Apr
Okay so the XO blanket thing – I made one in spring 2022 when my sister was having her baby and honestly it turned out way better than I expected but also there were moments where I wanted to throw the whole project across the room.
The pattern is basically alternating X’s and O’s, right? Like hugs and kisses. You’re making raised sections that create the letters. The X is made with post stitches that cross over each other and the O is just… well it’s trickier than it sounds actually. People think the O would be easier but getting it to look round and not like a wonky square takes some practice.
I used Red Heart Super Saver in that soft navy color – I think it was called Navy? And then white for the contrast. Some people use fancier yarn but honestly for a baby blanket that’s gonna get puked on and washed a million times, acrylic is your friend. I also made one later with Caron Simply Soft which was nicer to work with because it’s not as squeaky, but the Red Heart one held up better after like a year of actual use.
The Basic Setup Thing
You’re gonna start with a foundation chain. The pattern works in multiples of 8 plus 2 for the border stitches or something like that – honestly I always just chain until it looks about the right width and then count backwards to see if the math works. For a baby blanket I did like 120 chains? Maybe 128. It needs to be divisible properly or your pattern won’t line up at the edges.
First few rows are just regular double crochet to create a border. Nothing fancy. I did about 4 rows of plain DC before starting the actual XO pattern because I wanted a clean edge. You could do more or less depending on what you want.
Making the X Part
The X is where you use front post and back post double crochets. If you don’t know post stitches already you should probably practice those first because they’re essential here. The front post double crochet (FPDC) makes the stitch pop forward, back post (BPDC) pushes it back.
For each X you’re working over like 8 stitches and several rows. The pattern I used had you do FPDC in a diagonal going one way, then the next row you cross back the other direction to create the X shape. It’s actually pretty intuitive once you get going but the first couple X’s look kinda sad and flat.
One thing that really helped – and I didn’t figure this out until I was like halfway through the first blanket – is that you need to pull your post stitches TIGHT. Not so tight you’re warping the fabric but tighter than regular stitches. Otherwise the X just looks like some vague bumps instead of an actual letter. My first few rows looked terrible until I realized this.
The O Situation
The O is made by working post stitches in a circle basically. You’re outlining a circle shape with raised stitches while the inside stays flat with regular DC. This is the part that annoyed me SO MUCH because getting them to look actually round and not like hexagons or weird ovals took forever to figure out.
The trick is in how tight you make the post stitches on the curves. The top and bottom of the O need slightly looser tension than the sides or it gets pulled into a vertical oval shape. But if you go too loose it just looks sloppy. It’s this whole balancing act that nobody tells you about in the pattern instructions.
Also the O’s need to be worked over an odd number of rows to look right – I think it was like 7 rows total? So you’re doing more rows per O than per X which means the pattern doesn’t align perfectly and you have to kind of fudge it. The pattern I followed had it worked out but I remember being confused about why some sections had extra plain rows between them.
Color Changes
I did mine in two colors alternating – white background with navy X’s and O’s for some sections, then flipped it for others. Changing colors in the middle of post stitch rows is annoying because you can see the little color blips where you switched.
Best method I found was to do the last yarn over of the stitch before the change in the new color. So like if you’re finishing a DC in white but want the next stitch in navy, you pull through with navy on that last yarn over. Makes the transition cleaner. Still not perfect but way better than just switching between stitches.
I was watching Severance while I made most of this and honestly the repetitive nature of the pattern matched the vibe of that show perfectly. Just endless rows of X’s and O’s while trying to figure out what was happening with the goats.
Tension Issues I Had
My tension is naturally pretty tight which worked okay for this pattern but it meant my blanket came out smaller than the pattern said it would. Like the pattern said it’d be 36×36 inches and mine was more like 32×34 or something. Not a huge deal for a baby blanket but if you’re making a full size one you might wanna do a gauge swatch.
Also my hands cramped up SO BAD from all the post stitches. Way more than regular crochet. I had to take breaks every like 30 minutes which made the whole thing take forever. I think I worked on it for like 3 weeks on and off? Could’ve been faster if I’d pushed through but my hand would’ve fallen off.
