Knitted Blanket

---

A Blanket seemed like a big task, but a baby blanket, well that’s a medium task. Unless you really like an involved pattern. Then it’s a medium to a big task.

Total Project Time: 3-4 weeks. This project took quite some time, so it was hard to nail down a total project time.

I adore knitting. I have since I was a child. It was often joked that I am an old soul because of the hobbies I had growing up. Also, the way I talked. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m an old soul.

But, due to my love for the hobby, I seem to be the recipient of yarn donations for which I am extremely grateful because the hobby can end up being a bit expensive. I think I could fill a bathtub full of yarn. That, kind of sounds fun… But I found myself with an armful of yarn made for baby-targets product projects, so I thought, why not try to make a blanket?

Check out the Craft section of MCG for more fun patterns in strings and things or more unlimited ideas.

---

---

Supplies

• 6 Skeins of Pink Yarn
• 7 Skeins of Blue/Pink Yarn
•  US 6 circular knitting needles (60 inches)

For the yarn, I ended up using the Bernat Baby Coordinate brand. The colors I used were unfortunately sold out when I was making the project, but I am unsure of what colors they have available now.

Process

The pattern for the baby blanket can be found in the quick recipe section of this post, here I will just go into some of the details on the pattern in more sweeping language. The following abbreviations will be used for the pattern:

P: Purl

K: Knit

C8B: Cable Stich – 8, slip 4 stitches onto the cable needle and hold in the back of work. Knit the next 4 stitches. Knit 4 stitches from the cable needle.

This pattern has two major blocks that alternate throughout the pattern. The first block creates a pattern by using just the knit and purl stitch with the pattern being broken down as:

1/3: P3, K1, P3, K5, P3, K1, P3

2/4: K3, P1, K11, P1, K3

5: P2, K1, P1, K1, P2, K5, P2, K1, P1, K1, P2

6: K2, P1, K1, P1, K9, P1, K1, P1, K2

This pattern allows for the stitches to pop from the fabric and stand out.

The second pattern block includes the cable stitch which allows for the braided-like effect on the main area. I really enjoy knitting cable patterns and this one is a great introduction to the cable stitch world. It’s a pretty simple one as all you’re doing is following the C8B pattern.  The row breakdown is:

1/3: P2, K8, P2

2/4: K2, P8, K2

5: P2, C8B, P2

6: K2, P8, K2

A pretty simple block, right?

All in all, the nice part about this blanket is that it is entirely made up of two types of stitching: knit and purl which makes it a very simple project even if it takes an arduous amount of time.

Lessons

Why Use Circular Needles?

This project is ultimately a flat sheet of fabric so why use circular needles? Well, there are a couple of reasons. The first is that there is more area to hold the project than if just working on the standard knitting needles. I could not imagine working with 2 sixty-inch needles. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen in my hands.

The second is actually an ergonomic reason. This blanket will grow pretty heavy over the course of the project. With standard needles, the weight will be shifted back and forth between each hand/wrist while circular needles will distribute the weight across the needles consistently keeping everything balanced.

Quick Recipe