Maybe it’s the chill in the air but lately I have wanted nothing more than a cozy, repetitive project I can snuggle up to at night and not pay much attention to while I indulge in my latest favorite series. If you’re in the same boat, you’re going to LOVE my new design, the Crema Blanket. Allow the magic of color changing yarn and a fun textured stitch to do all of the work with this meditative project. The thick fabric comes together quickly and results in a warm and cozy hug of a blanket. Written for seven sizes from baby to king size bed, you’ll want one for every room of the house! You can find the free pattern below, purchase an ad-free, printer-friendly PDF here, or shop the full yarn kit here.

I’ll be honest and tell you that this design came together entirely unplanned. I have a pretty tight “to-make” list through the end of the year and not exactly any wiggle room to add in an additional project, but I had to make an exception for this one! It all started when I popped into my local Joann store to grab a skein of Hue + Me for a different project when I found myself wandering the yarn aisles and returning over and over to a few random balls of Lion Brand’s Ice Cream yarn. I had never used this yarn before, and I’m generally not drawn to the mainly pastel colors it comes in, but there was something about the “Coffee” colorway with its mushroomy brown ombre vibes that was calling me!

I’m ALSO not typically drawn to color changing yarns, but I think I might be changing my tune on that one. After designing last month’s Helios Poncho, I have a newfound love of these yarns that do all of the heavy lifting for you, especially when it comes to blankets and projects with large swaths of fabric where you can really appreciate the color changes. So I scooped up the three balls they had in this color (all different dye lots of course, lol) and off I went. I got to swatching as soon as I got home because I truly couldn’t wait to see how this yarn worked up! This is a DK weight (category 3) yarn but it’s particularly dense so it actually works up fairly thick and squishy. I knew it would be perfect for a blanket!

Even though my to-make list was staring at me like “girl you’ve got to be kidding,” I just had to pause everything and give this project a go. I speed ordered 4 skeins - in the same colorway - and continued playing with stitch ideas with the random dye lots I had until they arrived. One of my favorite blankets of all time, the Houndstooth Cabin Throw, used 2 alternating colorways of Lion Brand’s Scarfie to create a painterly dueling fabric, and working with this yarn gave me a similar feeling so I chose a stitch that would have a similar effect, only this time with just 1 colorway needed!

The result is an incredibly easy and meditative stitch repeat that works up super fast (I finished this in less than a week, only working on it in the evenings!) and a chunky blanket that can keep you warm as you’re stitching - isn’t that the best part about blanket making?! While I made mine in baby blanket size, I think this would make a gorgeous throw for a couch or bed so I worked out the math for a variety of sizes so you could do just that.

This is an easy level crochet pattern and the techniques involved are single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, and spike stitches.

MATERIALS

4 (7, 11, 24) (27, 34, 45) skeins Lion Brand Yarn Ice Cream in Coffee (923-212R)
(light/DK, weight 3; 394yds/360m per skein)

Size US H/8 (5mm) crochet hook
Tapestry needle

GAUGE

16.5 sts + 13 rows = 4”/10cm in spiked sedge stitch

SIZES

Baby (Lap, Throw, Twin Bed) (Full Bed, Queen Bed, King Bed)

ABBREVIATIONS
*All Two of Wands patterns are written in standard US terms.

Ch – chain
Dc – double crochet
Hdc – half double crochet
Rep – repeat
Sc – single crochet
Sk – skip
SPdc – spike double crochet
St(s) – stitch(es)

STITCH EXPLANATION:

SPdc (spike double crochet) – Yarn over, insert hook into stitch 2 rows below, draw up a loop, yarn over and draw through first 2 loops on hook, yarn over and draw through remaining 2 loops on hook.

Notes: Blanket is worked flat in back and forth rows – turn at the end of each row. Work spike stitches a bit loose and evenly to prevent puckering. Fabric is reversible. Pattern is written for 7 sizes: Baby (Lap, Throw, Twin Bed) (Full Bed, Queen Bed, King Bed).

PATTERN

Ch 125 (149, 200, 290) (332, 374, 455).

Row 1: Starting in 2nd ch from hook and working into back bumps, sc across row. 124 (148, 199, 289) (331, 373, 454) sts

Row 2: Ch 1, (sc 1, hdc 1, dc 1) in 1st st, *sk 2, (sc 1, hdc 1, dc 1) in next st, rep from * to last 3 sts, sk 2, sc 1 in last st.

Row 3: Ch 1, (sc 1, hdc 1) in 1st sc, SPdc in st 2 rows below out of which sc just worked into came, *sk next hdc and dc, (sc 1, hdc 1) in next sc, SPdc in st 2 rows below out of which sc just worked into came, rep from * to last 3 sts, sk last hdc and dc, sc 1 in last sc.

Rep row 3 until work measures 36 (48, 60, 90) (90, 100, 110)”/91.5 (122, 152.5, 228.5) (228.5, 254, 279.5)cm, ending with an even row.

Next row: Ch 1, sc in each st across.

Fasten off.

Secure and weave in all ends.

Purchase the printable, ad-free pattern here.

Purchase the kit from Lion Brand here.

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