If You Love the Endless Granny Square Blanket, Then You Must Try The Beautiful Virus Blanket Crochet Stitch

The virus blanket is another pattern I had never seen until I found it in a Facebook group. I was immediately intrigued by it. It looked so beautiful and complicated and reminded me of the endless granny square blankets that I love so much. I couldn’t wait to try it. The virus blanket pattern works up like the endless granny square. You start with a center section and build on it continuously until you reach the desired size.

I have seen so many beautiful things made with it. Blankets and shawls are probably my favorites that I have seen so far. What will you make when you learn it?

I have been so intimidated by this stitch, I literally waited about a year and a half to attempt it. I can remember showing pictures of it to my husband back in 2020 and telling him all about it. This past weekend, I finally tried it. Let me preface this by saying that over the past 2 weeks or so I have been trying to quit smoking. I have started slowing down, so I needed something to keep me busy over the weekend. This stitch was it. 

I watched the video (linked below) by Bella Coco one evening. I didn’t follow along or even have my supplies out, I just watched the video. I literally struggled to sleep that night because I kept thinking about the video and remembering it, excited to try it. The following morning, I gathered up my supplies and went to the garage where my husband was. 

How the virus stitch is crocheted

We sat by the fire, he played on his phone, and I began to crochet the virus blanket. From memory. I made it through the first part easily before I had to go back to the video. I was actually quite proud of myself. You start with a circle shape, then change it to a square (like the granny square does), but then you add the “fans” to the edges and sides instead of just working it square.

Overall, this stitch is a lot like the granny square. Once you get past the beginning few rows, it repeats and spreads over and over. One main difference is that the repeat is 4 rows. It is a little confusing at first, but once it clicks you can keep going without a lot of thought going into it. That’s the type of crochet I like! The only real counting you have to do is on the 2nd row of the repeat where you have to count to 10, over and over. Otherwise, you can just look at where you are and figure out what you are supposed to be doing. 

I worked on this virus stitch “swatch” the rest of the day and part of the next day until my skein of yarn ran out. Now keep in mind the skein of yarn I was using was “second hand” yarn that I had acquired, and part of the skein had already been used before I got it. I am almost positive it was a caron cake, but I am not certain. My husband was actually quite pleased with it also. He told me I needed to get more of the yarn so I could make it big enough for our bed! (Our bedroom is beach themed/colored)

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How to start the virus stitch

As I said before, you start with a circle, then form it to a square. So, you start with a chain of 6, then join with a slip stitch to the first chain. From here you dc 10 times into the circle. For the next row, you increase to 20 stitches by doing 2 dc into each dc from the previous row. The last row of the beginning part you will increase to 40 by doing a dc into each stitch followed by a chain 1. This completes the beginning “circle” part that you build the repeating pattern off of.

First round of repeat

Now it is time to change the circle to a square of sorts. The next row is a series of chain stitches joined every other chain 2 space. You start with chain 5, then sc into the 2nd chain 1 space. From here you chain 3, and sc into the 2nd chain 1 space. You chain 3 again, and sc into the 2nd chain 1 space. Then you chain 5 and sc into the 2nd chain 1 space.

Each of the chain 5s are your “corners” you will have one on each end of the corner. The chain 3s will form your sides. See below. (Keep in mind, the photo below is the row after the chains, but you can still tell where the chain 3 and chain 5 are.)

Here you repeat the process. You do the chain 5, followed by the chain 3, followed by the chain 5 continuing around. You started with a chain 5, so once you get back to the top corner you will end with the corresponding chain 5 to complete the corner.

2nd round of repeat

The next round you will build onto the chain loops (fans) you created. You will start with the top of the corner. You chain 3, then dc into the chain 5 space 9 more times. This is a total of 10 dc if you include the starting chain 3. You anchor the “fan” of dc onto the first chain 3 of previous round. Chain 3 to create a new fan and anchor that chain to the next chain 3 from previous round. (You have now created two small loops on top of the 3 small loops from previous round, see below.)

From here you will dc into the first large loop 10 times, then 10 dc into the second big loop. After the 10 dc in the second loop, you will anchor again to the first loop, chain 3 and anchor to the 3rd loop. Now you are back to the big loops. You repeat this process around.

3rd round of repeat

The next round is very similar to the last one. The main differences are that instead of 10 dc into the big loops, you will do your 10 dc into the stitches from the previous round. Also, on the small loops where you anchored your fans and chains, you will only have the 2 now instead of 3. So, once you do your first 10 dc into the 10 dc stitches from the previous round, you will anchor it to the first small loop, then chain 3 and anchor that to the 2nd small loop, then you go right into the next 10dc on the big loop. You repeat this process the entire way around.

4th round of the repeat

The last round of the repeat on the virus blanket is simply to double crochet followed by chain 1 into every stitch. When you get to the big fans, you simply finish one and go straight to the next. This is the row that you will use to start building the first round (creating the fans) of the repeat from. See below.

After you have gone all the way around with your dc and chain 1, then you start back at the first row of the repeat and create the fans to build on again.

Virus Shawl

After learning how to do the virus blanket, I was immediately wondering how you would make a shawl with this crochet pattern since for a shawl you are making a triangle, not a square. Turns out, it’s not that hard!

To create the triangle shape, you change up the very center. Instead of filling in the circle you create at the very start, you leave half of it without any stitches. This creates a “straight line” of stitches for you to build on. Check out this Bella Coco video tutorial here.

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