Pattern - Textured Blocks Baby Blanket

Our friends, Joe and Diana, were finally having a baby - a little girl. I decided quickly that I wanted to knit them a baby blanket to keep her warm and cozy. After mulling over the fastest and easiest way to make a blanket, I decided on a series of textured squares, a bulkier yarn, bigger needles, and simple patterns.

The blanket turned out beautifully. It seems to be a reasonably big hit on my Ravelry page, so I've decided to finally make the pattern available for anyone else who wanted to knit one like it.

Recommended yarn:
Estelle Cloud Cotton
Aran / 10 ply 165 yards / 100 grams

Gauge
18 sts = 4 inches on US 8 (5mm) needles

Needles:
1 pair straight US 8 (5mm)
1 Crochet hook size H (5mm) (for border)

Colours: 106 (green), 113 (pink), 115 (white), 118 (turquoise) (1 skein of each colour)

Small amount of yellow yarn for centre of flower

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Each square is 22 sts wide and 20 rows deep

Green squares (make 7)

CO 22 sts
Slip first stitch of every row
Knit 2 rows
Purl 1 row
Repeat until finished
Bind off loosely

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Pink squares (make 8)

CO 22 sts
Slip first stitch of every row
Row 1: *K2 P2, *rep to end of row
Row 2: *P2 K2, * rep to end of row
Row 3: *P2 K2, * rep to end of row
Row 4: *K2 P2, * rep to end of row
Repeat until finished
Bind off loosely

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White squares (make 7)

Slip first stitch of every row
Row 1: K
Row 2: P2, *K1 P3, * rep to end of row
Row 3: K
Row 4: P
Row 5: K
Row 6: K1, * P3, K1 * rep to last st, P1
Row 7: K
Row 8: P
Row 9: K
Repeat until finished
Bind off loosely

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Turquoise squares (make 8)

Slip first stitch of every row
Follow chart as above. On the right side, knit the knits and purl the purls. On WS, purl the knits and knit the purls. 

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Flower (make 1)

Centre:
With scrap yellow yarn,  CO 3 sts
Row 1: Kfb, k1, kfb (5 sts)
Row 2: Pfb, p1, pfb (7 sts)
Row 3: K
Row 4: P
Row 5: K
Row 6: P
Row 7: Ssk, k3, k2tog (5 sts)
Row 8: P2tog through the back of sts, p1, p2tog (3 sts)
BO

Petals (make 5):
With white, CO 3
Row 1: Kfb, k1, kfb (5 sts)
Row 2: Pfb, p1, pfb (7 sts)
Row 3: K
Row 4: P
Row 5: K
Row 6: P
Row 7: K
Row 8: P

Row 9 Ssk, k3, k2tog (5 sts)
Row 10: P2tog through the back of sts, p1, p2tog (3 sts)
BO with long tail, do not cut
Weave in to ends on the back side of the flower

Using whipstitch, sew petals to the centre of the flower
Secure the flower to a pink square.

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Finishing

Using Kitchener Stitch, sew squares together in the following sequence, making sure each square is the right way up:

Row 1: Pink, Turquoise, White, Green, Pink
Row 2: Turquoise, White, Green, Pink (with flower), Turquoise
Row 3: White, Green, Pink, Turquoise, White
Row 4: Green, Pink, Turquoise, White, Green
Row 5: Pink, Turquoise, White, Green, Pink

When all rows are complete, using size H hook and White,  DC every 2 sts around border of entire blanket

Weave in ends

A handful of FOs

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted. BUT, it's good! I have many finished objects to show off!

1. A hat for Nick made with leftover Elann Peruvian Highland
2. Christmas Ornaments made with various leftover bits of yarn
3. Cabled Capitain hat made with Noro Silk Garden Chunky
4. My first adult sized sweater made with Cascade Eco
5. Cabilrimetry made with Red Heart Soft Touch
6. Cotton Coasters made with mystery cotton yarn

Yeah, yeah. I've been lazy with posting. But at least I make with the awesome FOs! :D

Castle Crasher

Finished another little project. I used some of my leftover cotton yarn and decided to make the red knight from Castle Crashers.

FO - Pinwheel blanket and matching booties

I actually finished this on March 30th. I've just been so busy lately, I haven't posted about it. It turned out quite nicely, and I had enough yarn left over to make a pair of booties for baby to be.

Note: this is not for my baby to be because I am not pregnant again :P When that happens again, I will be sure to be knitting away merrily.


I have started another baby blanket for our friends Joe and Diana who are also expecting. Their baby is due in May, so I have a tight deadline to finish the next blanket. I have opted not to do another pinwheel blanket because I like a little bit of diversity. The new blanket will actually be a nice baby's textures blanket. Four different colours and four different textures. I hope it looks nice when it's done.

Pinwheel Blanket

FO - Man Eating Beast

This was a lot easier than I had anticipated. The only problem I ran into was finding eyeballs for it. There are NONE in Toronto. I looked at Michael's, local knitting and sewing stores, Zellers, Walmart, and even a make your own teddy bear store. None of them had safety eyes. Luckily, a small business in Thunder Bay sells them. I feel good for supporting them, plus I got the eyeballs I needed!

FO - Nick's Pirate Sweater

I started this project on November 11th and finished today (December 5th). I spent many of these days actually not knitting... and probably did most of the work over the span of two weeks or so. The last couple of days have been spent knitting nothing other than this sweater, and the results are pleasing.

It's a bit big for Nick for now. You can't really tell in the picture, but it's almost like a little dress. Good to know that I actually made something for him that he'll end up growing into :)

FO - Pacifier Clip

This is probably one of the easiest things I have ever knitted. Very cute, very fast, and I used leftover elann sonata yarn. Nicholas kept spitting his pacifier out, and it's always a pain in the arse to find, or it falls on the floor and gets dirty. Why use the store bought cheaper stuff when I can make something awesome? :)

WIP - Kat's Bag

You know, I figure I would get a good chunk of knitting done while at camp, but the exact opposite happened: I realized that I had been knitting the wrong way for about 5 inches, and had to frog it and start that part again.

Kat's bag is the new bane of my existence. Must finish at some point...


Also, Decided I want to make something for ME for a change. I've decided to use my beautiful Malabrigo yarn for this:

WIP - Percy

Working on a purse for Kat. Here are some progress pictures:

FO - Animal Blanket

I think a good way to start off a knitting blog is with a FO -- what do you think?

Ravelry Link

I started this project March 17th. It was my first real experiment with multiple colours using fair isle, and it also tested my adept swearing abilities. I think I swore more at the lions than at any other type of square worked on.

Here are some pictures: