How Many Crochet Chains for a Blanket

I have acquired quite a collection of crochet stitch tutorials here on The Unraveled Mitten. One of the questions I have gotten asked at least once a week for the past couple of years has been: how many chains do I need to make a throw or baby blanket?

My answer, well it depends on your yarn, hook, your personal crochet tension, and what size you want your blanket to be.

Today I'm going to tell you how to figure out the answer to that question all on your own. There are a couple of different ways to go about it. The lazy way (aka how I do it) and the more accurate way.

The lazy way

I use this way when I know I have more than enough yarn or it's a scrap buster type project.

First, you need to know what size blanket you want to make, you can check the chart above for reference if you need it. You also need to pick out your yarn and hook.

Second, decide what stitch you are going to use. You can find a whole bunch here!

When you are looking at your stitch it will give you the multiple you need to chain (Ex: even number, multiple of 3 +2). This is the number of chains you will need.

Using that multiple as a guide, you would chain a number that matches your multiple AND is as long as you want the width of your crochet blanket.

One thing to note here is that sometimes once you start crocheting into your chain, it ends up making your blanket shorter (or longer but typically shorter). To remedy this. I chain to the length needed and then add another handful of chains.

This lazy method doesn't work well with is with ripple/chevron stitches. You can still use my lazy method for this but it could result in a few more frogging adventures to get the size you want. For those types of stitches, your chain needs to be longer than the width you need.

After you chain your multiple continue on in the crochet stitch pattern you chose until your blanket is as long as you want it.

A More Accurate Way

This way involves making a gauge swatch and some measuring and math.

It is more accurate than my lazy method and could potentially save you time in the long run because your sizing will be correct from the get-go

To start you need to know your blanket size, stitch, yarn, and hook. Just like the lazy way.

Using your chosen crochet stitch make a swatch. I usually do a 6in x 6in swatch. Just chain enough for 6 inches and crochet until your swatch is 6 in long.

After that, you are going to measure how many stitches are in 4 inches. Write it down so you don't forget.

Are you finding this post helpful? Sign up for our email list to be notified of all new patterns and tutorials posted here on The Unraveled Mitten!

Time for math.

Take the width you want your blanket to be and divide it by 4 (this is the 4 inches from above)

Write it down.

Now take that number and multiply it by how many stitches were in your 4-inch gauge measurement.
Write it down. This is how many stitches wide your blanket needs to be.

The next step is to figure out how many chains you need to start. This is where your multiple comes in.
You are going to do a little more math to see if that number we got in the last step matches up with your pattern multiple.

Take the number of stitches you need and divide it by the first number in your multiple. If it turns out a  whole number then you are golden.

If your number doesn't turn out whole and you end up with a decimal, you are going to move that big number up or down until it works out evenly (I usually go bigger rather than smaller).

After you have your starting chain number, go ahead and make your foundation chain, and don't forget to tack on those extra stitches at the end from your stitch multiple.

Just like the lazy method, crochet until your blanket is the length you want it.

That's all there is to it.

Don't forget to save this tutorial on Pinterest!

How Many Crochet Chains for a Blanket

Source: https://theunraveledmitten.com/2017/02/24/crochet-blanket-size-chart/

Share this post