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Free Cotton Blanket Crochet Pattern The Eileen

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The Eileen Blanket is a lightweight crochet cotton blanket. The cotton yarn is perfect for summer blankets.

Crochet blankets are great for playing on or snuggling up together. The natural fibers and subtle color palette of Bernat Baby Softee Cotton are a stunning combination.

The wattle stitch gives this cotton blanket its amazing texture. It is an easy pattern to learn, if it’s new for you. There’s a tutorial to get you started on with this free crochet blanket pattern.

Pink and grey blanket draped on stool.

You can purchase the ad-free, well formatted, printable PDF for this pattern in one of my shops. Scroll down for the free pattern.


For this crochet baby blanket I added a small border. This one would also make a wonderful borderless blanket.

I prefer my baby blankets without too many holes or spaces for tiny toes and fingers to get caught. The Eileen Blanket fits the bill for these factors and is just what I had in mind.

I include how to start this blanket with foundation single crochet or, if you’re unfamiliar with fsc, then it has the starting chains too.

I like the foundation single crochet for crochet afghans that you add a border to because they’re easier to work into since both ends look like stitches.

Pink stripe blanket draped on chair.

The contrast and compliment of the wattle stitch border on the Eileen is lovely.

The Eileen is a one row repeat pattern. This makes it a very beginner friendly crochet pattern!


Add this pattern to your Ravelry queue.


You may also like these free crochet patterns for blankets:

  1. The Raspberry Ridges Blanket is an easy blanket with alternating sections of texture.
  2. A Chevron Baby Blanket is always a classic look for crochet.
  3. The Christmas Lights Blanket includes a basic lemon peel stitch blanket pattern too (if you don’t want the Christmas theme).
  4. The C2C Raccoon Blanket is a family favorite around here.

The Yarn

Crochet baby blankets are a great gift for baby showers. I use one of Bernat’s cotton blends for this blanket. You can choose a yarn that is 100% cotton, or even acrylic yarn.

Many fibers can shed, especially in those grabby little hands! This Bernat Softee Baby Cotton yarn is a great choice for a cotton blend yarn.

This Bernat cotton is breathable, washable and just beautiful.

When substituting yarn just be sure to stay in the same weight category which is #3 DK yarn for the Eileen. The best way to check if your yarn works is to work a gauge swatch.

Find more cotton yarn crochet patterns here.

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Pink striped blanket draped on stool.

Materials

  • 1500 yd / 1371 m of #3 lightweight yarn, I use Bernat Softee Baby Cotton* (60% Cotton, 40% Acrylic, 120g / 4.2oz, 232m / 254yd) 6 skeins of yarn divided in two colors: Feather Gray Color A and Soft Plum Color B.
  • 4 mm crochet hook (US Size G-4),* or hook needed to meet gauge
  • Yarn needle
  • Measuring tape
  • Scissors

Notes

  1. Ch 1 counts as a sc.
  2. At the end of Row 2 and on you will sc into the ch 1 turning ch at the end of the row. This can be hard to see, mark it with a stitch marker & ch 1 loosely for the first few rows until you get the hang of it. 
  3. Finished size with border is 32”x 35.” See How to Adjust Width below to change your size.
  4. The stitch multiple is 3 plus 2 for the foundation chain.

Skill Level

Easy

Striped blanket twisted.

Stitches/Abbreviations

The stitch pattern you see here is made with basic stitches: single crochet, chain 1, and double crochet all in the same stitch and then you skip 2. Check out the full wattle stitch tutorial for more details.

ch (s) – chain(s)

dc – double crochet

fsc – foundation single crochet

rep – repeat

sc – single crochet

sk – skip the indicated stitch

sl st – slip stitch

st (s) – stitch (es)

Gauge

4” / 10 cm x 4” / 10 cm = 7 wattle sts (21 individual sts) x 13 rows of wattle st

Twisted flat crochet striped blanket in pink and grey.

How to Adjust Width

Stitch multiple is 3 plus 2 for the starting chain. If you would like to increase or decrease your blanket width then you would add or subtract 3 to my starting chain.

In this pattern I start with 159 chs plus 2 for the foundation ch. This is about 30” wide. To increase your blanket size to 36” you need to add enough stitches for 6” more.

Gauge tells us that each stitch is roughly .19” (.19 x 33 = 6.3) so you need 33 more stitches. 159 plus 33 = 192 divided by 3 (our st multiple) = 64. So for a 36” wide blanket you would Ch 192 + 2 (for the foundation chain)= 194: Ch 194 = 36” wide. (With this yarn, hook and my gauge)

In this way you can make blankets in different sizes whether you’re looking to make a larger or smaller blanket.

