A corner to corner blanket: Free pattern

I knit this simple garter stitch blanket last year sometime and published it as a free pattern on Instagram for those who follow me there, with the full and certain intention of adding it to my free patterns page here too.

I have no idea why it fell off my to-do list, I can only assume that life, combined with my butterfly brain conspired against me.

In any case, I wanted to add it here as it’s such a lovely, straightforward knit. Ideal for a beginner or for those times when you just want a bit of relaxing, stress-free knitting. I knit this small lap blanket with DK yarn on 4mm needles but you could easily adapt it to work with fingering weight yarn (suggested 3mm needles) or worsted/aran (on 4.5/5mm needles, respectively).

It produced a perfect little square blanket - ideal for baby knitting as well in an appropriate yarn.

You can find the blanket over on my free pattern page, or it’s written out here (below) as well if you wanted to bookmark it for later.

The right time?

Wishing and Hoping - baby blanket pattern on Ravelry

Confession time.

I have had this baby blanket finished and wrapped, sitting in my wardrobe for weeks now. The baby it was intended for is already 8 weeks old and under normal circumstances it would have been gifted along, hopefully to start its journey of being a much loved companion.

And yet, there it sits. Still in my wardrobe. I can’t put my finger on the reason why I haven’t given it away yet. I’ve pondered and asked myself repeatedly why not and the answer is a disappointingly vague “It just doesn’t feel right”.

Logically I know there is no risk. It has been washed, dried, carefully wrapped in tissue and then in wrapping paper. It’s been untouched by human hands in my wardrobe for at least 3 or 4 weeks. And yet, it just doesn’t feel like the right time to gift it.

Normally a new baby into our circle is a time where we come together, where we greet the new arrival, support the new parents and generally do that whole ‘global village’ thing. Plus we get to have newborn baby cuddles which are, of course, just the absolute best. But right now we can’t do any of those things. We can’t be there to help the new parents - we can’t even make them a cup of tea or hold the baby for a few precious minutes of peace and quiet.

I could force it of course. I could write a breezy note and send it off it in the post. But it just seems like too much of a burden to place on new parents right now. I’m sure if I had just brought a tiny human into the world I would be overwhelmed with all kinds of feelings. I’m bad enough now and my kids are both well into their teens. In years past I probably would forced it. I would have sent the gift because it’s the ‘done thing’. But now I tend to wait and listen to my gut instinct a little more.

And my gut instinct is telling me to wait. The blanket isn’t going anywhere and yes, the baby might be a little (or a lot) bigger by the time I get a cuddle but the blanket will find it’s new home eventually.

When the time is right.

PIN FOR LATER

Boundaries Blanket

Boundaries Blanket on Ravelry

I feel as though the alternative title for this should be “How to photograph a blanket”.

No matter how much I try for ‘artfully draped’ I always seem to end up with ‘randomly dropped’. No one wants to see a blanket stiffly stretched out like a body on a slab but equally, it’s hard to show ‘casually rumpled’.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that although the Boundaries KAL is now at an end, the whole pattern in a condensed version is now available to purchase through Ravelry. There are 12 squares in total which are knit separately and then seamed together. I would normally at this point say that the squares are handy portable projects - ideal for keeping in your handbag - but if you are anything like me you haven’t used your handbag for weeks.

For the next few days - until May 1st - there will be an early bird discount of 25% on this design. Just use code Boundaries at the checkout.

And, although the KAL has ended, the Facebook group we set up for it is still running. If you would like to join - to see what the squares looked like in progress or just to hang out there as you knit - please PM me on Ravelry with the email address you used to purchase the pattern and I’ll add you in.

Wishing and Hoping

Wishing and Hoping

I hope you are well.

It's such a simple statement isn't it. One which, up until recently we said almost casually, without thinking. Now of course those few words bring up so many feelings and emotions.

Expressing a sincere hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well as we navigate through these difficult, emotional times.

I usually find solace in my knitting but I have to confess that there have been times during this past week where I couldn't bring myself to pick up the needles at all. 

At other times, it has been a wrench to put it away, so desperately have I needed something to focus my mind on. I decided to carry on with my planned projects and at times when I was feeling calm and in control I picked up this baby blanket and knit on it, trying my hardest to put good karma and good thoughts into the stitches.

