Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Cerys Baby Blanket

Hi everyone,

It has been a long time since this blog has been active and many links and photos were no longer active, so I've deleted all the posts except this one with the blanket pattern.

Thank you for visiting over the years and knitting this blanket. Please continue to enjoy.

cheers

Lost in Stash

After knitting a mitered dishtowel I thought I’d use the same concept for a baby blanket but instead making it 4 mitres insted of just the one the dishcloth had.



I'm in love with it - it's so modern and makes a pretty bassinet blanket. It is a simple, mindless knit and if you weave in the ends as you go then there is virually no sewing.

Mine was knitted in Bella Baby Layette which is an 8ply bamboo/wool blend which is so soft. But could be made in anything you desire, just adjust the needle size to match your yarn.

PATTERN (it's just basic but if you have any queries shout out I'd be happy to help.. or convo me on Ravelry)

Cerys Blankie Ravelry Link
Using Yarn of  your choice and corresponding needle sized. 


ETA:24/02/11 - It’s been bought to my attention that bobbling issue tends to occur if using acrylic yarn or a yarn with no memory. For this blanket I’d suggest making sure that you have a decent percentage of actual wool in it so that it will hold it’s shape after blocking. The yarn I used had 25% wool and is still holding up almost a year later :)


Cast on 6 stitches

divide on needles (or magic loop) and mark beginning of row.

Round 1-kfb into every stitch =12 stitches

Round 2 -kfb into every stitch again 24 stitches

This forms the foundation for the mitre.

Round 3  ***kfb k4 kfb place marker*** continue to end of round

Round 4 knit

round 5 -****slip marker kfb knit to one stitch before marker kfb*** continue to end of round

Continue round 4 and 5 pattern until it's the desired size

NB: my stripes are 8 rows wide in 8ply on 4mm needles
BORDER: 
Girly Option: 
Picot edge as follows - yo k2tog all way around then knit decreases in place of increases for at least 4 rounds (though it would look best if done for entire colour block - 8rounds).

Cast off - fold over picot and whip stitch closed
Boyish/Neutral border -  I’d do a fold over border again by purling one row forming the foldover crease and then knitting the decreases, cast off and whip stitch 
You could also just do 8 rows of garter stitch 
The options are endless
Once completed it is important to block the blanket to make the mitres into a nice square.
I'll add more photos when I get my nice camera back as I don't like my little PnS camera hehe.

ETA: Pattern renamed from Mitred Modern Baby Blanket Pattern now that baby is here :)

31 comments:

Sharonnz said...

Very sweet!

Nova said...

ohh cute!

imba said...

Very, very Nice.
Contemporary. Stylish. Simple. I like it!

Renee said...

Gorgeous blanket! Wish I was a knitter...

However I am very grateful for your pettiskirt and frou frou tutu tutorials. I have a little girl who I think will love one of each!

skchapin said...

What does KFB mean? I'm a new knitter and would love to try your pattern. Thanks much

Mallory @ House of Hydrangeas said...

Do you sell these anywhere?

Unknown said...

Thank you - I used your pattern - and added a feather and fan pattern it is beautiful. again thank you

Flea said...

Sorry Everyone I've been busy studying

KFB= knit through the front and back of stitch before slipping of the needle

Mallory - No I don't sell these anywhere. At present I barely have enough personal knitting time hehe.

Knitterrose - I'd love to see a pic

MK said...

Love the mitered blanket, but don't understand the length of needles you use. Do you start with sticks and advance to circular? Thanks MK

Flea said...

Hi MK - You can start with DPN's (double pointed needles) and move up to longer circulars as you go.

Or you can magic loop the start ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-aWWES8Rxc ) if you prefer.

You can also use 2 circular needles.

There are a few ways of knitting in a circle for small items.

Genie said...

Ah... the perfect combination of interesting and easy. I have a 2 year old and concentration with fun yarn is difficult - and yet, I need to make a blanket for my sister who is due in 3 months! I've looked at a lot of blankets and I think that this is "the one". I'm a decent basic knitter, but don't do much fancy stuff... thanks so much for a simple and cool pattern! I can't wait to get started!

Anonymous said...

I am almost done with my blanket! And, I was wondering if you could help me out. Next time, could I turn this into a rectangle blanket by increasing 2 stitches on 2 sides and one on the other two? Then, it would be a 2:1 ratio, which should result in a rectangle, yes? Sorry, I'm sure it is a silly question, but I'm only a beginner knitter (though much better at crochet). Thanks!

Flea said...

