How to Knit a Colour Block Garter Stitch Chevron Blanket [Free Written Pattern & Video Tutorial!]

If you’ve been scrolling through yarn stores or Instagram feeds lately, you’ve probably noticed that chevron blankets are having a major moment — and for good reason. There’s something endlessly satisfying about those zigzag peaks and valleys, the way they transform a flat piece of knitting into something that looks almost architectural. Add colour blocking into the mix and you’ve got a project that feels bold, modern, and completely show-stopping, even though the technique itself is surprisingly approachable for knitters of all levels.

This free written pattern from Snufflebean Yarn will walk you through every step of creating your very own Colour Block Garter Stitch Chevron Blanket. Whether you’re a beginner who’s just mastered the knit stitch or an experienced knitter looking for a satisfying weekend project, this blanket is designed to be friendly, flexible, and genuinely fun to make. We’ve also put together a full video tutorial to go alongside this written pattern, so you can switch between reading and watching whenever you need a bit of extra guidance.

Let’s get into it.

Why You’ll Love This Pattern

Before we dive into the actual knitting, let’s talk about what makes this particular blanket worth your time and your yarn budget.

First, it uses only garter stitch. That means every single row is a knit row — no purling required. If you can knit, you can make this blanket. The chevron shaping comes not from switching between knit and purl, but from strategic increases and decreases placed at regular intervals across the row. This gives you the gorgeous zigzag effect without any of the complexity that usually comes with it.

Second, the colour blocking approach means you’re working in large, satisfying sections of a single colour before switching. There’s no carrying yarn across the back of your work, no complex intarsia, no stranded colourwork. You simply work through one colour, cut your yarn, join the next, and keep going. It’s deeply meditative knitting in the best possible way.

Third, this blanket is incredibly versatile in terms of size. The written pattern below is designed for a generous lap or throw blanket, but we’ll also explain how to adjust the stitch count so you can go bigger for a bed-sized version or smaller for a cot or baby blanket.

Materials You’ll Need

Yarn: This pattern works beautifully with any chunky or bulky weight yarn (approximately UK chunky / US bulky, weight 5 or 6). For the blanket as written, you’ll need roughly 400–500 metres per colour, depending on how many colours you choose. A wool or wool-blend yarn will give you the best stitch definition and drape, but an acrylic or cotton blend will also work well, especially if the blanket is intended for a baby or for someone with wool sensitivity.

At Snufflebean Yarn, we love using our Snufflebean Chunky for this project — it’s a single-ply, squishy, British-inspired yarn that knits up with gorgeous stitch definition and comes in a beautiful range of colours that are practically made for colour blocking.

Needles: 6mm (US 10) straight needles or a long circular needle (if your stitch count is high). A circular needle used flat is always a good choice for blankets because the cord can hold the weight of the project as it grows.

Additional supplies:
A tapestry needle for weaving in ends, scissors, and stitch markers (optional, but helpful when you’re first getting the hang of the increase and decrease placement).

Gauge: Approximately 14 stitches and 28 rows to 10cm / 4 inches in garter stitch on 6mm needles. As with most blankets, gauge doesn’t need to be precise — a slightly looser or tighter gauge will simply give you a slightly larger or smaller blanket. Just make sure your fabric isn’t so loose it’s gappy or so tight it feels stiff.

Understanding Chevron Shaping in Garter Stitch

If you’re new to chevron knitting, it helps to understand the logic behind the shaping before you start, because once it clicks, you’ll find the pattern practically memorises itself.

A chevron is created by working regular increases (which add stitches and push the fabric upward into a peak) and decreases (which remove stitches and pull the fabric downward into a valley). In this pattern, each chevron repeat is 20 stitches wide. At the centre of each repeat, you’ll work a double increase — knitting into the front, back, and front of a single stitch to create two extra stitches and form the peak. At the point where two repeats meet, you’ll work a double decrease — slipping two stitches together as if to knit, knitting the next stitch, then passing the two slipped stitches over — to remove two stitches and form the valley.

Because the increases and decreases are worked in perfect balance, your stitch count stays the same on every row. This is what keeps your blanket flat and even rather than growing or shrinking unexpectedly. It’s an elegant piece of knitting mathematics, and once you see it working in your hands, it’s genuinely delightful.

