Crochet, Pattern, Video tutorial

Bavarian Buster Blanket – Free Crochet Pattern

Your response to my Bavarian Buster Blanket has been overwhelming! I didn’t think much of my scrappy blanket in which I used a lot of random DK yarn, but you all loved it so much that I made haste with getting the free pattern and video tutorial online. And I finally worked away those last yarn tails! Here you find all the information you need to make your very own, king-sized Bavarian Buster Blanket.

Resources

Materials

2600g of Double Knit (DK) yarn, this is equivalent to 26 full balls of most DK yarns. I used odd balls, half balls, different yarn types and random shades and amounts. All the yarn I used was either left over from other projects, or odd balls that I had no purpose for. I encourage you to use random yarn from your stash and leftover balls, so that you use that yarn that you don’t want to throw away, but don’t have a purpose for either. My colors are different shades of red, pink, purple, green, blue, and even brown and black.

Main Color (MC) – 500g of one color of DK yarn for the final round of the squares, the join and the border. I used 5 balls of Scheepjes Color Crafter Velvet in the color Taylor (842).
UPDATE: Scheepjes Colour Crafter Velvet is no longer available. A good replacement yarn in Scheepjes Colour Crafter in a blue shade.

Scheepjes Colour Crafter is available in over 90 colors from Wool Warehouse (UK/Int), Jimmy Beans Wools (USA), The Knitting Network, Caro’s Atelier (NL/EU) or your local Scheepjes stockist.

4.0mm (US 6) hook

Abbreviations

This pattern uses US terms

ch                        chain
ch-sp                  chain space
bptr4tog           four back post trebles worked together
bptr8tog           eight back post trebles worked together
hdc                      half double crochet
sc                         single crochet
ss                         slip stitch
tr                         treble crochet
tr4tog                 four trebles worked together
st(s)                    stitch(es)

Size

The final size of the blanket is 200cm x 250cm.
The blanket consists of 20 squares which measure 50cm x 50cm each.

Video

To help you every step of the way, I have a full video tutorial showing how to make the blanket. You can find the LEFT HANDED and RIGHT HANDED videos here:

Notes and Tips

The slip stitches and chain stitches (ch5 and ch2) given in the pattern are not added to the stitch counts at the end of every round. This is to make the pattern less cluttered and to make it easier for you to count your stitch groups.

The squares are reasonably large, and hence the blanket requires a lot of yarn. You can easily make the squares smaller by omitting rounds 15 to 18, or even rounds 13 to 18. Continue with rounds 19 and 20 when you feel the square is as large as you want it to be. Finish the rest of the blanket as described in the pattern.

The border is optional. If you run out of main color yarn, you can easily omit the border rounds.

If you are using many random balls of yarn which are all partially used, use a yarn winder to cake them up before starting on the project. This will help you to keep your project bag neat.


Bavarian Buster Blanket – Free Crochet Pattern

Squares

Make 20 squares for a blanket with 4 x 5 squares.

Round 1 With a random color, ch6, ss in first ch to form a ring, *ch5, tr4tog in the ring, ch5, ss in the ring; repeat from * 3 more times. Join with ss to the base of the beginning ch5. Fasten off.
[4 tr4tog]

Round 2 Attach a random color yarn with ss in the ring covering the ss already there,*ch2, 12tr in next tr4tog, ch2, ss in ring; repeat from * 3 more times. Join with ss in the base of the beginning ch2. Fasten off.
[4 12tr groups]

Round 3 With a new color, attach yarn with ss between 4th and 5th tr of any 12tr-group, *ch5, 1bptr4tog over the next 4 sts, ch5, ss between 8th and 9th tr of current 12tr-group, ch5, 1bptr8tog over next 8 sts, ch5, ss between 4th and 5th tr of next 12tr-group; repeat from * 3 more times. Do not fasten off. 
[4 bptr4tog, 4 bptr8tog]

Round 4 *ch2, 12tr in next bptr4tog, ch2, ss in ss from previous round, ch2, 8tr in next bptr8tog, ch2, ss in ss from previous round; repeat from * 3 more times. Fasten off.
[4 12-tr groups, 4 8tr-groups]

Round 5 With a new color, attach yarn with ss between 4th and 5th tr of any 12tr-group, *ch5, 1bptr4tog over the next 4 sts, ch5, ss between 8th and 9th tr of current 12tr-group, repeat (ch5, 1 bptr8tog over next 8 sts, ch5, ss between 4th and 5th tr of next tr-group) till 12tr-group which is in the corner; repeat from * 3 more times. Do not fasten off.
[4 bptr4tog, 8 bptr8tog]

