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Hand Dyed Crochet Color Block Blanket

February 13, 2020 by Ashleigh

A beginner-friendly crochet blanket – my Hand Dyed Crochet Color Block Blanket – is a free pattern here on the blog! Read through my inspiration, design process, and lots of info on the perfect yarn I chose. Or scroll on down for the free pattern.

The Inspiration + Design

I started hand dyeing yarn back in 2017 and I fell in love quickly. I started a business selling our hand dyed yarn and called it Sewrella Yarn! We open our store once a month for themed collections on the 15th of every month and it always sells out fast! (Follow us on instagram here to stay caught up). We have so much fun creating themed colorways around different collection ideas like Hocus Pocus at Halloween, Gilmore Girls (the TV show), and Disneyland to name a few.

View this post on Instagram

 

Color family planning for our February collection! ✨ What do you think the theme is based on this color mood? ???? If anyone gets it right I’ll give ya a shop credit!!

A post shared by Ashleigh • CJ • Parker (@handmadehomefibers) on Jan 31, 2020 at 7:21am PST

The two hand dyed colorways I featured here were sitting on my shelf after a batch of test dyeing. The recipes haven’t yet been released publicly in any way but I thought they were beautiful for this project. One was originally inspired by a golden peach and the other was a rosy clay style colorway.

Books & Blankets – a monthly series!

Crochet is obviously a big passion of mine (it’s why I have a whole blog about it, ha!) but another big passion of mine is children’s books. After a big pattern sale last fall, we actually took half of our proceeds and used it to buy children’s books for our local hospital. That sparked an idea – a collection of crochet patterns inspired by some favorite children’s books.

I’m so excited to bring these two passions of mine together in this series this year, the second of which is this crochet color block blanket! Check out the first one of the series here!

Creating a blanket from a children’s story

These two just so happen to perfectly coordinate with our featured book, Bagel in Love! I picked up this book recently as a little Valentine’s Day book for Parker’s collection and was actually kind of shocked by how much I loved it! It’s about a sweet bagel who want’s to enter a dance contest but can’t find a partner. By the end he falls in love with a cupcake and wins the Cherry Jubilee dance contest. The illustrations are vibrant and the story is full of happiness.

Creating a color palette to match children’s book art is so fun – when you find the perfect yarn for the blanket it feels like such a fun victory. Making this blanket in the baby size and gifting it for a baby shower with the matching children’s book is a perfect thoughtful gift that’s easy to customize to the baby’s nursery theme or other details.

High end + Affordable

I loved curating a color palette blending high end hand dyed yarn with more affordable yarn from Lion Brand. The end result is a wool blend, super soft blanket that didn’t cost a fortune to make. One could certainly make an entire blanket of this style in high end yarn and it would be gorgeous. However, this yarn is expensive when you’re making a large project like a blanket – those skeins add up.

When you make your blanket, use the tips below on looking at yardage to determine what yarns will blend well together in this way. Get creative and use up some of your stash and if you’re able, think about supporting an artisanal hand dyer (even if you only purchase one or two skeins for an accent in your blanket).

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One blanket, so many sizes

Although I am in love with this crochet color block blanket in a baby size gifted to a new mom along with the Bagel in Love story that matches it so well, I have written this pattern to work for blankets of just about any size!

Within the pattern below you’ll find a table of blanket sizes that are included in the pattern as well as their measurements and the yardage required to make them (provided you’re using the yarn I used or a similar worsted weight yarn).

Another fun aspect of this blanket is that you can sort of create your own color block blanket! Using yarn of any weight, you can just follow the pattern making the foundation chain as wide as you’d like your blanket to be and continuing with row repeats until it’s long enough.

You could even make it in a solid color, different sizes of color block stripes, more or fewer stripes, a two-tone stripe effect, anything goes. The crochet color block blanket is totally customizable and my favorite kind of project!

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Easy level & totally beginner friendly

This blanket is one of the easiest I’ve ever made. If you know how to half double crochet, you can complete this blanket. With the video tutorial embedded in the pattern, you’ll see the basic techniques I use to create this stunningly simple color block blanket.

Once you get past the first two rows you’ll be able to complete the blanket without counting or thinking much about it at all – just tune in to your favorite show or podcast and zoom along through the project!

Yarn + Substitution

I used a blend of Lion Brand’s Wool Ease in grey heather, fisherman, and navy and some of my own hand dyed yarn from Sewrella Yarn in a few colorways I created back in 2019. All are worsted weight and of comparable gauge. I just chose colors that worked well together to match my theme of Bagel in Love.

A note on substituting yarns and blending yarns for this project: there is a lot of variation in the yarn industry within the world of worsted weight category 4 weight yarn. The best way I know to compare yarns of different origins, fiber contents, and brand are to look at the yardage per gram. On the yarn label for any yarn (from a big box store or from an independent dyer) the yardage for the ball or skein is listed.

The Wool Ease yarn I used from Lion Brand is an 85 gram ball with 197 yards. 197/85=2.318 yards per gram.
The Handmade Home Fibers hand dyed yarn is a 100 gram skein with 218 yards. 218/100=2.18 yards per gram.
2.318-2.18=0.138 yards per gram difference

I try to make sure any yarns I’m blending within one project like this are absolutely no more than 0.5 yards per gram difference from each other. The lower this number is, the closer these comparative yarns will be in gauge, resulting in a seamless finished project!

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PATTERN

  • Get the ad-free, large print, printable PDF pattern HERE.
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Description

An heirloom blanket inspired by a favorite children’s book – the crochet color block blanket is simple and stunning. An easy level pattern using value and luxury yarns results in a colorful and versatile blanket that’s warm and comforting in all 12 finished sizes.

Yarn

–Lion Brand – Wool Ease
(weight 4 / medium, 3oz/85g, 197yds/180m)
Colorways: GREY HEATHER, FISHERMAN, NAVY
See yardage via table below

–Handmade Home Fibers – Classic Worsted
(weight 4 / medium, 3.5oz/100g, 218yds/200m)
Colorways: ROSY CLAY, GOLDEN PEACH
See yardage via table below

Notions

–Size J 6mm Crochet Hook

–Darning needle

Gauge

14 sts x 9 rows = 4” in pattern (blo hdc)

Finished Size

Width “ Length “
Lovey 10 10
Security 14 17
Baby 30 35
Stroller 40 40
Toddler 42 52
Swaddle 47 47
Crib 45 60
Throw 52 60
Twin 66 90
Double 90 108
Queen 96 108
King 108 108

Notes

–See chart above to choose the size blanket you’d like to make!

-See chart within pattern below to determine your number of foundation chains (A), row stitch count (B), number of total row repeats (C), and number of row repeats per color block (D).

-Ch 2 at beginning of each row does not count as a stitch.

-Substitute other yarns of any weight by using it’s recommended hook size and following the same stitch pattern with a foundation chain that’s the width of your desired blanket size and working row repeats per color block until you’ve reached the length you desire. Alterations may affect yardage.

-Use worsted weight yarns following the yardage chart below. See “Yarn & Substitution” section above for additional guidance.

Yardage Yardage per color
Lovey 80 16
Security 195 39
Baby 810 162
Stroller 1235 247
Toddler 1675 335
Swaddle 1695 339
Crib 2065 413
Throw 2390 478
Twin 4550 910
Double 7445 1489
Queen 7940 1588
King 8925 1785

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HAND DYED CROCHET COLOR BLOCK BLANKET

Ch A (or any number +2), sk 2 sts.

Row 1: Hdc across, turn <B>

Row 2: Ch 2, blo hdc across, turn <B>

Repeat row 2 until you’ve finished C rows, changing color every D rows.

Finish off & weave ends.

A (ch sts) B (st count) C (total row repeats) D (row repeats per color block)
Lovey 37 35 25 5
Security 51 49 40 8
Baby 107 105 80 16
Stroller 142 140 90 18
Toddler 149 147 120 24
Swaddle 167 165 105 21
Crib 160 158 135 27
Throw 184 182 135 27
Twin 233 231 205 41
Double 317 315 245 49
Queen 338 336 245 49
King 380 378 245 49

Abbreviations (US terms):

blo – back loop only
ch – chain
hdc – half double crochet
rep – repeat
st(s) – stitch(es)
<> – stitch count

OTHER FREE CROCHET BLANKET PATTERNS

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  1. Crochet Cake Stripe Blanket / 2. Crochet Mini Basketweave Blanket / 3. Crochet Homemaker Throw

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Filed Under: baby blankets, blankets, home decor, kids

Comments

  1. blankJudy says

    February 13, 2020 at 5:30 pm

    I wish you would say the hook is a J or a H or a I

    • blankAshleigh says

      February 16, 2020 at 2:22 am

      Hi Judy, it’s a J. As stated in the pattern.

    • blankSusan Johnson says

      February 23, 2020 at 11:48 pm

      It clearly states hook size in the pattern.

  2. blankPam Green says

    February 14, 2020 at 2:45 pm

    Ashleigh,
    My daughter is pregnant with my second Grandbaby. My first was only able to stay with us a week of her precious life. She is set on me crocheting a Rainbow blanket and I only know one simple stitch that I only ever learned and use for everything. Any thoughts on how I am going to accomplish this. We already went and purchased the yarn that she wanted me to use. Any suggestions and help you could send my way would be greatly appreciated.
    Thank you in advance for your knowledge,
    Pam

    • blankAshleigh says

      February 16, 2020 at 2:24 am

      Pam, I’m so sorry to hear of your loss. How exciting another baby is on the way! I do have a rainbow stripe blanket tutorial with video on my blog if you’d like to see that here.

    • blankDawn says

      February 24, 2020 at 12:40 am

      You could try watching a few YouTube videos of how to do each stitch this is how I learned x

  3. blankDana Coates says

    February 14, 2020 at 3:11 pm

    I am enjoying your site very much. Working on the crochet striped blanket. I’m not sure I followed direction with the edges, but I’m still with the same stitching. When chain 1 or 2, ex, end of row does not count, crochet the next immediate stitch or in same as chain? Be blessed and thank you. Dana

    • blankAshleigh says

      February 16, 2020 at 2:23 am

      Dana, I always stitch first into the same stitch as the chain.

  4. blankJanine says

    February 15, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    I love your site. Thank you

  5. blankKatie says

    March 9, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    I love the way this looks with the variegated effects of the hand-dyed yarn!

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Welcome, I'm Ashleigh!

I design crochet and knitting patterns when I'm not indulging in chocolate chip cookies & Gilmore Girls.

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