Abbreviations

Here are the abbreviations used in this pattern:

k — knit
kfbf — knit into the front, back, and front of the same stitch (double increase, creates 2 extra stitches)
sl2tog-k1-p2sso — slip 2 stitches together knitwise, knit 1 stitch, pass both slipped stitches over the knitted stitch (double decrease, removes 2 stitches)
rep — repeat
st(s) — stitch(es)
RS — right side
WS — wrong side
CO — cast on
BO — bind off / cast off

The Pattern

Cast On

For this blanket, cast on a multiple of 20 stitches, plus 3 extra stitches for the selvedge edges. The written pattern below uses 123 stitches (which gives you 6 full chevron repeats), but you can adjust up or down in multiples of 20.

Using your preferred cast-on method, CO 123 sts. A long-tail cast on is recommended as it gives a neat, stretchy edge that sits beautifully alongside the garter stitch fabric.

Setting Up

Before you begin the main chevron row, work 4 rows of plain garter stitch (knit every row). This creates a neat border at the bottom of your blanket and gives you a chance to settle into the rhythm of the yarn and needles.

Row 1–4: Knit to end.

Main Chevron Row (Worked on Every Row)

This is the only row you need to remember. In garter stitch, because every row is a knit row, you work the same chevron row on both the right side and the wrong side, which means there’s truly no wrong row to get distracted on.

Row (RS and WS): K3, sl2tog-k1-p2sso, k7, kfbf, k7; rep from to last 3 sts, end k3.

Let’s break that down:

• K3: These are your three selvedge stitches at the beginning of every row, creating a tidy garter stitch border on the left edge.
• Sl2tog-k1-p2sso: This is the double decrease that forms the valley of your chevron.
• K7: Seven plain knit stitches on one side of the peak.
• Kfbf: This is the double increase that forms the peak of your chevron.
• K7: Seven plain knit stitches on the other side of the peak.
• The repeat runs across all the chevron sections.
• End k3: Three more selvedge stitches to mirror the beginning of the row.

Repeat this row until your colour section reaches the desired depth, then change colour.

Colour Blocking

For the blanket shown in our tutorial, we worked seven colour sections, each approximately 20 rows deep (though you can absolutely vary the depth of each section to use up specific amounts of yarn, or to create asymmetry, which looks wonderfully intentional and modern).

To change colour: At the end of your last row in the current colour, cut the yarn leaving a tail of approximately 15cm. Join your new colour at the beginning of the next row by simply tying a loose slip knot around the working yarn with the new colour, leaving a 15cm tail, and beginning to knit. You’ll weave in both tails neatly with your tapestry needle when the blanket is finished.

Because garter stitch has such a lovely, ridged texture, yarn joins are almost invisible when woven in with care. We recommend weaving each tail through at least 5–6 stitches horizontally and then doubling back slightly to secure.

Suggested Colour Sequence

There are no rules here, and that’s part of the joy. But if you want a starting point, here are a few colour combinations we love:

For a warm, earthy palette, try terracotta, oat, rust, ochre, and warm grey in alternating sections. For a cool Scandi-inspired look, consider pairing soft sage, dusty blue, warm white, muted teal, and stone. For something bolder, a high-contrast palette of mustard, deep navy, burnt orange, cream, and forest green makes for a blanket that genuinely stops people in their tracks.

Whatever you choose, we suggest laying your yarn choices out next to each other before you begin and auditioning a few different arrangements. Even if you’re working with colours you love individually, the order you place them in makes a significant difference to the overall rhythm and feel of the finished piece.

Border

Once you’ve completed all your colour sections and you’re happy with the length of your blanket, it’s time to work the top border to match the bottom.

Work 4 rows of plain garter stitch (knit every row), then bind off all stitches loosely. We recommend binding off using a needle one size larger than your working needles, or using a stretchy bind-off method such as the Russian bind-off, to ensure the top edge has the same elasticity as your cast-on edge.

Sizing Options

Baby / Cot Blanket: Cast on 63 stitches (3 full chevron repeats). Work as above in your preferred colour sequence. This size works wonderfully in a lighter weight yarn — simply switch to a DK weight yarn and 4mm needles, adjusting gauge as needed.

Lap / Throw Blanket (pattern as written): 123 stitches, 6 repeats.

Large Throw / Sofa Blanket: Cast on 163 stitches (8 full chevron repeats) and increase the depth of each colour section to around 30 rows. You’ll need significantly more yarn for this size — plan for approximately 600–700 metres per colour.

Bed Runner: Cast on 83 stitches (4 full chevron repeats) and work the blanket much longer, with more colour sections. This makes a wonderful decorative piece for the foot of a bed.

