This past summer, I wanted to make something special for a friend who was having a
baby. I was kind of itching to make a blanket, but I wanted something classic looking and gender neutral, with no pastels or frills. I was having an amazingly difficult time finding what I wanted, so I cobbled together some ideas and made a go of it on my own. It's nothing revolutionary- just mitered squares- but I posted the result on the Lion Brand website and have gotten quite a few requests for the pattern, so I thought I'd post it here for reference.
Color Block Baby Blanket
Materials:
2 balls each Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Maize, Lime, Violet, Berry, & Lake
Size 6 and size 8 needles
Gauge: 17 stitches = 4 inches using size 8 needles
Notes:
· Instead of purling, I used backward knitting for quite a bit of this blanket and I think it was a real time saver. If you're interested, tutorial is available here: http://www.drgirlfriend.com/knittingbackwards.html
· I tend to knit a bit tightly, so you may not want to pay too much attention to my gauge.
· This blanket is worked in rounds. I kept getting confused about the correct place to start the next square (which lead to lots and lots of frogging), so I included a diagram at the end of the pattern to help clarify. Hope it helps and doesn't add to the confusion.
· I wove in ends as I finished each round of blocks to make it less hellacious at the end. I highly recommend this strategy, because even with this provision, the weaving is pretty damn horrific at the end.
Stitch Guide:
DD (double decrease): Slip 2 stitches together as if to k2tog, then knit next st; pass 2 slipped sts over last knit st.
Let's begin!
Square 1:
With smaller needles and Light Blue, cast on 29 st. K 1 row. Change to larger needles.
Row 1: Slip 1, K 12, DD, k to end.
Row 2 and all WS rows: Slip 1 purlwise, purl to end.
Row 3: Slip 1, K 11, DD, k to end.
Row 5: Slip 1, K 10, DD, k to end.
Row 7: Slip 1, K 9, DD, k to end.
Row 9: Slip 1, K 8, DD, k to end.
Row 11: Slip 1, K 7, DD, k to end.
Row 13: Slip 1, K 6, DD, k to end.
Row 15: Slip 1, K 5, DD, k to end.
Row 17: Slip 1, K 4, DD, k to end.
Row 19: Slip 1, K 3, DD, k to end.
Row 21: Slip 1, K 2, DD, k to end.
Row 23: Slip 1, K 1, DD, k to end.
Row 25: K1, DD, k to end.
You will now have 3 stitches on your needle, with WS facing. Sl first 2 sts purlwise, p1, pass 2 slipped sts over last purl stitch. Fasten loop.
Square 2:
Using smaller needles and Violet (with RS facing), pick up and k 14 sts along the edge of previous square (see diagram), pick up 1 st from the top DD of the square, then cast on 14 stitches- 29 sts total. K 1 row. Complete in the same way as Square 1.
Square 3:
With smaller needles and Light Blue (with RS facing), pick up and k 14 sts along the edge of Square 2 (see diagram), pick up 1 st from the top DD of the square, then cast on 14 sts- 29 sts total. K 1 row. Complete in the same way as Square 1.
Square 4:
With smaller needles and Violet (with RS facing), pick up and k 14 sts along edge of Square 3 (see diagram), 1 st from the top of Square 2, and 14 stitches along the edge of Square 1- 29 sts total. K 1 row. Complete in the same way as Square 1.
You now have a big square made of 4 little squares and you're ready for the next round.
Using the diagram to determine where to begin, begin making the first square of the next round.
Using smaller needles and Lime (with RS facing), pick up and k 14 sts along the edge of the very first square that you knit (see diagram), pick up 1 st from the middle, then cast on 14 stitches- 29 sts total. K 1 row. Complete in the same way as Square 1.
Following diagram and color chart, continue making squares in order. NOTE: you only need to cast on new stitches 4 times per round (once for each side). Once you make the first new square on a particular side, every other square will only require picking up stitches- no casting on.
Border:
With RS facing, pick up stitches along an edge of the blanket.
Row 1, 3, & 5 (WS): Sl 1, k1, knit through front and back loop, knit to end.
Row 2 & 4: (RS): Knit.
Bind off loosely.
Repeat for other 3 edges of blanket, then seam the border edges.
Weave and weave and weave in the ends.
And the bonus pic that shows why all those freaking ends are worth it...
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