Loopy Yarn Doll Blankets

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Loop yarn, or finger knit yarn, where the yarn has preformed loops has been around for a while now and pretty much every yarn brand has their own version (or sometimes several different versions). It is really easy to use, easy enough that it is a great option for kids who want to try their hand at making something with yarn.

I have one daughter in particular who is always asking me to teach her to knit (which I don't even really do very well) or crochet. We have worked on a few simple things together but two of the things that have worked the best for her age have been loop yarn and hat looms.

Last year I helped her use the loop yarn to make some little blankets and pillows for her dolls. I always intended to post them here but it never happened. When I was making the little animals that I shared in my last post that were also for her dolls, It made me think about the little blankets we made and I thought it was time to revisit and share them.

She loved that she was able to make her dolls blankets all by herself. The first row could be a little tricky for her to start on her own but for the most part she was able to do it all herself. She even made a pillow by making a rectangle that instead of leaving flat like the blankets, we folded in half and stitched around the edges and stuffed.

You can use any kind of loop yarn to make these and the technique is the same. One of the yarns we used (the pink and the purple blankets) was a sort of braided type yarn, a lot less fuzzy than the other. It is called Loops by Loops and Threads and was available at Micheals. The fluffier multicolor yarn is Red Heart Loop It, it has a more chenille like texture similar to blanket yarns. Other similar yarns include Bernat Alize Blanket EZ, Big Twist Loopy Loops, Lion Brand Off the Hook, and I am sure there are more.

You can also easily make it any size for any doll. We made a tiny one for a Barbie, and larger ones for baby dolls and 18 inch dolls.

How to Make Loopy Yarn Doll Blankets

You will need:

• Loop Yarn (Loop by Loops and Threads, Red Heart Loop It, Bernat Alize Blanket EZ, Lion Brand Off the Hook, etc.)
• Scissors
• Yarn Needle with Large Eye

Instructions:

Remove the band from your ball of yarn and find the end you will begin working with. 

If you look closely at the bottom of the loops you will see that they are stitched together with a small thread. To begin clip the thread at the bottom of the first two loops. This will give you a tail to weave in to secure your yarn. 

Lay out the loops in a line and determine how many loops you need to get the width of your blanket. For the larger blanket we used 20 loops and for the smaller one we used 12, but this may be different for you because some brands of yarn seem to have the loops closer together than others so 20 loops in one brand may be wider than 20 loops in another. You can use any number of loops, just determine now how many loops that will be. 

For these instructions I will use a width of 20 loops to explain the technique. 

If you were using 20 loops you would lay out your yarn flat in front of you, the tail you created by cutting the thread between the first 2 loops is the starting end, the loop after that would be loop 1, count to loop 20 and that will be the last loop in the first row.

Now take loop 21 (this will be the first loop in the second row), and insert it into loop 20 from behind. 

Take your next loop on your working yarn (loop 22) and insert it into Loop 19, and continue inserting the next loop of your working yarn into the next loop from row 1 (loop 23 into loop 18, loop 24 into loop 17, and so on) until you reach the end. 

Once you get to the end you will repeat the same thing going in the other direction. 

The easiest way to do this is to keep your blanket laying on a flat surface, then take your working yarn and lay it across the top above your blanket, then work the loops of that row, at the end of the row leave the blanket laying flat but flip the working yarn back across the top of the blanket piece.

Continue adding rows until the blanket is as tall as you want. 

To finish the top edge and work your bind of row you will take your working yarn and insert the first 2 loops as you normally would at the beginning of a row, then take the second of the loops you just worked and pull it through the first, work the third loop in the previous row, then pull it through the second loop. Repeat this across until you have a single loop left at the end. Clip the next couple of loops like you did at the beginning and cut off excess yarn. Pull the tail through the final loop.

Weave in the beginning and ending tails.