The Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket, a beginner-friendly, fast baby blanket made with color-changing cake yarn
It’s that time of year again – it’s Baby Season! Get ahead on those baby shower gifts and stitch up the quick and easy Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket.
There’s something so special about the spring. The trees finally perk back up. I can start to expect more sunny days than gray ones. And I can always look forward to plenty of baby announcements from my friends. This year is no different. My calendar is already filling up with baby showers and due dates. If you’ve got new babes coming along, gift them the Bias Baby Blanket using the pattern below, available for FREE thanks to my friends at JOANN Stores!
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Find a printer-friendly, PDF version of the Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket in my Ravelry Shop and on TLYarnCrafts.com. PDF version includes full-color, 4-page row-by-row instructions.
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Baby blankets are one of my favorite projects to design. It’s a chance for me to try out new yarns and stitch patterns. The past few baby blankets I’ve designed have been for just that. The Sweet Stripes Baby Blanket gave me a chance to bring together three different Tunisian crochet stitch patterns in one project. And the Sweet Gingham Baby Blanket (a FREE pattern with tutorial video!) let me play with color changes in Tunisian crochet and adding a border. The Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket brings in the use of shaping in Tunisian crochet by using increases and decreases.
The idea for the Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket came from all of the lovely crochet corner-to-corner crochet projects that pop up in my Pinterest feed daily. I love the idea of working projects on the bias but have yet to do that on a design of my own.
The Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket starts with just 3 stitches and grows by two stitches each row to the center. Then I incorporate decreases to bring the blanket back to 3 stitches and finish off. Click here for my Tunisian crochet beginner tutorial series.
Love them or hate them, cake yarns have become popular in the crochet community. Just about every big yarn brand has them and you can find them in every fiber, yarn weight, and color there is. I’m still on the fence when it comes to cake yarn, but I think there are some good uses for them (like my Fresh Market Tote Bag).
I wanted to use cake yarn for my project but didn’t want it to *look* like I was using cake yarn. I chose Premier DK Colors, which I found at my local JOANN store. DK colors yarn results in broad bands of color and they have some of the best color combinations I’ve seen offered. For the Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket, I held two strands of the Strata colorway together throughout the blanket and ended up with a fabric that looked like a perfect day at the beach!
The Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket, worked in Tunisian crochet, measures over 40” on its longest row. To accommodate all of the stitches you’ll need a Tunisian crochet hook with a cord. My favorite corded hooks are the Denise Interchangeables, found on Amazon, but you can also try these or this one.
The Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket is constructed in Tunisian crochet simple stitch from corner to corner. The blanket starts with just three stitches and grows by evenly increasing on each edge during the forward pass with the use of yarn overs. Once the proper number of rows is achieved, the blanket is decreased, also on the forward pass, until only three stitches remain and a final decrease can be made.
If you’re ready to make your own Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket, keep scrolling for the FREE pattern, or pick up a PDF copy from TLYarnCrafts.com.
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Click here to buy the Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket PDF pattern.
Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket Pattern
FINISHED SIZE: 31” x 31”
MATERIALS:
- 4 balls Premier DK Colors Yarn in the Strata colorway
- US Size L/11 8mm Tunisian crochet hook with cords measuring up to 32” (find my favorite corded Tunisian crochet hooks here!)
- Scissors
- Yarn needle
GAUGE:
4 inches square = 12 stitches x 10 rows
ABBREVIATIONS:
- Ch = chain
- RetP = Return Pass (See Pattern Notes)
- St = stitch
- Tss= Tunisian simple stitch
- Tss2tog = Tunisian simple stitch 2 together
- Tss3tog = Tunisian simple stitch 3 together
- Yo = Yarn over
NOTES:
- Numbers in parenthesis at the end of rows indicates the total number of stitches in that row.
- Portions of this pattern are written in crochet shorthand. For example, “tss 1” means to complete 1 Tunisian simple stitch.
- Traditional Return Pass (RetP): Follow the foundation row and each row with the Traditional Return Pass.
- Traditional Return Pass Instructions: Ch 1, *yarn over, pull through two loops; repeat from * until 1 loop remains on hook.
BLANKET PATTERN
Holding two lengths of yarn together throughout,
Foundation: Ch 3, pull up a loop in the back bump of the 2nd ch from hook and remaining ch, RetP. (3)
Increasing Rows
Row 1: (Yo, tss 1) 2 times, RetP. (5)
Row 2: Yo, tss to last st, yo, tss last st. (7)
Rows 3-58: Repeat Row 2. (121)
Blanket should measure about 31” from Foundation Row to working row along the edge.
Decreasing Rows
Row 59: Tss2tog, tss to last 3 sts (two tss and last st), tss2tog, tss last st. (119)
Rows 60-116: Repeat Row 59. (5)
Row 117: (Tss2tog) 2 times. (3)
Row 118: Insert hook under next st and last st, yo, pull through all loops on hook.
FINISHING
Cut yarn. Weave in all ends. Block lightly if needed.
Share your Bias Tunisian Baby Blanket with me on Instagram using #BiasTunisianBabyBlanket and #TLYCMakers for a chance to be reposted. And be sure to join my Facebook group, TLYCMakers, so we can see your adorable blanket too!
How did you integrate the 2 colours?
You’ll hold two lengths of the color together throughout the project 🙂
Hi there !
I did this with tunisian purl stitch and it looks awesome! I dont like the simple stitch so thats why i did it with a purl twist! Would u like a picture when its finished ?
Greeting from Belgium!
Hi Laura – what a great idea! I’d love to see your project 🙂
i sended you a facebook message 🙂
Please send me an email – [email protected]
Hi Laura! I want to do a simple edge on this blanket. What’s the best way to go about that? Thanks for the pattern!
