DIY Chunky Blanket

With the cooler weather quickly approaching, be prepared with a chunky blanket! I don’t mean just any ordinary chunky blanket, but one that you handcraft all by yourself! There are so many different options for yarn out there, with different feels, colors, and sizes. By creating it yourself you can pick the one that best suits you.

It’s also easier to make than you think… Trust me!

Yarn

For my project today, I decided to go with 100% non-mulesed chunky wool yarn. I like this particular yarn for a few different reasons. You can’t beat how soft it feels and how warm it is. This combination of softness and warmth makes it the perfect blanket!

Once you decide what material you want to use, you need to figure out how much of it you will need. Depending on the brand and thickness of material you end up using, you can determine how much you will need for the project. Here is a little go-to chart that can help you out!

I decided to make a large throw blanket, roughly 40 by 60 inches. This can be a perfect accent blanket or your sofa or bed—you really can’t go wrong!

Methods

There are a few different ways you can knit a chunky blanket. The first method and the most traditional and well-known one is by using knitting needles. A second way to knit a blanket is by using your arms in place of knitting needles. This way tends to be more work in the end, as when it’s attached to your arms, you can’t easily walk away from the blanket. The third way (the one that I find to be the easiest for beginners) is to use your hands and the floor. This is the method that I’ll be walking you through. At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way of doing this; it really all comes down to preference. 

Now that you know what method you’ll be using and how much yarn you need, let’s get started with the steps!

Step One

To start, you want to make a loop at one end of the yarn.

Once the loop is created, you will pull the yarn through the loop, to create a new loop. This is considered one stitch. You will repeat creating new loops until you reach the width that you want the blanket to be.

For the large throw I made, I casted on 23 stitches in the first row. Depending on how many stitches you make, it will determine the overall amount of yarn that you use.

When you are done with the first row, it should resemble a giant braid!

Step Two

When you are done casting the first row, you will then cast on the second row. You will start this by grabbing the last stitch (loop) from the end, then pulling through the yarn to create, yet again, another loop! You will repeat this step all the way down the second row.

When you finish the second row, you’ll move onto creating the third. Just like you did for the second row, you’ll cast on new stitches to create a new row of loops. You will continue these steps, back and forth, for the rest of the blanket. 

Step Three

Once you’re done with all the rows you want, you’ll need to cast off to finish the blanket. Very important: you want to make sure there is enough yarn at the end as if you were going to do another row. It takes just about as much yarn to finish off the blanket as it does to complete an additional row.

To cast off, you’ll grab two loops at the end, take the yarn, and pull through to create a new loop.

Next, you will take the newly created loop, along with the next loop in the row, and pull the yarn through.

You will continue doing this until you reach the end of the blanket.

Step Four

In this last step, you will cast off and end the blanket. I personally like to tie a knot within the last loop just to make sure the yarn stays in place. Then, you can cut off anything extra, but still leaving a short piece so that you can tuck/weave it back into the blanket. It ends up looking like it’s not even there!

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Now you’re all done! Sit back, relax and enjoy your new blanket!

Share Your Chunky Blanket!

Now, wasn’t that super easy to create? I’d love to see your finished chunky blanket. Snap a pic, share it on social, and make sure to tag me @mybobs for a chance to be featured in my feed.