Round 6 *ch2, 12tr in next bptr4tog, ch2, repeat (ss in ss from previous round, ch2, 8tr in next bptr8tog, ch2, ss in next ss from previous round) till the corner; repeat from * 3 more times. Fasten off.
[4 12-tr groups, 8 8tr-groups]

Round 7 and 8 Repeat rounds 5 and 6 with a different color yarn.
[4 12-tr groups, 12 8tr-groups]

Round 9 and 10 Repeat rounds 5 and 6 with a different color yarn.
[4 12-tr groups, 16 8tr-groups]

Round 11 and 12 Repeat rounds 5 and 6 with a different color yarn.
[4 12-tr groups, 20 8tr-groups]

Round 13 and 14 Repeat rounds 5 and 6 with a different color yarn.
[4 12-tr groups, 24 8tr-groups]

Round 15 and 16 Repeat rounds 5 and 6 with a different color yarn.
[4 12-tr groups, 28 8tr-groups]

Round 17 and 18 Repeat round 5 and 6 with a different color yarn.
[4 12-tr groups, 32 8tr-groups]

Round 19 Repeat round 5 with Main Color yarn.
[4 bptr4tog, 36 bptr8tog]

Round 20 4sc in next ch5-sp, *3sc in next bptr4tog (this is the corner stitch), repeat (4sc in next ch5-sp) 20 times; repeat from * 3 more times, omitting final 4 sc, close on first sc with ss. Fasten off.
[328 sc, 4 corner sc]

Each square is about 50cm x 50cm.

Join

Using Main Color yarn, use a join of your choice. The join given here is the join used in the sample, which is a single crochet join, with the joining stitches on the front of the blanket. Join the squares in a random pattern, aligned as 4 rows (horizontal) and 5 columns (vertical).

Attach two squares with the wrong sides facing, sc through each corresponding stitch on both squares starting in the corner stitch of each square. Work a sc through each stitch till the corner stitch at the end of the first edge. Proceed to join the second set of squares, repeating till 4 squares are joined in the horizontal direction. Repeat by adding the other rows to the blanket.

Finish the joining by repeating the joins in the vertical direction. The corner sc stitch of the squares will contain a stitch from both joining directions.

Optional Border

Round 1 With main color, attach in any corner st (this is the 2nd of the 3 sc worked in the bptr4tog) with a ss, ch1 (does not count as a st), 3sc in same corner st, *1sc in next st till the next corner st, 3sc in corner st (the second st is the new corner st); repeat from * to end, omitting final 3 st, close with ss to first st.
[336 sc, 4 corner sc]

Round 2 ss to next corner st, ch2 (does not count as a st), *5hdc in corner st, 1hdc in next st till the next corner; repeat from * to end, close with ss on first st. Fasten off.
[352 hdc, 4 corner hdc]

Finishing

Work away all yarn tails. For best results, wash and block your blanket. The blanket is large and heavy, and will start to sag over time.


My Bavarian Buster Blanket is a much-loved blanket in my house, it is used every single day. My boys use it when they watch TV in the morning, they snuggle under it in their pajama’s, no matter what the weather it. Even my old tomcat Jack enjoys the blanket.

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If you are making something with one of my patterns or one of my videos, I would love to see your work. Use the hashtag #itsallinanutshell on Instagram to help me find it, share your work in my It’s all in a Nutshell Crochet Nuts group on Facebook or tag me in one of your posts.

With love,
Esther

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6 thoughts on “Bavarian Buster Blanket – Free Crochet Pattern”

  1. This is a beautiful afghan. I haven’t made a bavarian stitch anything yet so I am eager to try this – and I hope to keep this one – GORGEOUS. Thank you.

  2. Thanks for the great stash buster pattern! I always have the same issue with stash-busters, which is the fact that my yarn size is so varied. Is there a good way (that isn’t trial-and-error) to adjust for this when using such a pattern as this one?

    Thanks for your input!

  3. My Bavarian Buster Blanket continues. The first few blocks took me longer to choose the yarn than to complete–I have so much difficulty being random. In this uncertain world, I needed to actualize, trusting the process and faith that all is well in my life. I listed and numbered my yarns. I use a random number generator to not only choose my colors but the order in which they appear in the block. Naturally there are combinations that I would never put together but I trust the process and keep on hooking! The universal color palette makes it all come together. Today I begin block 10!

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