A crochet-along blanket designed by Sandra Kuijer, worked as a single piece: you start with a square at the centre and build outward in rounds until the blanket reaches the size you want.
Written for sportweight yarn, though any weight will work with a matching hook – the construction does not depend on a particular gauge.
Working outward from the centre
This construction has real advantages over a motif blanket. There is no assembly and almost nothing to seam, so the blanket is finished when you stop crocheting rather than when you finish a week of sewing motifs together.
It also lets you decide the size as you go. Work rounds until it is big enough for a lap throw, or keep going to a full bed blanket.
The trade-off is that the rounds get very long towards the end. The last few rounds of a large blanket each take an evening, which can feel like slow progress after the quick early rounds. That is normal.
Keeping it square
A square worked in rounds needs its increases stacked at the four corners. If they drift, the blanket rounds off at the corners or the sides bow.
Lay it flat every few rounds and look at it. Corners that are pulling in mean you need more increases; wavy sides mean too many. Both are quick to fix early and painful to fix late.
Yarn quantities
Because you choose your own size, work out yarn amounts from a partial blanket rather than guessing. Note how much yarn a given round takes and remember that each round uses more than the last – consumption rises steadily as the blanket grows.
Buy generously and in matching dye lots. Running out on the outermost round is the worst possible place for it to happen.
Changing colour
Rounds give you natural stripes with no planning required. Change colour at the same corner each time so the joins line up in a single column, which is far tidier than joins scattered around the edge.