Hi Paige! I did an article for Bluprint on this exact topic. You can find it here: https://shop.mybluprint.com/crocheting/article/tunisian-crochet-border/
I could have sworn that I saw you had a post on this topic, but I can’t find it for the life of me, so I’m just going to ask! lol. Is there an easy way to figure out what hook size to use when you’re doubling up yarn? I know for Tunisian you’ve recommended going a bit bigger than what the yarn calls for normally, but I never know how to figure out what “normal” would be when the yarn is doubled. Might you have any suggestions?
Great question, Alyssa. I don’t think there’s a hard-and-fast rule on what hook sizes to use when doubling yarn. It will all depend on the gauge you’re trying to achieve. I’d just play around with hook sizes until you get a fabric you like.
Hi there 🙂 I love all your posts and projects. Question, did you need to block this blanket once you finished? I love tunisian but shy away from it due to the curly.
Hi Tammy – great question. I did steam block this blanket when it was done. It curled just a bit along the corners where I started and finished, but a little seam from my iron helped everything lay flat.
Hi Toni,
Can you use only one strand instead of two. If so what size hook would I use?
Thank you Karen
Hi Karen! You sure can use just one strand of yarn for this project. I’d recommend going to a worsted weight yarn and using the same hook size as the original pattern.
Hello Toni – I love this design/pattern. I was wondering if the blanket would call for half of the yarn if only using 1 strand instead of 2 for this pattern (2 balls of Premier DK Colors Yarn instead of 4)? Thank you!
Hi! That does make logical sense. But note that you would also need to adjust your hook size so you didn’t have a holey blanket. So that would impact the yardage as well.
Hi Toni,
I had a question! If I wanted to use this blanket as more of a thrown instead of a baby blanket, do you have a recommendation as to how many more rows I should add? Thank you for the beautiful pattern! ✨
Hi Courtney! If you wanted to go for a throw size, I’d crochet until one of the outside edges measures at least 48 or 50 inches. Then I’d begin decreasing 🙂
Hi, I had this same question. I am a beginner (I learned to crochet years ago but picking it back up). I am interested in making this as a gift but in a larger throw size. Would I double up on the amount of yarn I buy? How would I go about making the pattern throw size in regards to stitch count and rows? Would just getting to the desired outer edge length help.
Hi there! To make this a throw size, you’d just keep crocheting until your outside edges measure the length you want your blanket to be, then you’d start decreasing. You may need to more than double your yarn, as your rows will start to get very long 🙂
I went up in hook size and love the way it looks, all except for the curl! Would a border help or do you have any other ideas?
My recommendation for the curl is to block your blanket. I’ve got a couple of videos on blocking on my YouTube Channel.
Thank you! This blanket is turning out so nice! I love your pattern!
Hi Toni,
If I would make this rectangle which side do you recommend doing the increase on?
Hi! If you want to make this a rectangle, you can make either side the increase. Considering they’ll work up nearly identically, it shouldn’t make too much of a difference.
Hi Tony. I love all your vids and project you put up here. Picking up Tunisian stitch recently and like you said it does get addictive! I’m wanting to do this project, and I’m wondering when you say use two yarn, do you start of at the identical colour point? Or do you miss match? Eg if the colour are (A B C D E) would you go AA,BB-etc or AB,BC,CD. Or have a big gap and did AD,BE. Just wondering where you started with the colour yarns to achieve the beautiful look we see on yours.
Hi! For this blanket, I worked from color changing cakes, so I didn’t have to think so much about which colors to put together – I just let the colors change on their own. If you’re using individual colors, I would use different colors together at all times.
Hi Toni! I can’t wait to work on this project. I do have a question and that is since you held two strands together, is the blanket really thick? I am planning on making this as a gift for someone who lives somewhere warm, would the blanket end up too thick?
I really love how it looks with the two strands together!
Hi! I held two strands together but also used a large hook, which kept the blanket lightweight and comfortable.
I have made this baby blanket 3x this year for friends and I just had to let you know that I love it! I’m a beginner to crochet and your tutorial was so helpful especially when starting each blanket since that was the hardest part for me. The yarn is gorgeous and really does the work for you! Can’t wait to dig in to your site more and see your other tutorials! 🙂
I’m am so glad to hear that you love the pattern – me too! 🙂
Hi Avery! I’ve made this blanket a few times for friends and it definitely is the right amount of warmth! The two strands help hold in the warmth of the blanket but it isn’t bulky at all. I think your friend will love it!
Hi Toni! I’m new to Tunisian crochet and trying to learn through making this blanket (which thanks to your video has been going okay so far!). However, my blanket is curling like nothing’s ever curled before haha – just wondering if I’m doing something wrong. Many thanks! x
Hi! Tunisian crochet is naturally curly. Once you’re done, blocking your blanket will help it lay flat.
First-thank you for the time you put into helping us newbies! I think I may have messed up-I want to make a rectangle. I increased both sides. Should I have not? Should I frog it or can I still make it work? Thank you so much!
Hi! To make this a rectangle, go like this:
Section 1 – increase on both sides to your desired width
Section 2: increase on one side and decrease on the other side to your desired length
Section 3: decrease on both sides to close it up
Hi Toni L! On this Tunisian baby blanket could I use the Tunisian knit stitch (tks)?
I love this blanket!
Hi Gayl,
I am sure that it would be beautiful in the Tunisian Knit Stitch. Make sure to send us pictures!
Love the pattern!
With the two strands, do you match up the colours of both? Or did it not matter?
Hi! Great question. No, I did not attempt to match up the colors. I let them fall wherever they wanted 🙂