In a few short months a good friend will be wrapping her much anticipated, precious baby in this blanket (hopefully) and I wanted it to capture all of my good wishes and hope for this beautiful new life. The world it is welcomed into might be a scary place right now, but this will pass (although it might not feel like it right now). Eventually we will be able to celebrate the baby's birth, have a wild party, hug each other and celebrate life.

For now, we can't do those things. But a warm and comforting blanket might just be the next best thing.

If you are on my mailing list please do check your email for a special discount on this pattern which goes on sale this weekend. Or, if not please use code WISHINGEB for a 25% early bird discount (until March 31st)

A new thing

The Blanket of Exacting Requirements, as I have named it is done, off the needles and blocking as I type. I’m really pleased with it and my son (who has aforementioned requirements) is mightily pleased too. This is my first time using West Yorkshire Spinners Colourlab DK for a blanket - having taken the decision earlier in the year to refrain from using acrylic yarns from now on - and I have to say that I love everything about it.

The colour range is good, it’s an impressively all-British produced yarn and it retails for under £7 per 100g. I know this reads a bit like an advert and I apologise but really, I promise I haven’t been paid to promote this yarn. I just really like it.

Whenever you mention knitting with pure wool though the issue of price always rears it’s head, with the assumptions that pure wool is expensive and impractical for blankets. So I thought I would do a little road-test and report back on this blanket at intervals so you can see how it is holding up. I have two boys and an equal number of cats and so knits in our household are very much used and abused.

As for price. I used approx 7 balls of this yarn in various colours which equates to less than £50 for the whole project (7 x £6.95). It’s absolutely not the cheapest yarn available but for something that will be used and loved for years that’s a price point that I’m very comfortable with. Price isn’t something we often speak about in relation to our finished objects. We talk about yardage and colours used but actual hard cash is frequently overlooked in our discussions.

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Knitting a square in the round

Fuss Free baby blanket knit in West Yorkshire Spinners ColourLab DK

There’s a lot to be said for knitting a square blanket in the round, rather than knitting it flat. I don’t know about you and I’m fairly sure it defies the laws of physics but I’m convinced that a square knit flat takes far, far longer than one knit in the round.

At some point when I have three-quarters of  a square I always start doing a heck of a lot of measuring, certain that after these last few rows I will have knit enough. Or if all else fails I start trying to convince myself that everyone really wants a wide, short rectangular blanket rather than a square one. Obviously they don’t - it would just look weird and exactly like you’d given up three quarters of the way through but such are the tales I try to tell my inner knitter.

Instead I find that if you knit a blanket in the round it’s all bunched up on your needles and you can keep knitting and knitting, through films, kids playparks and all manner of events. It’s easier on the hands and (if you are doing stocking stitch) there’s the added benefit of no purling. It does mean of course that it’s harder to spread it out for photographic/measuring purposes but you can’t have everything and I’d rather just keep knitting so that the eventual size is a happy surprise when I finally bind it off.

If you’d like to try knitting a blanket in the round, as with everything there is more than one way to go about it.

Knit a central square - this is my favourite method and one I come back to time and time again. In my Fuss Free Baby Blanket (a free download on my website) it starts with a central garter stitch square. You then keep the live stitches on the needle, place a marker and pick up the same number of stitches along each of the 3 sides - adding a marker at each corner. You then alternate a mitered increase round with a plain round building up the square from the centre out. Easy peasy. You can add stripes or whatever takes your fancy make the most of fuss free, portable knitting.

The other option is to start with a small number of central stitches - usually on DPNs - and build the increases from there. This can be a bit more fiddly but is perfectly straightforward to master. My basic recipe for this is as follows:

Cast on 8 sts and divide equally across 4 DPNs

Rnd 1: kfb in each st (8 sts inc)

Rnd 2: k

Rnd 3: *kfb, k to last st on DPN, kfb. Rep from * 3 more times (8 sts inc)

Rnd 4: k

Rep rnds 3 and 4 - each increase round adds 8 sts. Once you have sufficient sts you can switch to a circular needle. I like to switch to a 60cm cable once I have about 80sts in total. It might be a bit tight for the first few rounds but as you add more stitches it soon becomes easier.

Two ways of achieving the same result, but both with the nifty feature of avoiding the tedium of an “almost there” blanket knit flat.