Fancy a bold and bright knit? Introducing the Daisy Chain blanket!

Some pattern releases are harder to stay quiet about than others, and this one has been really hard for me not to shout about! Let me introduce: Daisy Chain Blanket!

The Daisy Chain Blanket is big and bold, and perfect for Spring and Summer. Knitting it was the perfect antidote to winter as well!

The blanket is knitted from the bottom up, starting with a moss stitch border. The daisy pattern is knitted into the main body of the blanket using the intarsia technique, and the moss stitch borders up the sides of the blanket are worked at the same time as the main body. Once you’ve worked the main body of the blanket, you finish it with a top border made of moss stitch. All you need to do at the end is weave in all the loose ends (ok, that might take you a little while, but if you weave some in every few rows, by the time you finish the blanket, there won’t be many left to weave in) and you’re done.

The intarsia blocks in this blanket are nice and large, which means the colour changes aren’t too frequent, making this a good project if you’re fairly new to intarsia – just take it slowly and you’ll be amazed what you can do!

The sample blanket is knitted in Paintbox Yarns Simply Aran,* which is available exclusively from LoveCrafts. The yarn is 100% acrylic, so it’s machine washable, and therefore perfect as a baby gift, or for taking out and about for picnics this summer. If you prefer something a little woollier, you can use Paintbox Yarns Wool Mix Aran* instead, which comes in the same colour palette, but is a 50% wool/acrylic blend.

The pattern is written for three sizes: car seat, pushchair, and cot, so you can choose how large a blanket you’d like to make. Don’t have anyone to make the blanket for? Why not knit it for yourself? The blanket would be perfect for resting over your knees while out on the patio on a summer’s evening.

Want to knit the Daisy Chain Blanket? You can find the pattern in Knit Now issue 127, which goes on sale today. Can’t get to the shops? You can order a copy here to be delivered direct to your home.

Want to add the pattern to your Ravelry queue and favourites? You can find the pattern page here.**

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**Ravelry link. May cause issues for people with photosensitivity; proceed with caution.

Images copyright Practical Publishing.

Tessellate baby blanket: now available on LoveCrafts!

The Tessellate baby blanket is available now in LoveCrafts store!* Haven't heard of LoveCrafts? It's the new combined home of LoveKnitting and LoveCrochet. You can find all my downloadable patterns in my LoveCrafts store.*

The Tessellate baby blanket* (originally published in Knit Now issue 86) is a bold, high contrast design, inspired by patchwork and quilting. The blanket features a strong geometric design created using simple two-colour squares that are knitted on the diagonal – this blanket makes excellent TV knitting, and is a great portable project. You could work the blanket in pastels, as shown, for a really pretty baby blanket, or you could use something brighter and bolder for a more contemporary look.

Unusually for me, this pattern is completely suitable for beginners. All you need to be able to do is knit garter stitch, work simple increases and decreases, and pick up stitches! The project is also perfect for those of you that want an easy project to take along on days out over the summer – as it's worked as individual squares, it'll fit perfectly in your bag among all the other stuff you need for a day out.

The pattern is written for the baby-sized blanket, as shown, but I've also included details on how to make a larger or smaller blanket, and provided diagrams for alternative seaming arrangements, so this blanket is fully customisable.

The original blanket is knitted in Three Bears Yarn Affection 100% Cotton Aran, which is spun in Lancashire by English Fine Cottons, but you can use any aran weight yarn that is suitable for babies (ideally chose something smooth and machine washable to make it easy for new parents to care for). LoveCrafts doesn't sell Three Bears Yarn, so I've suggested using Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran, which comes in a brilliant array of colours!

Happy knitting!

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Pattern details

Sizes

One size: 93 cm (36.5 in) square

Tension

17 sts and 34 rows = 10 cm (4 in) in garter stitch worked flat on 5 mm (US 8) needles after wet blocking, or size needed to obtain correct tension.

Yarn

Aran-weight yarn in the following colours and amounts (for the blanket as shown; options are included to make a larger or smaller blanket):

A (white): 285 m (310 yds)

B (light blue): 285 m (310 yds)

C (light purple): 160 m (175 yds)

Needles

5 mm (US 8) straight needles at least 25 cm (10 in) in length

5 mm (US 8) circular needle at least 60 cm (24 in) in length

Notions

Tapestry needle

Sample details

The sample is knitted in Three Bears Yarn Affection Aran (aran, 85 m per 50 g ball, 100% cotton) in Pure White (A), Baby Blue (B) and Purple Delight (C).

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Tessellate baby blanket

Hello! I'm back into full-swing with work (well, as full-swing as is possible around three children during the summer term – a lot of my time seems to be taken up with sports days!), and have been starting to work through the pile of third-party designs that need adding to my Ravelry store.

The Tessellate baby blanket (originally published in Knit Now issue 86) is a bold, high contrast design, inspired by patchwork and quilting. The blanket features a strong geometric design created using simple two colour squares that are knitted on the diagonal – this blanket makes excellent TV knitting, and is a great portable project. You could work the blanket in pastels, as shown, for a really pretty baby blanket, or you could use something brighter and bolder for a more contemporary look.

