If you are thinking of making an afghan, the sheer size can be daunting, but crochet offers several different options for breaking it down into pieces. One of my favorites are the 12 inch blocks. They are like granny squares in that they usually start from a center point and work outward, but the finished designs are very different. Small and interesting, they are great traveling projects, and a great way to make an heirloom, one block at a time!
Way back in 2008, I made my first block afghan, seen above. There are 25 gorgeous squares in there, and it's still in use and looking good. I made this entire blanket in white, but of course you can make yours as colorful as you can imagine! This style is also perfect for group afghans, where each person contributes one or two squares. If you are thinking about making one of these blankets, there are over 200 free block patterns on Ravelry. And here are 10 of my personal favorites!
- Butterfly Garden
- Supernova
- Flower Burst
- Victorian Dream
- New Year's Eve
- Star Overlay
- Wheel Lattice
- Birthday Flower
- Mandala
- Lovely in Green
The pictures aren't the greatest - I took each one as I finished the square, but they give you an idea. There are so many possibilities! You can use all different squares as I did, or you can repeat the same square in different colors... get creative! Make a square while you watch a movie, work on a block while waiting for an appointment, and soon you'll have a pile of squares waiting to be joined.
There are plenty of methods for joining too - whip stitching, single crocheting, etc. My personal favorite method is the flat braided join. It's pretty, it looks complicated (but isn't!) and best of all it's flexible - it's rare that every square will be *exactly* the same size or have the same number of stitches on the final row, and this method lets you fudge things so they all work together. There are a series of great video tutorials for flat braid join on youtube - I can't recommend them enough! Now pick a square, pick up your hook, and get started on a custom handmade blanket of your own!
Looking for more? Check out 10 More Perfect Crochet Squares for Afghans!
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denisechaput says
Could you tell me what size hook you used and the brand of yarn and weight, size of skein. Thank you
moogly says
Hi Denise! I used whatever hook the pattern specified for each square (or the one that got me gauge) - mostly H, I, and J, as I recall. All the squares were done in Caron Simply Soft in white. It's a worsted weight yarn. Hope this helps!
Fleurbelge says
What a beautifull collections of squares, so nice, elegant, . But whait a pitty!! why is it there is no diagramme, it would be much more eazy for all of us! and no need for a long litterature, just a diagramme! simple, effcicace, positive, constructive.
A lot of French speaking passionnata of crochet like me, would love to learn and make these patterns ...if only ther was a diagramme!
Merci beaucoup
FleurBelge
moogly says
Bon soir FleurBelge! I agree, diagrams and charts are wonderful, and there need to be more! I hope that software and computers make this easier in the future.
Audra Curtis says
This is SO beautiful! I should've known when I saw it on Pinterest that it was yours.... I can't WAIT to try it! (I just have to finish my baby cocoon and my beard first.) 🙂
moogly says
😀 Thanks Audra!
Di says
Love this! Deffo next on my list!
Susan says
I agree with Audra, whenever I see something "awesomely crocheted," I know it's from you! You're always an inspiration, thanks for sharing your gift with all of us!
moogly says
Wow! Thank you so much! <3
Debbie G. says
This is beautiful! Do you know how many skeins of yarn you used? How long did it take you to make this? Thanks for sharing this awesome afghan!
Tamara Kelly says
Hi Debbie, thank you! I made it as part of a year long Crochet Along, so officially it took me just over a year... However, each square took only 1 - 2 hours, sometimes less! Then a few hours putting it together and I was done. I used Caron Simply Soft in white for the whole thing (no dye lots to worry about!) and each skein made 2-3 squares, depending on the patterns. Another skein, maybe two, to put it together. 😀 It sounds like a lot, but I just bought 1 skein a month and spent a couple hours each month making that month's squares, so it was really quite painless!
AJrp says
Hi, I just wanted you to know that all of the links from YarnCrazy are broken.They can be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/crochetyogi
Tamara Kelly says
Thanks so much AJrp! Downside of linking things online for sure!
Midsea says
I found them on Ravelry as well Scribed you have to pay a membership to in order to download.
Tamara Kelly says
Yes, this post is from 2012, so much has changed online in the last 5 years! Hopefully there are still some little nuggets of goodness in this old post. 🙂
Midsea says
I have seen a lot lost on the web I started using the Wayback Machine to save about 7 years ago, when they shut down Yahoo websites. Believe me if I could have saved the beautiful patterns I saw back then I would be so much more happy!
Sudha narain says
Very nice stuff. I like the Graffs of the designs (crochet). I am looking for the grafts of the ten squares design for Afgans you have given. I am unable to find the Graf for it. Please if you can do so,I will be greatful to you.y
Tamara Kelly says
Hello Sudha! I'm afraid these patterns don't have charts - it would be up to the individual designers to create them.
Tamara says
I am new to crochet, but my goal in learning is to create a beautiful afghan like this one. What stitches should I learn specifically that would help me in making something like this?
Tamara Kelly says
Each square is different, so you'll encounter a whole range of stitches. But it's also a great opportunity to learn new stitches - just go one square at a time. 🙂
Paula says
i love these and i want to start them soon 2 of the links are not working please can you direct me to number 7 and 10 to complete the collection. thank you so much for posting this its wonderful.
Tamara Kelly says
Sorry about that, the site they were hosted on seems to have crashed. I've replaced the links with links from the web archives. 🙂
Midsea says
I found the Supernova square difficult to download from scribed because I refuse to pay for scribed account, but I did find Chris Simmon's Ravelry and she has it listed as a free ravelry download.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/supernova
Lana says
I am crocheting the Butterfly Garden square. Starting with Row 2: *# Dc in next 3 dc. Etc...I do not know what the meaning of the # sign means. Thank. you for your response.
Lana
Tamara Kelly says
Hi Lana! The # is used here as a place marker, as the asterisk is already in use marking another location. More often you might see a carot ^ used, but it's all the same. 🙂 As you read through the rest of that line of instruction, it should make a bit more sense now.
Sherry says
Sherbear
Hi,
I couldn’t find the names of squares 2 and 3. What was the overall size in this very lovely Afghan?
Tamara Kelly says
Hi Sherry! 🙂 #2 is Supernova and #3 is Flower Burst - after you click on their names in the list above it will take you to their pattern pages. They do take an extra couple seconds to load, and will be in the white SCRIBD box at the top of their respective posts. 🙂 With 5 x 5 12" squares, the finished blanket was (estimated) about 5.5' x 5.5' - I used a big joining pattern and made a border, so that adds some inches.
Sarah says
Hi Tamara: I love this blanket! Where can I find the pattern and what yarn did you use? Thanks so much!
Tamara Kelly says
Hi Sarah! Thank you! Unfortunately I don't have all the links, as it was a CAL someone else led, that I followed before I started blogging! The ones I could find are linked above.