Little Squares Knitted Blanket by Julie Harrison: A Complete Guide to This Timeless Project

There is something deeply satisfying about a blanket made from small squares. Each one is its own little accomplishment, a finished thing you can hold in your hand before joining it to the next, and the next, until something warm and substantial and beautiful takes shape beneath your needles. Julie Harrison’s Little Squares Knitted Blanket has captured the hearts of knitters all over the world for exactly this reason. It is approachable without being boring, customizable without being overwhelming, and the finished result is the kind of heirloom piece that gets passed down through families and draped over the backs of sofas for decades.

Whether you are a newer knitter looking for a project that will build your skills, or an experienced maker searching for something meditative and endlessly variable, this blanket deserves a place on your needles. In this guide, we are going to walk through everything you need to know about the Little Squares Knitted Blanket — the pattern’s background, the skills it develops, yarn choices, colour planning, tips for success, and inspiration for making it your own.

Who Is Julie Harrison?

Before diving into the pattern itself, it is worth knowing a little about the designer behind it. Julie Harrison is a British knitting designer whose work is known for its warmth, accessibility, and genuine affection for traditional textile craft. Her patterns have a homespun quality that does not mean unsophisticated — rather, they feel rooted in real knitting life, the kind of crafting that happens on sofas and in kitchen chairs, in waiting rooms and on long train journeys.

Harrison’s designs consistently prove popular because they speak to the reason most people knit in the first place: the pleasure of making something lasting, something useful, something given with love. The Little Squares Knitted Blanket is one of her most beloved patterns, and it is easy to understand why. It strips blanket-making back to its most enjoyable essence — the humble square — and shows just how much beauty can emerge from that simple foundation.

What Is the Little Squares Knitted Blanket?

At its core, this is a modular knitting pattern. You knit a collection of individual squares, each one small enough to complete in a single sitting, and then join them together to create a larger blanket. The squares can be knitted in a single colour or in multiple colours, in a variety of simple stitch patterns, or consistently in one texture throughout. Once you have enough squares, you sew or join them into a grid, creating the finished blanket.

The genius of this approach is that it removes the biggest psychological hurdle of blanket knitting: the endless back-and-forth on enormous needles with a heavy, growing piece in your lap. Instead of knitting one vast, unwieldy project, you knit dozens of small, cheerful, portable ones. Each square is a micro-project, and finishing each one gives you a small dopamine hit that keeps motivation high across the entire project.

It is also a pattern that is extraordinarily forgiving of a mixed yarn stash. Because each square stands alone, you can introduce a new colour or yarn weight without worrying too much about whether you have enough of any single skein to complete a large section. This makes it an ideal stash-buster, a project beloved by knitters who have accumulated large quantities of leftover yarn and want to turn that abundance into something cohesive and beautiful.

Skills You Will Use and Develop

One of the things that makes the Little Squares Knitted Blanket such a valuable pattern for knitters at a range of skill levels is the breadth of techniques it naturally incorporates. Here is a look at what you will be working with.

Cast-on and cast-off confidence. Because you are starting and finishing a new square each time, you will cast on and cast off dozens of times over the course of the project. This repetition builds genuine confidence and speed with these fundamental techniques, which then carries over into every future project you attempt.

Tension consistency. Knitting many squares in the same pattern is an excellent exercise in maintaining consistent tension. As the project progresses, most knitters find that their squares become more uniform, which is a natural and satisfying measure of skill development.

Colour management. If you choose to knit the squares in multiple colours — which is where the blanket truly shines — you will develop an intuitive sense of how colours interact, how much contrast works well, and how to plan a palette that reads beautifully across a large surface area.

Seaming and finishing. Joining the squares is its own skill, and the Little Squares blanket gives you plenty of practice at it. Whether you use mattress stitch, a crochet slip-stitch join, or whip stitch, you will become comfortable with seaming in a way that standalone projects rarely allow.