Unusually for me, this pattern is completely suitable for beginners. All you need to be able to do is knit garter stitch, work simple increases and decreases, and pick up stitches! The project is also perfect for those of you that want an easy project to take along on days out over the summer – as it's worked as individual squares, it'll fit perfectly in your bag among all the other stuff you need for a day out.

The pattern is written for the baby-sized blanket, as shown, but I've also included details on how to make a larger or smaller blanket, and provided diagrams for alternative seaming arrangements, so this blanket is fully customisable.

The original blanket is knitted in Three Bears Yarn Affection 100% Cotton Aran, which is spun in Lancashire by English Fine Cottons, but you can use any aran weight yarn that is suitable for babies (ideally chose something smooth and machine washable to make it easy for new parents to care for).

The pattern is available now on Ravelry. From now until 11.59pm BST, Sunday 7th July 2019, you can get 20% off with the code TESSELLATE, just add the code before you check out.

The pattern will also be available shortly on Love Crafts* (the new name for Love Knitting) - just search for Tessellate baby blanket (note that discount codes do not apply on Love Crafts).

Happy knitting!

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Pattern details

Sizes

One size: 93 cm (36.5 in) square

Tension

17 sts and 34 rows = 10 cm (4 in) in garter stitch worked flat on 5 mm (US 8) needles after wet blocking, or size needed to obtain correct tension.

Yarn

Aran-weight yarn in the following colours and amounts (for the blanket as shown; options are included to make a larger or smaller blanket):

A (white): 285 m (310 yds)

B (light blue): 285 m (310 yds)

C (light purple): 160 m (175 yds)

Needles

5 mm (US 8) straight needles at least 25 cm (10 in) in length

5 mm (US 8) circular needle at least 60 cm (24 in) in length

Notions

Tapestry needle

Sample details

The sample is knitted in Three Bears Yarn Affection Aran (aran, 85 m per 50 g ball, 100% cotton) in Pure White (A), Baby Blue (B) and Purple Delight (C).

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The crochet-hook black-hole

Somewhere in my house there is a black hole filled with every crochet hook I've ever owned. That's the only possible explanation as to why I cannot locate any crochet hooks at the minute. My knitting needles are all carefully filed, and I thought the hooks were there with them, but apparently not, nor are they in any of the other obvious homes. All of which makes crocheting a baby blanket rather tricky.

I had been planning on making a blanket for a friend's new baby ever since I found out she was pregnant, but even though I've known for months that the baby is due in October, I hadn't realised how quickly October was coming around (for some reason I've spent most of the past week thinking it's February). The yarn has been purchased (I'm using the leftovers from the blanket I crocheted for another friend earlier in the year, along with three balls of pale grey that I bought to go with them), but without a hook, the project is a bit of a non-starter.

I did consider ordering the most likely hook size, I then considered ordering a whole new set of hooks just in case I needed a different size. Both of which are not great options as: (i) the pattern I was planning on using is one I haven't made before so I knew I'd need to play with hook sizes before I'd be happy; (i) I already own lots of crochet hooks, even I can't find them, so it seems silly to replace all of them!

As ever, the answer was pretty obvious, and I popped round to a crocheting friend's for an afternoon to borrow some hooks and do a couple of test swatches (I was right not to order just one hook - I had to try two). I'm now ploughing on with the blanket, and it's looking lovely (the pattern is Hydrangea Stripe blanket by Lucy of Attic 24) and it's mindless enough to do whilst feeding a baby! I have ordered myself a single hook in the right size as I have a favourite type of hook (Clover Soft Touch* - the ergonomic handle means I can crochet for ages without my hand cramping up), and am keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of the hooks hooks turn up one day! 

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FO Friday: Beatrice baby blanket

Last week some of my close friends had a new baby, which means I can finally properly share the baby blanket I made for them.

As soon as I found out my friends were having a baby, I knew exactly the type of thing I wanted to make for their new arrival - a crochet baby blanket that was airy enough for the summer, but snuggly enough for the autumn too, and in rainbow colours. My friends are not knitters, so I decided to make the blanket from an easy-care yarn, going for Stylecraft Special DK as it comes in lots of bright, bold colours, there are plenty of options for rainbows, and it withstands everything a small child is likely to throw at it really well.

To decide what colours to go for, I did a lot of browsing on Ravelry to see what other people had already done. There were many, many beautiful colourways that stood out, some girly, some very masculine, and some happily in the middle. I eventually found a favourite, then tweaked a couple of the colours for ones that I preferred, and ordered my yarn.

Choosing the pattern was easy: I made a Beatrice by Little Doolally for a different friend's wedding a few years ago and loved making it, so knew that I wanted to do that again. The pattern is lovely to work from, and grows quite quickly. The only slight drawback is that its open nature means it's hard to work over the ends as you go, and you end up having to darn in lots of ends at the end.

The finished blanket is beautiful, and has been well received. Even better there are enough rainbow  leftovers to make a blanket for another friend who is currently expecting a baby - I'm thinking of a Bertie Baby Blanket (also by Little Doolally) using Silver as the neutral colour.

What's your favourite baby blanket pattern?

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Pattern: Beatrice Baby Blanket by Little Dolally
Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK* in Cream, Lipstick, Spice, Saffron, Lime, Aster, Violet and Emperor
Ravelry project page

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