The Diagonal Baby Blanket – Free Crochet Pattern

This free crochet pattern is a baby blanket stripe design that creates beautiful texture with minimal effort.

Baby blankets have got to be one of the most delightful projects you can possibly work on. Not only are they intended for precious newborns and babies, and therefore inherently special, they are also smaller than adult-sized blankets.

This means that when we crochet a blanket for a newborn, we get the pleasure of packing lots of creativity and love into the project, and still being able to finish it in a shorter amount of time. Win-win!

When I was expecting my last baby, I knew that I wanted to have a special blanket ready just for her as soon as possible. Wanting to try something new and simple, I tried this design and was not disappointed.

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About The Corner to Corner Baby Blanket

This Baby blanket is made with a corner to corner (C2C) griddle stitch. I blogged about this stitch before and it is honestly one of my favorite stitches of all time. 

I love how it looks and I love the texture it makes. You can read more about Griddle Stitch, including the C2C version, on the tutorial page with Griddle Stitch.

Skill Level

This project is easily a beginner-level pattern, with the possible exception that it is done in C2C (corner to corner).

Even thought this project is done in Griddle Stitch in corner to corner and not the typical block stitch that has come to almost be synonymous with C2C, I know that the technique can feel intimidating if you’ve never tried it before.

If you would like some reassurance or just want to make sure that you get off on the right track with this blanket, be sure to watch the C2C video on my original Griddle Stitch post.

Gauge

The gauge of this project is 10 stitches and 8 rows of griddle stitch per 4×4″ square

Note: If gauge has never been your “thing” or it still seems like a mystery, check out this post on how to make sense of gauge.

Sizing 

While baby blankets aren’t limited to one specific size,  there are some standards that can be maintained to keep a Baby blanket the sizes you would expect. Baby blankets generally range from 30 x 40 inches (75 x 100 cm) to 36 x 48 inches (90 x 120 cm).

My cream diagonal blanket is 36″x36″ using just the c2c design. I also added a last-minute border, with added about an inch to the finished size all around. Note: if you leave the design as-is, the raw edge is slightly lacy.

The two baby blankets pictured (the ones I personally made) have completely different specifics such as gauge, finished size, and the amount of yarn needed total.

This is a very flexible design that can, in fact, be used with whatever yarns you want and made in any size, but know that moving forward the details I am listing are based on the solid cream blanket that I made for my own baby.

The striped blanket pictured shows off the potential diagonal stripes of this design beautifully, and the technique is the same, just not the yarn, the gauge, and so on. 

Materials Needed

To create this design for yourself, you will need the following:

• 700 Yards of Aran weight yarn (I also used 30 additional yards for my single crochet grey border). This is for my cream and grey outline blanket shown above.
• K/10.5mm hook
• Scissors
• Tapestry Needle (optional)

Both of the Diagonal Baby Blankets I’ve made so far have used Paintbox Yarns. My solid cream version uses Paintbox Simply Aran, and the striped version uses their cotton aran.

Both created very nice results and both are some of my favorite go-to yarns. And yes, even thought they are from the same brand and are both listed as “aran” the two yarn lines are different in weight. The cotton yarn is really more of a worsted weight and I would find it impractical to try getting the same gauge with it as I do with the Simply Aran yarn.

Now just in case you are wondering, you absolutely CAN use different weights of yarn for to create this blanket. Just understand that you will need different amounts of yarn depending on the weight that you choose and the exact size of blanket that you decide to make.

A Tapestry needle is not absolutely necessary for working this pattern, but I find it extremely helpful for weaving in ends.  I prefer a needle for this job because it allows me to weave the ends back inside of the yarn, rather than simply in-between stitches.

Variation Ideas

Because crocheting this baby blanket uses such a simple repeat, it’s a perfect design to add your own customizations to.

Creating diagonal stripes with different colors of yarn is a really satisfying and easy option. It would also turn this pattern into an ideal stash buster. A few other easy ideas would be to sprinkle some crochet bobbles here and there in your blanket, or to add a lacy border.

(By the way, if putting your own spin on crochet patterns is something you want to do, you might want to check out Crochet Design School).

Abbreviation Used

• ch: chain stitch(yarn over, draw a loop through)

• dc: double crochet(yarn over, insert hook, draw up a loop, yarn over, draw through 2 loops, yarn over, draw through two loops.)
• sc: single crochet(insert hook, draw up a loop, yarn over, draw through 2 loops.)
• st/sts: Stitch/stitches

Pattern Directions

Increasing

Ch2

Row 1: in the second ch from hook, sc,dc (2sts) ch3 and turn.

Row 2: sc into the top of your dc from the previous row, dc. Ch1 and dc into the

same st again. Ch3 and turn. (4sts)

Row 3: Sc in the top of your dc, dc into the ch-space.

*sc, dc* repeat until the end of the row. ch1 and dc into the turning ch-space. Ch3 and turn.

Repeat row 3 until you reach the desired width. The pictured blanket included approximately 55 increasing rows.

Decreasing

For each decreasing row, skip the ch space/first sc stitch in the row and *sc, dc”.

Repeat until you get to the last 2sts. Sc, skip a stitch and work your last dc in to the end of the row. Ch3 and turn.

At the very end, simply dc into the edge after your ch3. This creates a corner that matches the “lacier” ending.

Keep the Crafting Delightful!

Amelia

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