Basic stitch patterns. The squares lend themselves to simple stitch textures — garter stitch, seed stitch, moss stitch, simple rib, and basic lace if you want to push a little further. Working through these over the course of the project adds real depth to your technical vocabulary.

Choosing Your Yarn

Yarn choice can make or break a modular blanket, and the Little Squares Knitted Blanket gives you a great deal of freedom here. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Weight matters for consistency. If you plan to knit all your squares in the same yarn weight, your squares will join neatly and your blanket will lie flat. The most popular choices for this pattern are DK weight and aran weight yarns, both of which give a satisfying fabric density without being too stiff or too floppy.

Fibre content affects durability. For a blanket that will be used regularly — thrown over a sofa, wrapped around a baby, pulled out on cold evenings — a fibre blend that includes some nylon or a hardwearing wool will outlast a more delicate pure merino. That said, for a display piece or an adult’s throw, pure wool or a wool-alpaca blend creates an exceptionally luxurious result.

Washability is worth considering. A superwash wool or an acrylic-wool blend makes the finished blanket far easier to care for, particularly if it is intended as a baby gift. Many knitters default to Paintbox Yarns Simply DK or Stylecraft Special DK for this pattern precisely because both are machine washable, widely available, and come in an enormous range of colours.

Stash yarn is welcome here. If you are using a variety of yarns from your stash, try to keep the weight consistent even if the fibre content varies. A square of 100% wool sitting alongside a square of acrylic may block differently and affect the way the finished blanket lies. Swatching a few squares together early in the project will tell you quickly whether your planned yarn mix is going to work.

Planning Your Colour Palette

Colour planning is one of the most enjoyable parts of embarking on this blanket, and it is also where many knitters spend a surprising amount of time before casting on their first stitch. There is no wrong approach, but a few frameworks tend to produce especially pleasing results.

A limited palette of three to five colours allows for enormous variation in the arrangement of the squares while maintaining a cohesive overall look. Try choosing one neutral (a cream, grey, or natural), one or two mid-tones, and one accent colour that appears less frequently and adds a point of visual interest.

A gradient palette, moving from one colour at one end of the blanket to another at the opposite end, creates a stunning visual effect that looks complex but requires very simple planning. Lay out your yarn skeins in order before you begin, assign each to a row or a section of rows, and knit accordingly.

A scrappy, random palette using every leftover yarn in your stash produces a blanket with enormous charm and a folk-art quality that many knitters find deeply appealing. The key to making a random palette work is to distribute colours evenly across the blanket so that no single colour clusters in one area, which you can do by laying out finished squares on the floor before seaming and shuffling them until the arrangement pleases you.

How to Knit the Squares

The basic square in this pattern is straightforward. You cast on a set number of stitches — the exact number will depend on your yarn weight and needle size, so your gauge swatch will tell you what you need — and then knit in your chosen stitch pattern until the piece is as tall as it is wide. Cast off, weave in your ends, and you have a square.

The meditative quality of this process is genuinely hard to overstate. Once you have knitted your first two or three squares and found your rhythm, the work moves almost automatically. Your hands know what to do. Your mind is free to wander, to listen to a podcast or an audiobook or music, to have a conversation, to simply rest in the repetitive pleasure of the craft.

If you want to add texture variation to your blanket, you can assign different stitch patterns to different squares or different rows of squares. Garter stitch — where every row is knitted — produces a ridged, slightly squishy texture and is perhaps the easiest option. Seed stitch, alternating knit and purl stitches in a checkerboard arrangement, creates a beautiful pebbled texture and is not much more difficult. Stockinette is possible but tends to curl at the edges if not bordered, so if you want a smooth look, a garter or seed stitch border of a few stitches on each side will keep the square flat.

Joining the Squares

Once you have knitted all your squares — and this is the milestone that feels genuinely enormous when it arrives — it is time to join them. There are several methods, each with its own aesthetic and structural qualities.

