HOW TO CROCHET A FAST AND EASY BLANKET | BEGINNER FRIENDLY | MAKE IN 3 HOURS | Bella Coco Crochet

In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to make this super easy beginner friendly baby blanket. So this is super quick and easy to make. I actually made this in around three hours. Obviously if you're a beginner it might take a little bit longer but even so this is a really good place to start when it comes to crochet. If you're looking for a quick gift this is absolutely perfect. So I have used Bernat Baby Blanket and I've used the big 300 gram ball. I've actually used two of these and I do have some left over so if I show you this I have around 100 grams left. So for this particular blanket I've used approximately 200 grams of each colour so you could quite easily make this blanket bigger if you wanted to. But as I say I've used Bernat Baby Blanket in 300 grams. This is baby lilac and then this colour is vanilla. So with this yarn I'm going to use an eight millimetre crochet hook. You could go up or down depending on your tension it's totally up to you but I found the eight millimetre absolutely perfect for this yarn. Before we get started I'm just going to point out that underneath this video where it says show more you'll find the written instructions on my website bellacococrochet.com. I'll give you all the details that you need on there including details for where to change colours and also some extra ideas for layouts as well. And then as always if you like this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment if you've made it, let me know how you found it and also don't forget to subscribe to keep up to date with all of my latest videos. Okay let's get started. So for demonstration purposes I'm going to start with the baby lilac colour yarn just because it'll be easier for you to see rather than the vanilla. However I did actually start with the vanilla coloured yarn but I'm going to use this one to begin with. So we're going to start off by creating a slip knot and to do this you want to wrap your yarn, so the tail end which is this part here, around your finger and make a cross like so. You then want to bring the working yarn which is the yarn still attached to the ball and bring it over your finger like so. You'll bring that back loop over the front loop and there you have created your slip knot. You then want to go ahead and take your crochet hook and pull that nice and tight onto your crochet hook. So you now have your slip knot and we're going to start by creating the foundation chain. So the foundation chain for the blanket that I have made consists of 53 chains and then we add an additional two for turning. So for this you're going to grab the yarn, so that's called yarn over and pull through the loop that's on the hook, yarn over and pull through the loop that's on the hook, yarn over and pull through the loop that's on the hook. Make sure that you're not pulling too tightly here and make sure that you're using as much of the crochet hook as possible just because if you're only using the very tip of the crochet hook that's when it starts to become too tight. So that's yarn over, pull through and then yarn over, pull through. So now we have one, two, three, four, five chains on the hook. If you feel that you need a little bit more instruction for the basics of crochet I do have a beginner series which is a really good place to start. I'll leave a link in the description box below and I'll leave a little card on the video just here. So we've now just chained five, you want to go ahead and pause the video and chain 53 chains and then meet me back once you are ready. Okay so I have just done a chain, I've done a smaller chain for demonstration purposes so I've just chained 15 and as I mentioned we're going to add two more chains to the end of this foundation chain. That's one and two. The reason we add an additional two is to account for when we turn, so this is classed as a turning chain. So this chain two here is not going to class as a stitch for this particular pattern but it may very well do for other patterns. So along this chain we're going to work a stitch called a half treble crochet. Now please be aware that I'm talking in UK terms, in the US this is known as a half double crochet. It's the same stitch we just use different terms. So we're going to work into the third chain from the hook, not the one that's on the hook here, we don't count that one. This is the first chain and then this is the second chain, so we're going to be working into the third chain. So if I just insert my hook here you see this is the chain. So we're going to yarn over the hook, so wrap your yarn around the hook like this, which is called yarn over, insert into that third chain and then yarn over and then pull through that chain. What you'll find is you'll have three loops on the hook. You're going to yarn over and pull through gently all three loops on that hook and you'll be left with one. Now the foundation chain is actually one of the more tricky of the rows to do, so once you have done this you'll be well on your way to building your blanket. We now want to feel across the chain and find the next chain available and you're going to yarn over again, go into that chain, yarn over and pull through. You'll have three loops on the hook and then yarn over, pull through all three loops on the hook. You'll then yarn over, move over into the next stitch, yarn over, pull through and then yarn over, pull through all three loops on the hook. You're going to work your way to the very end of your chain and if you've done the same amount of stitches which I've done for the blanket pattern you will have 53 of these stitches all together. So remember we don't count this turning chain here, this is the first stitch, the second, third and the fourth. So as I say you'll have 53 stitches all the way along. Pause the video, work those half treble crochets or half double if you're in the US all the way along the chain and I'll meet you back in just a moment. So I have now completed this first row and now we're going to move on to the second row. So for the second row we're going to chain two, this just gets us up to the height of the stitch and then you're going to turn your work. So from now on this chain two is going to class as a stitch so this is our first stitch which sits above the one just below. We're now going to work into the next stitch. So if you feel up from this stitch you'll see that you have a chain at the top there and it will actually look like if you pull it apart that it has two strands going across. So that's where we're going to be working into. So we're going to do that half treble again so yarn over, you want to go into the top of that stitch, yarn over and pull through, you'll have three loops on the hook and then yarn over pull through all three loops on the hook. So that's our second stitch of the row, yarn over into the top of the next stitch, yarn over pull through, yarn over pull through all three loops on the hook and then again yarn over insert into the next stitch, yarn over pull through and then yarn over pull through all three loops on the hook. You're going to do that all the way along and I want you to stop once you get to this second to last stitch. So this is the turning chain so technically the last stitch but before we get to the turning chain