Video Tutorial

We know that written patterns and video tutorials serve different learning styles, and we firmly believe that every knitter deserves to find their preferred way of understanding a technique. Our full video tutorial for the Colour Block Garter Stitch Chevron Blanket is available on the Snufflebean Yarn YouTube channel, and we walk through every single step — from the cast on and the first chevron row to joining a new colour and finishing your blanket beautifully.

In the video, we also demonstrate the kfbf double increase and the sl2tog-k1-p2sso double decrease up close, so if you’ve never worked these stitches before, you can watch exactly what the needle placement looks like before trying it yourself. We recommend watching the relevant section of the video alongside your first few rows, and then switching to just the written pattern once you’ve found your rhythm.

Tips for Success

Use stitch markers. When you’re first learning the pattern, place a stitch marker after each chevron repeat so you can easily see where each peak and valley should fall. Once you can read your knitting and recognise where you are in the pattern, you likely won’t need them anymore.

Count your stitches regularly. Because the increases and decreases are supposed to perfectly cancel each other out, a mistake in either direction will throw your count off. Get into the habit of counting every 10 rows or so, especially at the beginning. If your count is off, it’s much easier to find and fix the error sooner rather than later.

Don’t worry about tight joins. When you join a new colour, the yarn often feels slightly loose or uneven at the very first stitch. This usually disappears after you’ve worked a few rows. If it still looks loose when the blanket is finished, a damp block (wet blocking or steam blocking) can work wonders for evening out the tension at colour change points.

Embrace the selvedge. Those three knit stitches at the beginning and end of every row serve an important purpose: they keep your edges tidy and prevent the slight rolling or curling that can happen at the edge of a garter stitch piece. Don’t skip them, even when you feel like the pattern might be telling you to.

Blocking makes everything better. When your blanket is finished, wet blocking it (soaking it in cool water, gently pressing out the excess moisture in a towel, then laying it flat to dry) will relax the stitches, even out any minor tension inconsistencies, and really open up the chevron shapes. The difference between an unblocked and blocked chevron blanket is genuinely remarkable.

Gifting and Sharing Your Make

This blanket makes a spectacular gift. It’s the kind of handmade object that people keep for years — the sort of thing that gets draped across the back of every sofa and pulled out on cold evenings without a second thought. Because you can customise the colour palette so completely, it’s also deeply personal in a way that a bought gift never quite manages to be.

If you make this blanket, we’d absolutely love to see it. Share your finished project on Instagram using the hashtag #SnufflebeanChevron, or tag us at @SnufflebeanYarn. We share our favourite community makes in our stories and on our website, and there is genuinely nothing we love more than seeing the creative colour choices our knitters come up with.

You’re also welcome to sell finished items made from this pattern. We just ask that you credit Snufflebean Yarn as the pattern designer and don’t reproduce or distribute the written pattern itself without permission.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a different weight of yarn? Absolutely. Just switch to the appropriate needle size for your chosen yarn and be aware that your finished blanket will be a different size than stated. The chevron structure works at any gauge.

What if my chevrons look uneven or wavy? This usually comes down to tension inconsistencies while you’re first learning the pattern. Don’t panic — blocking will help enormously, and your tension will naturally even out as the stitch pattern becomes more familiar.

I’m getting holes near my increases. Is that normal? A small amount of openness near the kfbf increase is normal and actually adds a lovely decorative detail. If your holes feel overly large, try working the kfbf slightly more tightly, or try working the increase on a smaller needle.

Can I knit this in the round? This specific pattern is written for flat knitting, but with some modification it could be adapted for circular knitting. This is a more advanced adaptation and isn’t covered in this tutorial — we recommend working flat as written.

Final Thoughts

The Colour Block Garter Stitch Chevron Blanket is one of those projects that manages to look far more impressive than the effort involved in making it — which is precisely why we love it so much. You’re working only the knit stitch, in a pattern that practically memorises itself within the first couple of rows, and what you end up with is something that looks considered, crafted, and genuinely beautiful.

Whether you’re making it for yourself as a long-overdue treat, creating a gift for someone you love, or challenging yourself to use up a stash of odds and ends in a colour palette you’ve always dreamed about, we hope this pattern brings you hours of happy knitting.

As always, if you get stuck at any point, leave a comment below or drop us a message — we’re always happy to help. And don’t forget to head over to YouTube to watch the full video tutorial alongside this written pattern.

Happy knitting from all of us at Snufflebean Yarn. We can’t wait to see what you make.