A new year has begun!! And before you know it, Valentine’s Day will be here. What better way to decorate the home than with a cute and easy heart blanket? This design can be used to make any size blanket you wish, even as a baby blanket for that special little one lucky enough to be born in February.
This pattern will give you the graph to follow and the basic instructions to make square blocks of either open or solid hearts with perfectly smooth edges. Once you have crocheted your blocks, you can attach them in any way you choose. I am currently using this pattern for a blanket for my recliner, to add a little V-Day vibe to the living room. I chose to use a slight lattice attachment around the edges of each square.
Each square, when made with worsted weight yarn using an H hook, will come to about 7 inches wide and 8 inches tall, and take about 1 ounce of yarn. You may want to block each square before attaching to take care of any curled corners and to make sure they are all a uniform size.
For this pattern, every ODD row will be single crocheted throughout. The odd rows are also the right side of your work. The EVEN rows will be your bobble rows. When following the graph below, each white square signifies a single crochet and every colored square signifies a bobble. If you are making an open heart, you will only follow the red squares. If you are making a closed heart, you will follow the pattern for both red and green squares. I’ve made sure to show you an image of each in the picture above.
How to make a bobble stitch
The bobble stitch is basically a double crochet cluster.
You will yarn over (YO), insert hook into the top loop only of the single crochet (sc) in the previous row, YO and draw up a loop (3 loops on hook). YO and pull through 2 loops only on the hook. (2 loops remaining). YO again, insert hook into the same sc, YO and draw up a loop (4 loops on hook), YO and pull through 2 loops only on the hook. (3 loops remaining). YO again, insert hook into the same sc again, YO and draw up a loop (5 loops on hook), YO and pull through 2 loops only on the hook (4 loops remaining). YO and draw through remaining loops on hook. The bobble will be on the right side your work so you will only see the back side of it without turning your work over.
How to make a smooth edge
At the end of each row, instead of a turning chain, you will chain 2. This chain 2 is your turning chain and your first single crochet for the next row. So your actual single crochets will begin in the second stitch from the previous row instead of the first. When you reach the end of each row (starting with row 3), your final sc will go in to the space between the ch 2 and the sc from the previous row.
Making the bobble heart
(All of your stitches will be placed in the top loop only of the stitch below)
Chain 28
Row 1: SC in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across. Chain 2, turn. (27 sc)
Row 2 and 3: SC in the top loop only of each sc across, starting on the 2nd sc of the row below. Chain 2, turn. (27 sc, including the ch 2 from the turning chain)
Row 4: SC in the first 13 sc, bobble stitch in the next sc, sc in the remaining 13 sc. Chain 2, turn. (26 sc, 1 bobble)
Row 5: SC across. Chain 2, turn. (27 sc)
You have just made the center bottom of your heart. Continue following the pattern from the graph below, from the bottom up. The pattern is symmetrical, so it does not matter if you read right to left or left to right.
Your completed heart should be 27 stitches across and 25 rows tall.
At the end of row 27 you will be on the right side of your pattern. Fasten off and weave in loose ends into the back of your work.