The Border Finish
After you finish all your XO rows you gotta do another plain border on top to match the bottom. I did 4 rows again in white. Then I did a round of single crochet around the entire edge to clean it up, plus a second round of… I think it was shell stitch? Little groups of DC separated by chains. Made it look more finished.
The corners are where people usually mess up the border. You need to do like 3-5 stitches in each corner space or it won’t lay flat and will curl up. I did 3 DC in each corner for the plain rows and then (DC, chain 2, DC) for the shell round. Worked fine.
Washing and Blocking
Okay so this is important – you HAVE to block this blanket when you’re done or the X’s and O’s won’t look crisp. I just washed it in cold water with regular detergent, then laid it flat on a towel on the floor and pinned it into shape while it dried. My cat kept trying to lay on it while it was drying which was super annoying but whatever.
The blocking made such a huge difference. Before blocking the letters looked kind of mushy and undefined. After blocking they popped out and you could actually tell what they were supposed to be. If you skip this step people might not even realize it’s supposed to say XO.
Size Variations
The pattern is pretty flexible size-wise. For a baby blanket the 120-ish chain worked great. If you want a lap blanket or throw you’d probably want like 200+ chains. Just remember it has to be the right multiple or the pattern won’t work out.
You can also adjust how many times you repeat the XO pattern. I did like 6 rows of X’s and O’s (so 6 X’s across and however many O’s fit). For a bigger blanket you’d just do more rows. Pretty straightforward.
Some people do all X’s or all O’s instead of alternating which… I guess that works too but seems to miss the point? The whole hugs and kisses thing only makes sense if you have both.
Yarn Amount
I used about 4 skeins total for the baby blanket size – 2 navy and 2 white. The Red Heart Super Saver skeins are 7 oz each I think? So that’s like 28 oz total. I had some left over of each color but not a full skein’s worth.
For a bigger blanket you’d obviously need more. I’d estimate maybe 8-10 skeins for a full throw size but don’t quote me on that. The post stitches use up more yarn than regular stitches because you’re wrapping around the posts.
What I’d Do Different
If I made another one – which I probably won’t anytime soon because my hand still remembers the cramping – I’d use a slightly larger hook. I used a 5.5mm because that’s what the pattern called for but I think a 6mm would’ve made the fabric a bit looser and easier on my hands. The blanket would’ve been bigger too which wouldn’t have been bad.
I also would’ve practiced the O’s more before starting the actual blanket. Maybe make like a practice square with just O’s until I got the tension right. Would’ve saved me from having wonky O’s in the first section that don’t match the later ones.
And honestly? I might just do all one color next time instead of the two-color thing. The color changes added a lot of time and frustration and I’m not sure they added enough visual interest to be worth it. A solid colored blanket with the texture from the post stitches would still look good.
Common Problems
The biggest issue people seem to have with this pattern is keeping count of where they are. It’s easy to lose track of whether you’re on row 3 or row 4 of an X and then everything gets off. I used a row counter on my phone which helped but I still messed up a few times and had to frog back.
Another thing is the blanket can start to curl at the edges if your tension is uneven. Mine did this a little bit on one side where I guess I was crocheting tighter. The blocking helped but it still has a slight curl. Not enough to matter but it’s there.
Also watch out for accidentally skipping stitches between the X’s and O’s. There are plain DC sections between each letter and it’s easy to either skip them or add extra ones without realizing. Then your pattern shifts over and nothing lines up anymore. Ask me how I know.
Is It Worth It
I mean… yeah? It’s a pretty blanket and people always comment on the pattern when they see it. My sister still uses it for her kid who’s like 2 now and it’s held up great. The X’s and O’s are still clearly visible even after tons of washing.
But it’s definitely not a quick project and the post stitches are rough on your hands if you’re not used to them. If you want something fast this isn’t it. If you want something that looks impressive and unique then go for it.
The pattern itself isn’t super complicated once you get the hang of it – it’s just repetitive. Which can be good if you like patterns you don’t have to think too hard about, or annoying if you get bored easily. I’m somewhere in the middle on that.
