Crochet Afghans

Are you looking to crochet baby blankets for a new arrival?

Maybe it’s your own, maybe somebody else in the family, or someone special you know!

Crochet baby blankets make great gifts – here’s some ideas on starting with them.

- Get an Inspiration

You’re giving this gift to the baby, but to the parents or guardians as well. Know about them and some of their likes and dislikes, and you can put this together properly.

Maybe they like the outdoors, or sports, or ballet?

If that is so, then think about making crochet baby blankets around this theme – they’ll enjoy the place it takes in their home!

- Focus on Being Finished Early

Especially if you’re helping out with the new baby, the sooner you’re done the more likely you’ll have time when you’ll be most needed.

Being done a month or two will give you more time to start a separate project on the side, while ensuring that this piece is done well ahead of time.

- Look for Hypo-Allergenic Materials

For the time it takes to put crochet baby blankets together, make sure that it’s going to be used!

While not all babies are allergic to specific fabrics, it’s important when putting your work together that it won’t cause any allergic reactions – keep in mind that you’re building this often before the baby is even born, and you’re unaware of any allergies it may have.

- Use Free Patterns or Make Your Own

Crochet Baby Blankets are great ways to use your own creativity, or build off somebody else’s pattern.

Look across the web for patterns, however spend time ahead of doing this to have an idea of what you’re looking to produce for your next few crochet baby blankets.

Here are some quick tips on how you can make the best crochet afghans!

- Wind Yarn GENTLY

The tension on your yarn can affect how your afghans come together – you want a good, firm amount of tension, but not too much, or it won’t come together properly.

As well, by having a properly wound ball of yarn, it will be less likely to fall apart or end up being too thin.

It’s important that your yarn is thick enough – that way when it gets crocheted together, there is ample room to make your afghans as comfortable as possible.

- Wash Your Completed Work

When finished making crochet afghans, it’s best to wash them in soapy water.

Use cold or cool temperature.

Most yarns will have a certain amount of color bleeding that takes place. Washing your completed crochet afghans will ensure that the majority of the color that will bleed out will happen when you’re doing it, as opposed to with other clothes.

Empty the wash water, and rinse in clean, fresh water.

When you’re finished – do not hang dry your new afghan – it will likely cause it to lose shape with fabric stretching.

Lay them flat to dry, turning them over to ensure equal drying levels.

- When Crocheting, Leave Safety Pins in Place

When you’re crocheting your masterpiece, leave safety pins in your piece, almost like a trail of breadcrumbs.

A distraction can happen at any time – from the phone ringing to something occuring on tv.

I personally keep a set of safety pins nearby, and place one in the crochet afghan every 10 stitches.

This way, if I need to go back and resume my position, I can simply count how many stitches I am past the 10 mark, and resume from there – knowing where I am at all times on my crochet afghans.

Are you looking to get into crochet and specifically, learning how to make a crochet afghan?

Here’s the best way to start:

- Machine Made vs Hand Made

There are machine made afghans on the market. The biggest difference you can notice is primarily in quality – a handmade crochet afghan has the potential to be far better made, and last a long time.

- Give the gift of effort

In a world where there are far too many gifts that are simply bought, people will appreciate the time you took to put together something for them.

You can customize them for the people you’re giving them to – and focus on the things they like to see – maybe football or ballet!

- How do you start with crochet?

The key to starting with crochet is to learn how to do the single stitch.

If you can master the single stitch, all other stitches you’ll do are simply a matter of growing on this method.

- How do you start with crochet afghans?

The best way to start to make a crochet afghan is to make one in a plaid / square pattern.

This will give you the best understanding of what’s involved with crochet, letting you get the feel for putting stitches together and building the entire piece.

Squares will teach you how to ensure that your lines are straight, and give you the perspective of working the entire piece together.

As you evolve with crochet afghans, you’ll find that you’re able to mentally divide the project up into smaller sections, each with their own tiny pattern.

This will help you visualize the whole piece, but focus on the smaller elements, helping you make crochet afghans that are a masterpiece!

Imagine beautiful easy crochet patterns, made to the pattern you want!

It’s easier to do than you think, and with a little time and practice, you can become a master at it.

First of all, come up with great ideas of the patterns you’d like to make. Maybe you’ve seen them in different places, maybe you’ve come up with them off the top of your head.

Searching the internet for different types of blankets and rugs is a great way to find inspiration – google image search will give you great results for fun pattern ideas.

Secondly, the easiest way to record patterns is with computer software.

Easily available on the internet, it will let you create patterns that are easily followed by others.

Search Google for this software, as different packages cater to different needs. Think about what you’re planning to do, both short and long term before purchasing this.

It is important that the software you look at has the ability to let you work with a template.

Thirdly, go ahead and start build accordng to your easy crochet patterns

This will be a pattern that you make off the top of your head, with guidance through your skills and other patterns you’ve done before.

While you’re crocheting, the software program you downloaded should include a template that will allow you to mark your crochet moves down on.

If you can’t work by your computer, print out the template or take the necessary information down by hand and input it into the computer later on.

When you’re finished, you’ll create the crochet afghan again, this time precisely following the directions that you wrote down before.

When following the directions, take them literally and do not try to make changes – it’s essential to think from the point of view of somebody who hasn’t done this piece before, and this will allow them to learn better in the future.

Patterns for an easy crochet patterns can be kept for the future, shared with friends, put up on the internet, or sell them as part of your collection!