Downloadable Blanket Sizes Chart

Crochet Blanket Sizes chart with text in pink and white.
Folded striped blanket on stool.

Stripes

Crocheting this blanket in a single color or self-striping yarn would be beautiful. But here are the details for the stripes.

I alternate between Feather Gray and Soft Plum every 4 rows. My stripes were a little over an inch wide, so 28 stripes, or 112 rows gave me 33.5”  long. 

Stripes by Rows:

1-4 Color A

5-8 Color B

9-12 Color A

13-16 Color B, etc.

You can purchase the ad-free, well formatted, printable PDF for this pattern in one of my shops. Scroll down for the free pattern.

Folded pink and grey striped crochet blanket.

Scroll down for the free cotton crochet baby blanket pattern!

Pink and grey striped blanket on stool.

Eileen Blanket Crochet Pattern

Yield: 1
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Active Time: 10 hours
Additional Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 hours 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Cost: $36

The Eileen Blanket is a lightweight crochet cotton blanket perfect for those summer babies or picnics with the family.

Materials

  • 1500yds/1371m of #3 lightweight yarn, I use Bernat Softee Baby Cotton* in Feather Gray Color A and Soft Plum Color B.

Tools

  • 4 mm (G) hook, or hook needed to meet gauge
  • Tapestry needle
  • Measuring tape
  • Scissors

Instructions

In Color A

  1. Row 1. Fsc 159, ch 1 and turn. OR Ch 161, sc in 2nd ch from your hook and in each ch across, ch 1 and turn. Mark the ch 1.Foundation sc row.
  2. Ch 1 (counts as a sc in this pattern and you will work into this chain on the next row). Skip the first 2 sts and work into the next st, marked by the orange stitch marker here.
  3. Sc into the 3rd stitch. Orange st marker in 3rd stitch.
  4. Chain 1, (you will work the next row’s wattle stitches into these chain 1 spaces).Sc, ch 1, dc all in same stitch.
  5. Into the same stitch, place 1 dc. You now have a ch 1 (marked by the orange stitch marker), and one wattle stitch (sc, ch 1, dc all in the same st). Second wattle stitch of row.
  6. Skip the next 2 stitches and wattle stitch into the next stitch: (sc, ch 1, dc).Skip two stitches.
  7. Repeat the last step across the row, until the last 3 stitches. Repeat wattle stitch across until last 3 stitches.
  8. Skip the last 2 stitches and single crochet into the last stitch. Sc in last st of row 2.
  9. Turn and ch 1-mark your turning ch. Turn and ch 1 for row 2.
  10. Row 3. Skip the first 2 stitches and work into the next stitch (marked with the pink stitch marker here).Pink st marker showing where to crochet after skip 2.
  11. Mark the ch 1, work a wattle stitch (sc, ch 1, dc) all in the 3rd stitch, skip the next 2 sts.First wattle stitch of Row 3 tutorial.
  12. Work *{sc, ch 1, dc all in the next st, sk the next 2 sts} rep from * across until the last 2 sts (including the marked ch 1). Two stitches left row 3 Eileen Blanket.
  13. Skip the next st and sc into the ch 1, turn.End of row 3 wattle stitch with orange marker.
  14. Row 4. Ch 1 (mark this), sk next 2 sts, (sc, ch 1, dc) all in next ch sp, *{sk next 2 sts, (sc, ch 1, dc) all in next ch sp} rep from * to the last 2 sts, sk last sc, sc in ch 1, turn. (157 sts)

    Rows 5-112. Repeat Row 4, or until desired length.

    End with one row of single crochets to mirror the foundation row: Ch 1, sc in the same and in each st across. Cut yarn and continue to Border.

Border Notes

  1. I chose a striped wattle stitch border in the round.
  2. Bolded ch 1 is the st that you will work into for each corner.
  3. Attach Color A with a sl st to any corner,

Border

  1. Round 1. Ch 1 and sc, ch 1, sc in the same corner st, continue to sc evenly around, placing (sc, ch 1, sc) in each corner. Sl st back to 1st sc to join.
  2. Round 2. All in corner ch 1 sp: (sc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, sc, ch 1, dc), *{sk next 2 scs, (sc, ch 1, dc) all in next sc} rep from * along each side, in the corner ch 1 sps: (sc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, sc, ch 1, dc), sk the next two sc and continue to rep from * sl st to first sc to join. Eileen baby blanket corner of wattle stitches.
  3. Round 3. Rep last round. Cut yarn and join Color B.
  4. Round 4-5. Rep Round 2 in Color B, then finish off.

    When finished, block your blanket. After blocking mine measured 32” x 35.”

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