How To: Pattern vs Reality 4: Crochet Chevron Baby Blanket

Wait. A Baby Crochet Chevron Baby Blanket? Yes. So…it isn’t amigurumi. But! But! A baby blanket is great practice for a beginner to crochet. If you look at my first three amigurumi project reviews of the Woobles Narwhal, Dinosaur, and Unicorn, it’s clear I still was really struggling with tension. I had weird holes here or there, despite the pattern being relatively straightforward.

So I decided to take a diversion and work on a beginner baby blanket. There are many patterns online of beginner baby blankets. I picked this particular one because it was heavy on the single crochet stitch (the most common stitch you’ll encounter) and I really wanted to make that second nature through practice. I think it made a big difference. If you look at the photos of all the reviews that come after this one, you’ll see my tension gets a lot more uniform, and I don’t have odd holes anymore.

If you’re crocheting just fine because it came naturally and don’t feel like doing anything other than amigurumi, that’s fantastic. But if you find yourself still struggling a bit as a beginner, I’d recommend taking a diversion!

Easy Crochet’s Chevron Baby Blanket

Link to Pattern: Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern Chevron – Easy Crochet Patterns

Cost: Free

Difficulty: It’s marked as intermediate, but I found it suitable for a beginner who is willing to read up elsewhere on some techniques. I ended up starting, frogging, and restarting this again twice, but I got it on the third try. I have tips below on what to avoid.

You’ll Learn:

• You’ll practice the single crochet so thorougly, it’ll be second nature and make it much easier to move onto things like half double crochet and double crochet.
• How to weave in ends (not something you normally need to do until intermediate crochet, but will come in handy)

Stitches Used: Single Crochet (sc); Single Crocthet 2 Together (sc2tog))

Time Taken: ~20 hours. It’s fairly repetitive, though, so it’s pretty relaxing and you can do it in the car

Pattern vs Reality

I picked different colors, but it worked out!

Turning At The End of the Row. I had a hard time figuring out how to do the chain, turn at the end of rows. I messed up my earlier attempts and the shape was…odd (I didn’t take photos; was too embarrassed at myself). You need to do a “ch1, turn” at the end of the row. Here’s how:
How to crochet a “Ch1, Turn” at the end of the row

Color Change. There are actually many different ways to do color changes in amigurumi.

I found this page with written instructions and videos helped from the Woobles:

How to Change Colors in Crochet | The Woobles (This is the most beginner friendly way)

I also really like this video. It shows you all the options and lets you pick your favorite:

How to invisible color change in Amigurumi. The ultimate guide to changing colors in crochet toys! (This shows you all the options and lets you pick your favorite).

Weaving In Ends. You’ll have loose threads that you cut when you did the color change. These are “ends” to weave in. This is a very common technique you master early on for flat pieces like blankets and scarves, but you can do many amigurumi pieces without ever doing it once.

Here’s a useful post on how to do it:

How to Weave in Ends in Crochet | The Woobles

Amy’s Accuracy Rating: Accurate. No mistakes. You can trust the pattern.
Amy’s Pattern Writing for Beginners Rating: 8/10. The pattern is mostly clear, and the writer links to some helpful tips. This pattern is linked from a lot of other sources as for beginners, but it’s not written in a way that is aimed at true beginners, like how to do the turns, or how to manage weaving in ends (though the author answers some of this in the comments section). I’ve included that info in my post, though, so you should be all set if you want to try it as a true beginner.