment below and link to the blog post if you like it – I love to hear your feedback.

Soft Summer Blanket Recipe

I used my favourite 3.5mm hook and approx 2 ball each of Stylecraft Special DK – Pale Rose, Powder Pink, Denim, Cloud Blue, Cream, Duck Egg and Mustard.

Stage 1:

Make 36 x Granny Squares which have 6 rows. Make rows 1-5 in different colours and try to make sure there are equal distribution of colours. Don’t use pale rose in rows 1-5 but use it for Row 6 (the last row) for each square.

Basic square

Using 3.5mm hook and A, ch 4 sts, sl st in first ch to form a loop.

Round 1: 3 ch, 2 tr in loop, 3 ch, (3 tr, 3 ch) rep twice more, sl st in 3 ch. (4 tr clusters).

Round 2: Change to B, attach yarn to any 3 ch sp, (3 ch, 2 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in ch sp, (3 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in next ch sp, 3 times, sl st in 3 ch (8 tr clusters).

Round 3: Change to C, attach yarn to any 3 ch sp, (3 ch, 2 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next ch sp, *(3 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in next 3 ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next ch sp; rep from * twice more, sl st in 3 ch (12 tr clusters).

Round 4: Change to D, attach yarn to any 3 ch sp, (3 ch, 2 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next 2 ch sps, *(3 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in next 3 ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next 2 ch sps; rep from * twice more, sl st in 3 ch (16 tr clusters).

Round 5: Change to E, attach yarn to any 3 ch sp, (3 ch, 2 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next 3 ch sps, *(3 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in next 3 ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next 3 ch sps; rep from * twice more, sl st in 3 ch (20 tr clusters).

Round 6: Change to Pale Rose, attach yarn to any 3 ch sp, (3 ch, 2 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next 4 ch sps, *(3 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 1 ch) in next 3 ch sp, (3 tr, 1 ch) in next 4 ch sps; rep from * twice more, sl st in 3 ch (24 tr clusters).

Fasten off and weave in ends. I blocked each square at this stage as I find it helps with accurately joining each square together. With Pale Rose I slip-stitched the squares together to make a 6 x 6 square.

Stage 2

Starting with the Duck Egg I then worked 16 rows of a granny square clusters around the outside of the 36 squares. Each row was a different colour – however the 2nd row, and following 2 x 5th rows were cream.

Stage 3

I then added more single rows to each end of the blanket to turn it from being a square into a rectangle. Starting with a cream row, I added 14 more rows. The first and every following 5th row was cream. I repeated the colour striping on the otherside of the blanket.

Stage 4

Finally I worked an linen stitch edging around the blanket.

Round 1: With RS facing using 3.5 mm hook, join cream to the top of any treble 1ch, 1dc into each tr, and ch st around, work (1dc, 1ch, 1dc) into each corner, sl st first ch. Fasten off. 

Now you will work 3 rows of linen stitch. Use a different colour for each row.

Rounds 2-4: With RS facing, attach yarn A, 2 ch, miss 1dc at base of ch, (1dc in next st, 1ch, miss 1 st) rep around, work (1dc, 1ch, 1dc) in each corner, sl st in first ch. Fasten off and weave in ends.

There you go – a Soft Summer Blanket. Perfect for a single bed or it looks lovely at the bottom of a King Size bed. I have used the normal crochet abbreviations in this free pattern and if you need any further help with learning to crochet do have a look at my book – How to Crochet which has a great introduction to the Granny Square Technique or my book Granny Squares Home which has some lovely patterns for bed spreads and lap blankets and all the techniques and stitches are explained in detail.

I don’t mind telling you that I am rather thrilled that I have been able to redeem this previously failed project. I have already dragged it outside for evening snuggles and found Stanley claiming ownership a couple of times. I suspect that come the autumn months it will have pride of place at the foot of our bed. Now what else can I fix?

7 thoughts on “Soft Summer Blanket”

  1. Very clever – it looks like you planned this carefully…and gorgeous colours of course!

    1. Thank you Ronnie – you are so kind. I have to say my yarn pegs really help. Thanks for visiting the blog x

    1. Thank you so much Meredithe – I think I have to give up on my cardi idea – the result was NOT flattering – Ha ha – thank you for commenting on the blog x

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