How many chains for a blanket? By width, yarn and stitch

Stitches across, by width, yarn and stitch

Find your width in the table, then the column for your yarn and stitch. The figures are stitches across the blanket body. Your foundation chain is that number plus the turning chain: usually one extra for double crochet and two or three for treble. Attic24’s Cosy Stripe chains 198 and ends up with 196 trebles, counting the turning chain as a stitch. Jera’s Jamboree’s Snowberry chains 117 for 116 double crochet.

Then round to the pattern’s stitch multiple. The Cosy Stripe needs a multiple of 3, the Granny Stripe a multiple of 3 plus 2, Marlowe adds width in multiples of 11 and Galana works in multiples of 40. The widths labelled with a blanket size match the sizes in our guide to how much yarn a blanket needs.

Where the figures come from

We opened 34 blanket patterns, most of them free, from Jera’s Jamboree, Catherine Crochets, Attic24, Sunflower Cottage Crochet and several other designers, and copied the tension each designer states. Where it was given over 4 inches, we divided by 10.16cm. Four patterns gave no tension, so we divided the starting chain by the finished width instead. Those are marked with an asterisk, and they run slightly low because a finished width includes the border.

HazelLoop hasn’t made these blankets. The figures are the designers’ own, and each pattern is linked below. Each column uses the lowest and highest figure in its group, so the table shows the real spread rather than an average.

Don’t take the number from the yarn label

Stylecraft’s page for Special DK gives a tension of 22 stitches and 30 rows to 10cm, listed beside a 4mm needle size (it gives a 4mm hook size too). The page doesn’t say which craft the figure is for, but it’s a knitting tension: 30 rows to 10cm is knitted fabric, and Jera’s Jamboree’s Beach Day gets 20 rows to 10cm in DK double crochet. Used for a 120cm blanket, 22 stitches gives 264, more than any DK pattern we found, even in double crochet.

The same goes for Special Aran, listed at 18 stitches with 5mm needles, and Special Chunky, at 14 stitches with 6mm needles. For all three, the yarn-page figure gives more stitches than the crochet patterns we checked. Use a crochet pattern’s tension, or your own swatch.

UK and US stitch names change the count

A UK double crochet is a US single crochet. A UK treble is a US double crochet, and a UK half treble is a US half double. Jera’s Jamboree prints this conversion with her patterns, and Catherine Crochets spells it out in her Easy Moss Stitch pattern. This page uses UK names, with the US name in brackets.

It matters for chain counts because the two stitches differ in width. In our DK group, double crochet ran 16.6 to 19.7 stitches per 10cm and treble 13 to 18. If you read a US pattern’s ‘double crochet’ as a UK one, you’ll pick the wrong column and start with too many chains.

Granny stitch takes about the same chain as treble

Granny rows are built from three-treble clusters, so they sit close to a treble fabric. The cleanest comparison is Attic24’s. Her Cosy Stripe and Granny Stripe are both Stylecraft Special DK on a 4mm hook, both 120cm wide. One starts with 198 chains, the other with 200.

Catherine Crochets’ Alma, a spiked granny in Hayfield Bonus DK, gives 15 stitches per 10cm, inside the DK treble range. So for a granny stripe, use the treble column and round to the pattern’s multiple. For granny squares the chain count doesn’t apply. The granny-square planner works from the size of one finished square instead.

Why the spread is wide, and why a swatch settles it

DK treble runs from 13 stitches per 10cm in Catherine Crochets’ cotton Vita blanket to 18 in Jera’s Jamboree’s Marlowe. At 120cm that’s 156 against 216 chains, 60 stitches apart. Hook size, fibre, stitch pattern and how tightly you crochet all move the figure, and many of these designers say gauge isn’t critical for a blanket.

So make a swatch at least 15cm wide in your yarn, hook and stitch. Count the stitches across 10cm, then multiply by your width in centimetres and divide by 10. At 16 stitches per 10cm, a 120cm blanket needs 192 stitches, plus the turning chain. Attic24 suggests a second check: work three rows, then measure across before going further.

Borders, tight chains and chunky yarn

If your target width includes a border, take the border off first. Jera’s Jamboree’s Amberlight is 44 inches wide including its border and starts with 157 chains: 14.0 per 10cm against a stated tension of 14.8. Twilight Haven shows the same thing, 11.9 per 10cm of finished width against 12.8.

A foundation chain worked tighter than the rows pulls the bottom edge in. Attic24 says that if the first rows bow like a rainbow, the chain is too tight, and suggests going up two hook sizes just for the chain. Jera’s Jamboree’s Mila does exactly that, 6mm for the foundation row and 5mm for the blanket. With chunky and super chunky yarn, each stitch covers more ground. At 6 stitches per 10cm, one stitch is about 1.7cm, so count twice.

Common questions

Sources and scope

• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/crochet-blanket-pattern-beach-day/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/mindful-hands-mosaic-blanket-free-crochet-lap-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/crochet-baby-blanket-pattern-candyfloss-horizon/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/crochet-blanket-free-pattern-galana/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/marlowe-crochet-lap-blanket-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/seaside-dreams-crochet-blanket-free-pattern/
• catherinecrochets.com/snow-storm-blanket/
• catherinecrochets.com/vita-leafy-crochet-blanket-pattern/
• attic24.co.uk/posts/cosy-stripe-blanket/
• catherinecrochets.com/hornbeam-blanket/
• attic24.co.uk/posts/granny-stripe-blanket/
• catherinecrochets.com/alma-spiky-granny-blanket/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/fireside-plaid-blanket-easy-mosaic-crochet-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/free-crochet-mosaic-blanket-pattern-amberlight/
• catherinecrochets.com/easy-moss-stitch-crochet-blanket-a-relaxing-crochet-project-to-snuggle-up-with/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/snowberry-baby-blanket-crochet-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/baby-blanket-crochet-pattern-bunny/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/crochet-blanket-pattern-noughts-crosses/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/free-crochet-lap-blanket-pattern-twilight-haven/
• catherinecrochets.com/big-fish-little-fish-blanket/
• catherinecrochets.com/nephele-crochet-blanket-pattern/
• catherinecrochets.com/winter-love-crochet-blanket/
• catherinecrochets.com/gunther-cosy-tapestry-crochet-blanket/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/mila-cosy-stripe-crochet-blanket-pattern/
• sunflowercottagecrochet.com/relaxing-waves-blanket-easy-and-free-crochet-blanket-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/how-to-crochet-chunky-stripes-throw/
• measuredandstitched.com/tranquil-morning-throw-blanket/
• masonjaryarndesigns.com/easy-bulky-textured-crochet-blanket-free-pattern/
• themoulehole.com/2021/10/07/free-chunky-yarn-crochet-blanket-pattern-midnight-hour-blanket/
• www.handylittleme.com/chunky-crochet-blanket-pattern/
• blackstone-designs.com/sawyers-blanket-crochet-pattern-free-afghan/
• www.acrochetedsimplicity.com/chunky-crochet-blanket-pattern/
• www.mamainastitch.com/forest-lodge-chunky-throw-blanket-crochet-pattern/
• fosbasdesigns.com/easy-crochet-king-size-blanket-for-beginners/
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-dk/
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-aran/
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-chunky/

Sources checked 1 October 2026. Label facts come from the linked references; worked purchase examples and arithmetic are our own illustrations.