pattern too narrow

[Cindy Gordon]

I started an afghan pattern and have gotten through one 5 oz skein of yarn and realized that this pattern is not nearly wide enough for me.  Are there any good ideas for widening the afghan?  Or do I need to rip out an entire skein of yarn and start over?

 

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

"Maybe", depending on what might look like a 'design feature' not a 'bug' to you, and how much too narrow it is.  

Probably the least 'bug' looking /easiest idea would be to keep going.  Let's say you decided the blanket was 12" too narrow.  Add the next skein, and the next, until you are 12" too-short.  Then, work around the blanket with a 6" border all around* - throwing this out there in case you haven't run into this before, to turn a 90° corner in SC, put 3 stitches into the corner; in DC, put 5 stitches (I like to have the middle stitch be a chain, it turns a squarer corner). 

If you are making the blanket in a not-plain stitch, making the border in a plain stitch would make the edges sturdier, which is a good thing, and help to make it look like 'not a bug'.

* adds 6" top and bottom =12", and 6" left & right side=12"

 

[MaryPat]

I've widened afghans in a couple of ways and I've ripped out.

If it's a zig-zag pattern that uses all SCs, then this will tend to bunch together and appear narrow.  If you're using an acrylic yarn, the easiest way is to steam block it with a blocking cloth and kill the acrylic yarn.  You pin the afghan to the wider shape you want.  Steaming will kill acrylic's ability to snap back. 

Sometimes I just make a border that's a lot wider than most to add width.