Stash diving, got to love it. I dove in and came out with a whole bunch of ideas and the yarn to make them without going out or spending money, woohoo!
I knew that I had two Blueberry Cheesecake Caron Cakes that I bought when this yarn first came out. I am not sure why I bought it but I think it was “oh, that is so pretty that I must have it and why not two?” I actually remember buying way more than two and that is how my Another Cake Shawl and Latte Scarf came about.
Anyway, back to the blue stuff. I waffled on this one which is why it sat in my stash for a few years. I have been clearing up my UFO’s and felt justified in starting something new, something easy, read TV knitting. This little blanket (70 cm by 83cm, 27.5 by 32.5 inches unblocked) used about one and half cakes. What am going to do with the left over, I don’t know!
I knew that I didn’t have enough for a big blanket but a baby blanket, maybe. I used a simple feather and fan pattern with a short repeat, one row of patterning, one row of purl and two rows of knit. This meant that I only had to concentrate on one row out of four, in other words, perfect.
Me being me, I was determined to knit right through each cake so that I didn’t have many ends to weave in which was a great idea until I looked back after knitting away without inspecting my work and realized that this dark to light colour change was not the prettiest. I wanted to stop and rip back many, many rows but also just wanted to keep going. Guess which option won?
I am really not happy with the finished blanket because of the one row and haven’t blocked it yet. I am going to see if I can use a navy piece (I have some left) and replace the light colour with the dark to fix this glaring, not mistake, but mishandling of the colour change.
If you want to knit a blanket like this one, this is how I made it:
6.5mm or US10.5 circular knitting needle, (knit back and forth) and two markers.
540m or 600 yds of worsted weight yarn all one colour or use up your bits if you don’t mind the ends to weave in.
Cast on 108 stitches; I used a cable cast on. Knit 10 rows for border.
Row 1: Knit 6 stitches for side border, place marker, K2tog twice, (YO, K1 four times, K2tog four times), repeat to a total of seven times, YO, K1 four times, K2tog twice, place marker, K6 for border. Each pattern repeat across is twelve stitches.
Row 2: K6, slip marker, P all stitches to next marker, slip marker, K6.
Row 3: knit all stitches, slipping markers as you go.
Row 4: knit all stitches, slipping markers as you go.
Repeat these four rows another 44 times for a total of 45 pattern repeats. Remove the markers as you go and knit 10 rows. Cast off loosely.
Easy peasy and very pretty.
If you want a larger or smaller blanket, you need to increase or decrease the cast on by groups of twelve. Borders can be wider or narrower but I would not go less than three stitches to stop the roll at the edges and six rows at the top and bottom.
I am currently knitting another one with DK weight odd skeins and am using a 5mm or US 8 needle with 144 stitches cast on which I estimate will give me the same size. I have a bin of this yarn in one skein of each colour, what was I thinking???
Have a lovely week ahead filled with kind thoughts and deeds. Remember to wear your mask when going out to help oldsters like me stay healthy.