because we're going to do something slightly different at the end here. So pause the video, work those stitches all the way along until you get to just before the very end and meet me back in just a moment. So I have just nearly completed this row and now we're left with this very last turning chain here. We're actually going to work into that turning chain because this will keep our edges nice and neat. So you're going to yarn over and just go into the very top of that chain just treating it as if it was a stitch and then you're going to yarn over and pull through and yarn over pull through all three. So we now completed our second row. We're going to repeat this all the way up the blanket so this is pretty much going to be the blanket pattern other than when we change colours. So I'll just repeat again you're going to chain two which will class as a stitch and turn the work. We're not going to work into the base of this chain just here we're going to work into the top of the next stitch. So yarn over insert into the stitch, yarn over pull through, yarn over pull through all three loops on the hook, yarn over into the next stitch, yarn over pull through and then yarn over pull through all three loops on the hook. As you're working be sure to make sure that you have enough yarn that is off the ball otherwise you might find that it pulls too tightly on your stitches. So you're simply going to work all the way along this row and you're going to make sure that you're counting your stitches so that you have the same amount of stitches in each row and you don't accidentally increase or decrease because you will cause the sides of your blanket to either go in or out. So what you're actually going to do is build 12 rows with this colour and then you'll be changing colours. So I'm going to finish off this row and then come back and show you how you can change your colours once you've done your 12 rows so I shall see you in just a moment. Okay so I've just come to the end of this row if you've paused the video you should have done 12 rows of this colour however this is just my demonstration piece. I have come to the very last stitch so I'm going to half treble crochet into the top of this chain three from the previous row and just to make sure that our ends are correct. However I'm going to do something slightly different here so instead of having my three loops on the hook and yarning over and pulling through all of those three loops I'm actually going to change colour here. So I'm going to pick up my vanilla yarn and I'm going to make a loop like so you want to make sure that you've got a good tail end just there and instead of holding this yarn I'm going to bring through the new colour like so and that just changes colour. You're then going to bring that tail end behind and then you're just going to continue with this colour just as you have done your other colour. So you would chain two and then you want to snip off the working yarn of the baby lilac. You're going to turn your work and then you're going to work as you have done your previous row so exactly the same as before so into the next stitch yarn over pull through and then yarn over pull through all three loops on the hook yarn over into the next stitch and do your half treble crochet. So this is your basic principles of this blanket it's super super easy and because the yarn is just really nice and thick it builds up so easy and quickly. What you want to do is make sure you go across to that blog post because it will tell you how many rows to do of each colour before you need to change back and the change is always going to be exactly the same as what I've demonstrated just there. So I'm going to build a few more rows and then show you what you would do once you finish the blanket and you need to tie off and sew in your ends. Okay so I've just built a few more rows and now I'm ready to finish off my blanket. As I mentioned make sure that you are counting every single row that you do to make sure that your edges stay nice and neat. So once you finish your blanket and you've done your very last stitch you want to yarn over and pull through leaving your crochet hook attached to the work. You're going to take your scissors and snip off your yarn and then you're going to pull the yarn out and that creates a knot in your work and finishes off that end. Now all we have left to do is to sew in our ends. Now because this is a blanket we want to make sure that our ends are nice and secure because this will be washed and used quite regularly. In this section here where there are where there is the colour change you have an option if you wanted to put a knot in your work you could do however some people don't like that. It's totally up to you, totally your preference and you know you choose whether you do or don't want to do that. We're then going to take our yarn so the tail end and you want to attach your darning needle. So you want to make sure that you've got quite a large darning needle and what we're going to do here is do the rule of three. So the rule of three basically means we're going to have three passes with this yarn. You're going to take your darning needle and you want to weave this through your work. You want to go to about an inch to an inch and a half one way. We'll pull that through. Don't pull too tight on the yarn because it distorts the side so if you feel that you've pulled too tight just gently pull that backwards. We're now going to go back the other way or even down another direction. So I'm just going to come down around here. There is really no set rules with this other than you want to be working back and forth in different directions. So there we have our second pass and then we're going to go back the opposite way. You're going need to make sure that you are going under slightly different loops as what you did last time otherwise it will come undone and then I'm going to pull that backwards. So as you can see I've gone down and then I've gone this way and then back. You can actually go this way back and then this way if you wanted to it's totally up to you. The most important thing is that you're going in and out different parts of the yarn. So once you've done that you can then go ahead and snip off that yarn and then you just want to tuck in that end into your work and then you would do the same with the other yarn. Now because this is over here I would be tempted to pull this into the same colour yarn and run it through this way so that it's nice and disguised otherwise if you're going through the purple you're going to be able to see that. So exactly the same with every single end you're going to weave those in and there you would have your finished blanket. So now you should have your quick and easy baby blanket it's such a stunning result I absolutely love this one I just think it's really fun it feels beautiful and it's really quick and easy to do. Don't forget to check out the blog post that goes with this video to give you all the information you need including extra tips and the information on changing colours. If you like this video don't forget to give me a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe to keep up to date with all of my latest videos, share with your friends if you think they would love to make this too. Thank you so much for watching and I shall see you again next time, bye!