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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Could you tell me what size hook you used and the brand of yarn and weight, size of skein. Thank you
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!
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
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.
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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.)
Love this! Deffo next on my list!
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!
Wow! Thank you so much! <3
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!
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!