Crochet How To: Increase the Size of the Pattern

Free Caron One Pounder Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern plus alternatives I fell in love with this free baby blanket crochet pattern from Caron International (link updated 10/6/14). I love their soft yarn and the unique cross-over pattern on this blanket, but I wanted something larger. Increasing the size fo the pattern can be done in several ways. You can use bulkier yarn, a larger hook, or add more stitches or rows. I did a combination of all three to get the desired size.

Crochet How To: Sizing Up A Baby Blanket Pattern

I wanted a lap size blanket (about 2/3 the size of a twin Afghan) for someone in a hospital bed. I went with colors that remind me of spring and I made it appeal to teens, tweens, and adults. I call it “Pansy” because of the purples, blues, yellow, white, and greens all layered together. Don’t let the spring colors fool you, this is a thick blanket, and it’s a yarn eater!

I used a mixture of yarns and did a repeating pattern on those extra rows to make it more attractive. As long as you do them in double rows, your pattern will work out fine. For example, the base row is a single crochet followed by a double crochet that crosses back over the stitches you just made. That’s a repeat. As long as you change colors AFTER a complete repeat, it’ll look fabulous.

Crochet How To Enlarge a Pattern and Color Ideas - Free Blanket Pattern

My Crocheted Blanket Pattern:

Pattern in Repeats (2 = 1 single crochet row and one double crochet with cross over pattern): (1) Spearmint, (1) White, (1) Watercolor, (1) White, (6) Spearmint, (1) Watercolor, (1) Spearmint, (16) Lavender, (1) Spearmint, (1) Watercolor, (6) Spearmint, (1) White, (1) Watercolor, (1) Spearmint.

I also finished off with a half double crochet border for a simple look and to tie together the lavender vertical stripe going down the middle. By changing the number of rows, I got some great variations on the colors.

I chained 139 with an H crochet hook that with the thicker yarn, gave me a finished size of about 85 inches x 95 inches, so it’s on the square side which is perfect.

Free Spring Crochet Afghan Pattern

Half Double Crochet edging gives it a polished look.

Yarn Used in this Crochet Project:

To make this a twin size, you’ll need three additional lavender skeins to make the center larger or two green and one watercolor and increase their stripe sizes accordingly.

Free Spring Blanket Crochet Pattern

Crochet How To: What I’ll do differently next time

I still love the variegated multi-colored yarn, but it gets lost in this project. Next time I’ll do a different stitch for the rows that use the multi-colored yarn to make them shine. The crossover pattern makes a great background for some fancier stitches; this is one sturdy blanket!

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