2024 Granny Square Book Blanket!

Calling all bookworms, this is the crochet blanket project for you! A granny square crochet book blanket is the perfect project to combine two of my favorite things – books and crochet!

I’ve been intrigued by the idea of a yearlong crochet project, something you add to throughout the year. But most of these are temperature blankets, which don’t interest me at all! Crocheting one row a day would be too boring and tedious for me to keep up with.

Then I came across a granny square book blanket on social media at the start of 2024, and it instantly caught my eye! What better way to combine two of my passions! I was already reading tons of books and sharing them on my Instagram stories. It was the perfect way to talk about my favorite books and work on a yearlong project at the same time.

Why crochet a granny square book blanket?

If you love to read and crochet, this project is perfect for you! This granny square crochet blanket features one square for each book I read or listened to over the year. The squares are inspired by the colors in the book covers, resulting in 72 beautifully colorful squares joined together to create a unique heirloom blanket. Choosing colors was the best part; I discovered several new color palettes I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. I also enjoyed sharing my book squares and recommendations on social media and connecting with fellow book lovers and yarn enthusiasts! You can find all the squares in my 2024 Book Blanket highlight on Instagram.

What yarn should I use for a granny square book blanket?

My granny square book blanket is made with worsted weight yarn and a 5.5mm crochet hook. Aside from a few skeins, most of the yarn used for this blanket was already in my stash. There were a few unidentifiable skeins from that stash that made it into some book squares. However, but for the most part, I used Basic Stitch Anti-Pilling, Heartland, and Color Theory from Lion Brand. I also used Brava Worsted from Crochet.com because it comes in so many colors. The last round of each square was made with Pound of Love from Lion Brand. I used the same yarn for the border. You can use yarn from your stash or purchase colors specifically for your blanket. That’s the beauty of a handmade crochet blanket – its uniqueness!

Granny Square Book Blanket Specifics

There is no right or wrong way to crochet a granny square. Everyone has their own opinions and preferences for their squares. My 2024 squares started with a magic circle, and I turned my work after each round. I worked a chain between each granny stitch cluster and worked two chains for each corner. I switched colors in the slip stitch before beginning the next round. Pound of Love by Lion Brand Yarn was used in the last round of each square. This was for uniformity and to better separate and distinguish all the varied colors of the squares. The finished squares were blocked to a uniform 6×6 before seaming together. Blocking your squares is recommended for a yearlong project, as your tension tends to vary from square to square. This is especially true if you are working other projects with different yarn and hooks in between squares.

I decided to wait until all my squares were completed before joining them together, as I was not sure how many squares I would end up with. There were 72 total squares, and I laid them out in an 8 square by 9 square grid. I had the foresight to leave a long yarn tail after fastening off each square, and this came in handy for seaming. I used the invisible seam to sew the squares together. This created a slight ridge that framed each square and provides beautiful texture. Finally, my granny square book blanket was finished with a simple border in a mix of stitches using the same Pound of Love colorway as the last round in each square. There were a lot of ends to crochet, but it was 100% worth it!

And now, the books!

I read SO many amazing books this year! I mostly read thrillers and mysteries, but I also love historical fiction and contemporary fiction and occasionally fantasy and horror. Of course, a blend of these genres in one book makes for a compelling read. A book should transport me into the mind of the character, either the hero or the villain, and I want to be immersed into the setting so that I have to think for a second where I am when I look up from my pages. Reading is such an escape for me, it has been since I was young and reading Little House on the Prairie and The Babysitter’s Club books!

Familiar Favorites

I absolutely have favorite authors, and that factored heavily in my book choices this year. For instance, I read two Ruth Ware thrillers this year (One Perfect Couple and Zero Days) and I have read everything Mary Kubica has published (Just the Nicest Couple). Peter Swanson always delivers with a thrilling cat-and-mouse story (Before She Knew Him and The Kind Worth Saving) and I am never disappointed with a spicy and dangerous Jeneva Rose novel (The Perfect Marriage). Riley Sager is one of my all-time favorites, and his latest Middle of the Night was so good!

New Authors

Working on this book blanket introduced me to book accounts on social media and recommendations for authors I had never read before. For example, Jennifer Hillier’s Things We Do In The Dark had me immediately adding more of her books to my Goodreads list. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson was stellar, and Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown was top notch. Other amazing reads from new to me authors are Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid, The Last One At The Wedding by Jason Rekulak and How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin.

It was really hard to narrow down my top ten, but they are listed below. Many of these were first time authors for me, and I give them all FIVE STARS!

My Top 10 Reads of 2024!

For my thoughts and recommendations for each book read in 2024, head to my Instagram and scroll through my feed or check out the 2024 Book Blanket stories highlight. I have already started working (and reading!) on my book squares for 2025 and I am excited to share those with you throughout this year!

Looking for some more blanket inspiration? Check out The Fairy Tale Blanket, The Summer Crush Blanket and The Rustic Squares Blanket!