This baby blanket looks really fancy, but it's remarkably simple. And the pattern is easily modified to fit whatever size you want the finished blanket to be. Play around with different colors for a different look.
Here's what I used for this blanket:
Materials
All yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Sport, which is a cotton/acrylic blend, so it's machine wash and dry, perfect for baby and kid projects. The yarn is super soft, too.
3 skeins Whisker (Gray)
1 skein Fairy Tale (Mauve-ish)
1 skein Zinnia (Bright Pink)
1 skein Lady Slipper (Purple)
1 skein Flamingo (Light Pink)
Size 10 circular needles used as straight needles.
Tapestry needle for weaving yarn ends.
Gauge: 14 sts and 19 rows over ST stitch using two strands of yarn held together.
Seed stitch
(Work over an even number of stitches)
Row 1 (RS) *K1, P1; rep from * to end.
Row 2 K the purl sts and P the knit sts. Repeat Row 2 for seed stitch.
Pattern
CO 100 stitches with two strands of MC held together.
With two strands of MC, work 8 rows in seed stitch. End on a WS row.
Next row (RS): Work first 6 stitches in seed stitch, knit to last 6 stitches, work last 6 stitches in seed stitch.
Next row (WS): Work first 6 stitches in seed stitch, purl to last 6 stitches, work last 6 stitches in seed stitch.
Repeat last two rows for pattern.
Continue with MC until blanket measures 5" from cast-on edge. End with a WS row.
Break one strand of MC and join one strand of color A. Continue in pattern until piece measures 10" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.
Break A and join color B. Continue in pattern until piece measures 15" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.
Break B and join color C. Continue in pattern until piece measures 20" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.
Break C and join color D. Continue in pattern until piece measures 25" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.
Break D and join MC, using two strands of MC again. Count how many rows your first MC section had. (Mine had 26 rows.) Continue in pattern, working last 8 rows as seed stitch. Bind off stitches in seed pattern.
How to modify the pattern
Do a gauge swatch. Count how many stitches and rows you knit in a 4" square. Divide that number by 4, and that's how many stitches (horizontal) and rows (vertical) you have per inch. Decide how wide and tall you want your blanket to be. Cast on appropriate amount of stitches to reach desired width. For example, if I have 4 stitches per inch and I want my blanket to be 30 inches wide, I would cast on 120 stitches.
For height, this blanket has 6 stripes, so just make each stripe the same number of rows. If I want my blanket to be 30 inches high, I need each stripe to be 5 inches. If my gauge gave me 5 rows per inch, then I need 25 rows per stripe. Feel free to play with this number a row or two. It's better to end on a WS row, so an even number of rows works best.
Important Notes
The heathered look of this blanket comes from knitting with two strands of yarn held together. You can use any weight yarn you want, really. Just make sure you knit a gauge and go from there. For a nice loose weave, use a needle at the large end of the suggested needle size for your yarn. Double that needle range for double stranding. For example, sport yarn calls for needles 3-5. For a loose double stranding, use a size 10. For a tighter weave, use a smaller needle. This yarn has a nice drape when it's loosely knit.
Stitches are wider than rows, so to make the seed stitch border even, knit X stitches and X+2 rows in seed. For example, I used 6 stitches and 8 rows in seed for this blanket border.
Glossary
ST = Stockingette
CO = Cast on
MC = Main color
WS = Wrong side
RS = Right side
Happy knitting!
