Mar
Making the Gingham Blanket
So I made this gingham blanket back in spring 2022 when I was basically living on my couch binge-watching The Crown and needed something to keep my hands busy. The checkered pattern looks way more complicated than it actually is, which is kinda the whole appeal honestly.
You’re gonna work this in rows using two colors. I used Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in White and Dusty Blue because it was on sale at Joann’s and I had a 40% off coupon. Get like 6 skeins of each color for a decent lap blanket size, maybe more if you want it bigger. The annoying thing about this project was switching colors constantly – you’ll see what I mean in a second but basically my yarn ends were EVERYWHERE and I kept losing track of which ball was which.
What You Actually Need
Hook size depends on your yarn but I used a 5.5mm (I think? might’ve been a 5mm) with the worsted weight. You need two colors that contrast enough to actually see the checkered pattern. Don’t do like cream and white or something stupid like that where you can’t even tell there’s a pattern. Also you need scissors and a yarn needle for weaving in all those ends later which honestly I’m still not done with from my blanket.
Oh and stitch markers help if you’re the type to lose count. I am absolutely that type.
The Basic Pattern Setup
The gingham effect comes from switching colors in a specific way. Each “check” is usually 10 stitches wide and 10 rows tall, but you can do 8×8 or 12×12 or whatever. I did 10 because that’s what the random YouTube video I half-watched suggested.
Start with your first color – let’s say white. Chain a multiple of 20 plus whatever border stitches you want. I chained like 160 or something for a blanket that ended up being maybe 40 inches wide? Math isn’t my strong point and I definitely didn’t measure carefully.
Row 1: Single crochet in second chain from hook, sc across. This is your foundation row and it’s gonna be all one color.
Rows 2-10: Keep working in white for the first 10 stitches, then you’re gonna switch to blue for the next 10 stitches, then back to white for 10, then blue for 10, and so on across the whole row. This is where it gets messy because you’re literally dropping one color and picking up the other.
The Color Switching Thing
Okay so when you get to stitch 10 and need to switch colors, you work the last single crochet in white until you have two loops on your hook. Then you use the blue yarn to complete that stitch by pulling through both loops. That’s your color change. Drop the white (don’t cut it!) and continue with blue for the next 10 stitches.
The white yarn is just gonna be hanging there on the wrong side of your work. My cat kept trying to attack all the hanging strands which was actually super annoying because she’d pull the tension all weird.
When you get to the end of the row, chain 1 and turn. Now here’s the part that creates the actual gingham pattern instead of just stripes – you’re gonna work the next row with the colors in the SAME positions. So if you just did white-blue-white-blue across, you do that again for rows 2 through 10.
Creating the Checkerboard
After you’ve done 10 rows with the colors in those positions, row 11 is where you flip it. Now you’re gonna work blue where you were working white, and white where you were working blue. So if your first 10 rows were white-blue-white-blue, rows 11-20 become blue-white-blue-white.
This creates the checkered effect because you’re basically making colored blocks that offset from each other. The areas where white blocks stack on top of white blocks stay white. Where blue stacks on blue stays blue. But where white crosses over blue you get this sort of… well it doesn’t actually blend but it creates the gingham look somehow? I’m not entirely sure of the science behind why it works visually but it does.
Keep alternating every 10 rows. Rows 1-10 have colors in position A, rows 11-20 have colors in position B, rows 21-30 back to position A, and so on until your blanket is as long as you want it.
Managing All Those Yarn Strands
This is the thing that annoyed me most about the whole project. You’ve got yarn strands hanging off the back of your work every 10 stitches across each row. Some people carry the yarn along the back but I found that made the blanket weirdly stiff and you could see the carried color through the stitches.
What I ended up doing was just leaving them hanging and dealing with it later. You can weave them in as you go if you’re more patient than me, but I just crocheted the whole blanket first and then spent like three evenings watching TV and weaving in ends. Used a Clover brand yarn needle because the cheap ones kept splitting my yarn.
Actually if I were gonna do this again I might try using the join-as-you-go method where you cut the yarn and rejoin it for each color block, but that seems like it would create even MORE ends to weave in so maybe not.
Tension Stuff
Your tension needs to stay consistent or the checks will look wonky. Mine definitely got looser as I went because I was relaxing more while watching TV and not paying attention. The first few rows are really tight and the last section is noticeably… floppier? Not sure that’s a word but you know what I mean.
