If you’ve walked down the craft aisle lately, you’ve probably seen the Red Heart All-In-One yarn. The bright colors in awesome self-striping combinations. Imagine all the time you could save with those continuous color changes that automatically form granny squares without hundreds of ends to weave in. Kinda sounds like an absolute dream, right?
Well, I decided to put them to the test. Instead of sticking to just one style, I bought five different types of Red Heart All-In-One yarns. (Honestly, it was more that I wanted all the things).
So I got Flower Power, Sweetheart, Granny Square, Quilt Motif, and Petites. The problem for me was that I only got one skein of each different kind. And one skein was not enough to make anything substantial that I'd actually use. So then I thought about - what would happen if I mixed them all together into one big project?
Spoiler alert: They are not all created equal! From unexpected texture differences to tension battles, here is my honest review and step-by-step breakdown of how I turned these mismatched squares into cozy, fabric-backed blankets.
Watch the Full Video Experiment
Prefer to see the yarn textures, tension fixes, and final blanket reveals in action? You can watch the full video right here:
1. The Softness & Quality Spectrum: Not All Red Heart All in One Yarn Is Equal
The biggest surprise during this project was how drastically the texture varied between different colorways and square styles within the exact same product line:
- The Softness Winner: The Red Heart All-In-One Yarn - Flower Power (I used the Peony Pop colorway) was by far the softest yarn of the bunch. It felt squishy, comfortable in the hands, and worked up smoothly. I kinda loved working with this yarn. ❤️
- The Stiff & Scratchy: On the flip side, the full-spectrum colorway used for the larger granny squares (which I didn't include in the blankets) felt over-processed in certain sections. Some spots were quite stiff, and I even noticed a bit of red dye bleeding into the yellow and purple sections.
- The Middle Ground: The Sweetheart and Quilt Motif for the Red Heart All-In-One yarn fell somewhere in between—not ultra-scratchy, but definitely not as plush as the Flower Power line.
To be fair, the Red Heart All In One Quilt Motif yarn is not a granny square, but it formed a type of square so I'm throwing it in here with its friends!
2. Real Talk About Gauge and Color Changes
But let’s talk about the elephant in the room with pre-dyed self-patterning yarn: gauge consistency.
Everybody’s tension is slightly different. In fact, my own tension varies depending on how I'm feeling at the moment or what's going on.
And so getting the yarn to shift colors exactly at the corner of a square can be tricky. Here are the three main ways I managed the color shifts:
- Frogging is your friend: If a color change was happening a few stitches too early or too late, I simply ripped back (frogged) a few clusters and adjusted my tension—tightening up or loosening my stitches so the dye line landed right in place.
- Hook sizing matters: For the Sweetheart motif, the pattern suggested an I (5.5 mm) hook, but dropping down to an H hook made a huge difference in controlling the stitch layout.
- Don't hesitate to cut the yarn: When working complex motifs like the top of the heart shape, wrestling with color alignment got super frustrating. I frogged it too many times and kept trying to change up my hook. Wanna know my secret to getting it to work? I just cut the yarn at the color transition and restarted where it made sense. Life is too short to fight yarn!
3. Mixing Mismatched Squares into One Cohesive Blanket
Once I finished crocheting all the yarn I had a pile of regular granny squares, C2C (corner-to-corner) quilt motifs, tiny petites, flower and heart motifs. Now came the work of trying to figure out how to join completely different square sizes together.
Blanket #1 (Approx. 42" x 42")
- Center Anchor: I stitched four C2C quilt motif squares together as the center block and surrounded them with a single crochet border.
- Building Out: I whip-stitched rows of petite and heart motifs along the sides, using granny stripe rows to fill in awkward length differences.
- Creative Corners: To square off the uneven layout, I got creative—making a log cabin block in one corner, granny square patches in another, and filling in extra space with scrap yarn.
- The Edging: A simple charcoal single crochet border capped off with a classic scalloped edge brought all the chaotic colors together beautifully.
Blanket #2 (Approx. 34" x 34")
For the second blanket, I created a 3x3 grid of the super-soft Flower Power squares, then framed them with regular granny square borders made entirely from remaining scrap yarn.
4. Why I Back My Crochet Blankets with Fabric
If you’ve never sewn a fabric backing onto a crochet blanket, this is your sign to try it! For the larger blanket, I backed it with a solid charcoal cotton fabric. For the smaller Flower Power blanket, I used a super cozy minky dot fabric.
3 Reasons to add a fabric backing:
- Adds Great Structure: It gives acrylic blankets a nice, weighted drape without stretching out the stitches over time.
- Hides Any Scratchiness: If you use yarns that aren't ultra-soft, a smooth cotton or plush minky lining feels wonderful against sensitive skin.
- Extra Warmth: The combination of crochet texture and fabric backing traps heat without making the blanket overly bulky.
Final Verdict: Are Red Heart All-In-One Yarns Worth It?
Yes—with a few adjustments!
They are fantastic for quick projects and perfect for crocheters who hate weaving in dozens of tails.
The price point beats having to buy multiple skeins of different colors of yarn and you don't have to try to mix and match colors.
However, you should be ready to tweak your hook size, experiment with tension, or cut yarn when necessary to make the color transitions work for you.
Have you tried any of the Red Heart All-In-One yarns yet? Did you run into gauge issues or did your squares work out effortlessly? Let me know in the comments below!
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