It's Friday and we're almost at Easter already! How did that happen? This year, like last, is rushing past again. I can't help wish it would get warmer though. In spite of some beautifully sunny days recently the wind is so chilly it stings my face and hands.
Do you remember the blanket I've been knitting? If you missed it you can see the post here :) In that post I promised an updated, usable graphic of the completed blanket plan and you'll find it in this post :)
I'm a determined wee Rosie though so while it might have taken me a few weeks I've managed to complete eight of my little squares and sew them into place on the blanket. Let's see how it looks now...
You might remember I said I'd described how I wanted the blanket to look to Hubby and he then used Excel to make an illustration of the blanket for me (thank you sweetheart x)
That illustration looked like this...
Having this illustration to look at and refer to made knitting my little squares less aimless - I had a plan!
If we compare the squares I've knitted so far with the original graphic it's so easy to see where I am in the plan or pattern and what I have to knit next...
Again I described how I'd like the blanket to grow to Hubby, including how I wanted to change it's shape to rectangular rather than the square it would naturally become in it's present form. I liked the navy blue wool I'd used as a border to my multi-coloured squares and decided to make this my main colour.
Hubby, bless him, outdid himself and we now have a completed illustration or pattern...
My present task is to finish knitting the required twenty eight navy blue squares. As you can see from the earlier photo at the top of this post I've knitted eight so far, and next will knit the remaining twenty squares. These twenty eight squares will form a navy blue border for the multi-coloured squares.
Once sewn into place, these will then be followed by an additional thirty six squares using the pretty pastel wool I bought recently. There will then be an additional last border of forty four navy blue squares. This will be the last square border of the blanket. From then on we will begin turning our lovely knitted square into an even lovelier knitted rectangle :)
Knitted Blanket Pattern Details
A recap then of how I've made this little blanket so far honeys and the pattern to complete it :)
- For the large central square (for blankets middle): Cast on 46 stitches, knit for 92 rows then one more row while casting off.
- Next knit 12 individual squares (to surround the central square) by casting on 23 stitches, knitting for 46 rows and then one more row while casting off. Every square from this row onward will all be the same size. Each with 23 stitches, each knitted for 46 rows with 1 more row to cast off.
- For the next row, you'll need 20 squares.
- For the next row, you'll need 28 squares.
- For the next row, you'll need 36 squares.
- For the next row, you'll need 44 squares.
With each square measuring four and a half inches across, (depending on tension of stitches, your squares might be a little smaller or larger) after I've completed the chart above plus the additional row (step 6) - making the blanket 12 squares wide - The blanket should measure 54inches (4 foot six inches) or 137cm.
At this point I'm then planning to begin adding the first of three rows of squares each to the top and bottom of the blanket. This will create a rectangle shape instead of the large square created so far. You'll see that these rows are labelled A to L in order not to be confused with the numbered squares which make up the original square shape.
To recap then, the blanket will be made up of rows containing 12 squares across and 18 squares from top to bottom (length.) The blanket should then, when it's complete, measure 54 inches wide (4 foot 6 inches or 137cm) by 81 inches long (6 foot 9 inches or 206cm) top to bottom. Phew :)
When I first started working on this blanket I would knit all of the squares for each section and once I've completed the squares needed, I'd then sew them into place. As the blanket grew though I began knitting until I had a small stack of squares. This seems to be working for me, so I think I'll possibly keep doing this for now.
When I first started working on this blanket I would knit all of the squares for each section and once I've completed the squares needed, I'd then sew them into place. As the blanket grew though I began knitting until I had a small stack of squares. This seems to be working for me, so I think I'll possibly keep doing this for now.
There is a wonderful video tutorial showing how to sew squares together using back stitch, which you can see here. It's part of a collection of video tutorials teaching knitting for beginners (which you can see listed here) from Deagostini, the makers of the knitting partwork I shared recently.
If you'd like to download a copy of the large illustration of the completed blanket plan honeys you can find it here. You don't have to use navy blue as your main colour or any of the colours I've used of course, where is the fun in that :) This is a great way to use up left over wool since it doesn't take a lot of wool to knit each square. I mostly got two to three squares from a 25g ball of wool.
If you do decide to knit this pattern honeys, do please let me know which colours you use or share a link to your blog post? Seeing other lovely shades and colours knitted up might inspire me to knit another blanket when this one is finished. It really is such fun seeing a blanket emerge from all of these little squares :)
If you do decide to knit this pattern honeys, do please let me know which colours you use or share a link to your blog post? Seeing other lovely shades and colours knitted up might inspire me to knit another blanket when this one is finished. It really is such fun seeing a blanket emerge from all of these little squares :)
Have a wonderful weekend dear ones, whatever you plan on doing have fun, stay warm, smile lots and hug even more :) Till next time honeys, hugs always xxx
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