If you’re someone who crochets tighter when you’re focused and looser when you’re distracted, maybe don’t watch complex TV shows while doing this. The Crown was fine because I’d seen it before but I tried watching a new murder mystery while working on the middle section and kept having to recount stitches.
Border or No Border
I did a simple single crochet border around the whole thing in white, just went around all four sides twice to make it a bit sturdier. Some people do fancy shell borders or whatever but honestly the gingham pattern is busy enough that a simple border looks better I think.
Work 3 sc in each corner so it lays flat. If you don’t do the corner increases it’s gonna cup up weird and look bad. Ask me how I know – I forgot the corners on my first round and had to rip it out.
Yarn Choice Matters
I used Vanna’s Choice like I said but I’ve also seen people use Red Heart Super Saver which is cheaper but kinda squeaky? The blanket I made with Vanna’s Choice got softer after washing which was nice. I did cold water and laid it flat to dry because I was paranoid about it shrinking.
Caron Simply Soft would probably work really well for this too if you want something more… I dunno, drapey? But I haven’t tried it myself for gingham specifically. Just a thought if you’re going for a different feel than the worsted weight stiffness.
Avoid anything fuzzy or textured because you won’t be able to see the checkered pattern clearly. Solid smooth yarns are what you want here.
Size Planning
Each check is 10 stitches by 10 rows like I mentioned, so figure out how many checks wide and tall you want, multiply by 10, and that’s your stitch count and row count. A lap blanket might be like 8 checks wide by 10 checks tall? That would be 80 stitches (actually 160 because you need two colors alternating) by 100 rows.
I’m terrible at planning though so I literally just chained until it looked about right and then kept going until I ran out of yarn basically. Very scientific method there.
Common Problems I Had
Losing count of stitches was constant. I’d be going along fine and then realize I was at stitch 12 instead of 10 and have to tink back. Stitch markers every 10 stitches would’ve helped but I kept forgetting to use them.
The color changes sometimes looked messy on the edge where you switch. I learned that you gotta pull the new color through firmly but not TOO tight or it puckers. There’s a sweet spot that took me like 20 rows to figure out.
Also my edges were wavy for a while because I wasn’t consistent about whether I was chaining 1 or 2 at the end of rows. Pick one and stick with it. I did chain 1 throughout but sometimes I’d forget and do 2 and then that row would be taller.
Washing the Finished Blanket
Like I said I did cold water, gentle cycle, then laid flat on towels to dry. It took forever to dry fully – like two days – because it’s thick with all that yarn. Don’t put it in the dryer unless you want a doll-sized blanket probably.
The colors didn’t bleed at all with Vanna’s Choice but I’d still be careful with really saturated colors, especially reds. Maybe wash those separately first or use a color catcher sheet just in case.
Time Investment
This took me like three weeks of casual evening crocheting? Maybe 2-3 hours most nights but some nights I didn’t work on it at all. It’s not a quick project because of all the color changes and the size. If you’re making a baby blanket it would obviously go faster than a full throw.
The weaving in ends probably added another 4-5 hours total which was mind-numbing but whatever, it needed to be done. I listened to podcasts for that part since it doesn’t require much brain power.
Pattern Variations You Could Try
You could do three colors instead of two – like white, blue, and yellow in a rotation. That would make the pattern more complex but could look cool. Haven’t tried it myself but I’ve seen photos.
Or do different sized checks like 5 stitches instead of 10 for a smaller gingham pattern. That would take longer though because more color changes per row.
Some people do diagonal gingham which I think involves corner-to-corner crochet technique but that seems… complicated and I haven’t looked into it much.
Final Thoughts I Guess
The blanket turned out nice and people always ask about it when they see it because the pattern looks more difficult than it is. It’s really just single crochet and counting to 10 over and over. The color switching is the only tricky part and you get used to it pretty quick.
Would I make another one? Maybe eventually but not anytime soon because I’m still traumatized by all those ends. If you’re better about weaving in as you go it probably wouldn’t be as bad. I’m just lazy and wanted to keep crocheting instead of stopping to tidy up.
Make sure you buy enough yarn at the start because dye lots can vary and you don’t wanna run out halfway through and not be able to match the color exactly. I way overbought and still have like 2 skeins of each color sitting in my closet but better too much than too little.