Mattress stitch is an invisible seaming technique worked with a tapestry needle and a length of matching yarn. It creates a flat, neat join that almost disappears into the fabric, which is ideal if you want the squares themselves to be the visual focus without any seam lines drawing the eye.

Whip stitch is faster and creates a visible line at the join, which can be used decoratively by working it in a contrasting colour. This adds a graphic element to the blanket that some knitters love.

A crochet slip-stitch join is quick, strong, and produces a slightly raised ridge on either the right or wrong side of the blanket, depending on which direction you work it. If you enjoy crochet even a little, this is a satisfying and efficient method.

Whatever method you choose, join your squares into rows first, then join the rows together. This keeps the work manageable and ensures your seams are straight. Lay the finished blanket flat and block it before using — this step evens out any tension inconsistencies between squares and gives the finished piece a professional, polished look.

Tips for Staying Motivated Across a Long Project

A blanket is a commitment. Even with the modular approach making it more manageable than most, the Little Squares Knitted Blanket involves knitting a significant number of individual pieces before the whole comes together. Here are some strategies that experienced blanket knitters rely on to keep momentum high.

Set small goals rather than thinking about the finished blanket. Tell yourself you will knit five squares this week, not that you will finish the entire blanket. Five squares is achievable. The entire blanket is a distant abstraction.

Keep your squares in a visible place. A basket of finished squares on a coffee table or beside your knitting chair is a constant, tangible record of your progress. It is deeply motivating to see that basket fill up over time.

Create a layout on the floor or on a large flat surface periodically. Arranging your squares into something that resembles the finished blanket — even when it is only half done — gives you a preview of the finished object and reminds you viscerally why you started.

Share your progress. Whether with friends in person, in a knitting group, or online through a project journal on Ravelry or social media, sharing your squares as they accumulate builds accountability and often brings in encouragement that carries you through slower weeks.

Gifting the Little Squares Blanket

A handknitted blanket is one of the most personal and meaningful gifts a knitter can give. The time investment involved in this project makes it particularly fitting for life’s significant moments — the birth of a baby, a wedding, a significant birthday, a housewarming. The Little Squares Knitted Blanket, with its ability to incorporate personal colour choices, initials or simple motifs worked into individual squares, and even yarn with sentimental meaning, can be made uniquely specific to the recipient in a way few other gifts can match.

If you are knitting this blanket as a baby gift, choose a soft, washable yarn and opt for gently contrasting colours rather than very high contrast, as softer colour combinations tend to produce the warmest, most welcoming result. If you are knitting it as a throw for a friend’s sitting room, asking about their colour palette at home is a small act of consideration that will mean the finished blanket integrates beautifully into their space and gets used every day rather than folded away in a cupboard.

Making It Your Own

The beauty of any modular pattern is its hospitality to personalisation, and the Little Squares Knitted Blanket is no exception. Once you understand the basic structure, you can introduce all kinds of variations. Some knitters add squares worked in simple colourwork or Fair Isle patterns. Others incorporate squares in different sizes to create a more complex layout, with larger squares flanked by four smaller ones. Some add a wide garter stitch border in a single colour once all the squares are joined, which frames the blanket beautifully and adds a sense of intentional design to what might otherwise be a purely patchwork aesthetic.

You can also adjust the overall scale of the blanket simply by changing the number of squares you make. A smaller version with fewer squares makes an ideal lap blanket or a generous baby blanket. A larger version with many more squares becomes a full-size bed throw. The pattern scales in both directions without any complicated maths.

Final Thoughts

The Little Squares Knitted Blanket by Julie Harrison is not the kind of pattern that demands a great deal of technical sophistication. What it asks instead is time, attention, and a willingness to find joy in repetition. It asks you to trust that many small things, added together steadily and with care, can become something truly beautiful. That is not just a description of a knitting project. It is a fairly good description of how the best things in life tend to get made.

If you have been looking for a blanket project that will not defeat you, that will grow visibly and satisfyingly with every session you give it, that will become something you are genuinely proud to have made — this is the one. Cast on your first square, and see where it takes you.