Hi Genie - yes you could make a rectangle by moving the stitch markers. Just make the 2 short ends have equal numbers and 2 long ends have equal numbers :)

I'm not sure how much different the 2:1 stitch ratio would make - I guess it would depend how much of a rectangle you wanted. If you do try it out let me know :)

Good Luck

Unknown said...

Is the blanket knit as 1 piece or 4 pieces. I'm probably asking a stupid question, but it is lovely! Thanks.

Flea said...

Hi B,

It is knit as 1 piece.

:)

Unknown said...

Hi I really love this blanket and would love to make one for my own. However I am confused. I have never knitted a mitered pattern before, do you have 4 needles with stitches on them to begin? I am unsure how to divide 6 stitches over 4 needles, because I believe if I only have stitches on 3 needles I won't get a square? Is that right? Can you please clarify? Thank you so much, such a beautiful piece.

Flea said...

Hi Delia,

Yes you use 4 needles (or 3 if you only have a set of 4) and it will still be a square as you increase where you place your markers, this is what will make the shape not the needles. You will eventually go onto a long circular needle and it will still be square :)

You will need to block it afterwards (I pin in place on my carpet and then just spray with a fine mist of water and leave to dry) by doing this you will be able to get sharp mitred corners. Before blocking it does look a bit circular but blocking fixes all this :)

Happy Knitting

Flea

Rachel said...

I just finished this with a blend of mostly acrylic and some wool (75/25, to be exact). It definitely "bubbles" in the middle, as though I knitted the middle with looser tension than the outer stripes even though I'm pretty sure it's around the same. I'm a bit frustrated, as I want this to be easy care for the mom-to-be, but if I block this out, is she going to have to dry it flat every time or would throwing in the dryer be an utter disaster, you think? I realize you may not have all the answers, but I will happily take opinions :).

Flea said...

Hi Rachel,

Unfortunately I don't have those answers, I don't normally work with acrylic as it has no memory. The blanket I made was out of bamboo/wool mix and is fine after a year of use by a non knitter mum and is being put aside now for baby 2.

It is a blanket that needs to be blocked, unfortunately I do not know of a way to do this without blocking. I was always taught to block everything that you knit as it makes it lay better and looks nicer so again I would always block anyway.

However saying that my middle wasn't overly bobbly so I'm also unsure what advice to give you there.

Sorry that I'm not much help on that.

Rachel said...

Thanks, in any case. I might just throw it in the dryer and hope for the best. I'll let you know if it fixes itself!

Flea said...

Hi again Rachel,

I think I found your project on Rav (it looks great btw). But the yarn says that it's an acrylic/bamboo mix. This might be your problem as bamboo also doesn't have memory as far as I'm aware. I can't advise you on dryers as in New Zealand where I'm from we don't really use dryers except in winter when there is not any dry days (and even then only as last resort as they are hugely expensive to run). Most people in NZ have a tendancy to hand dry most things :D

Thanks for bringing it to my attention and I'll pop a note that using a percentage of wool will help it keep it's shape. I've noticed on a couple of other acrylic projects they've had issues with the bobbling the same as you have.

Again thanks for your feedback and I'll adjust the pattern notes now.

Happy Knitting

Unknown said...

I have a quick question about your boy's border: after one of your regular "kfb before/after each marker" increase rows, you'd do a full row of purl for the fold over. Then you mention "knitting the decreases." Would you just k2tog at each stitch marker where you'd normally kfb?

This looks like a wonderful pattern, I can't wait to start on it.

Flea said...

Hi Allison,

Yes just k2tog or whatever your favourite decrease is :)

Happy Knitting

Sharon Wheeless said...

I love, love, LOVE the picot edging! Not fussy and very sweet.

Annette said...

Sure this is a silly question. Knitting this on magic loop and 2 stitch holders are now on the floor. Ooops. Is it an increase at the beginning, middle, and end of every half side of magic loop? Or just either an increase at the beginning and middle: or an increase at the middle and end?

Beautiful blanket!

A

Annette said...

Silly question I'm sure. Knitting this on magic loop. But noticed 2 stitch holders on the floor. Ooops. Am I knitting 1 kfb at every beginning, middle, and end? Or am I knitting 1 kfb at every beginning and middle, or middle and end of every half of magic loop?

Love this blanket!

SewRome said...

Hello. I am going to knit this blanky for my soon to be granddaughter and will like to see the other side of it. If you might take a pic of both sides and post. Thank you

Flea said...

Hi SewRome,

Unfortunately I can't take a pic of the back of the blanket since I made it a couple of years ago and it now lives a few hours away with my niece.

Zack and Afton said...

Hi, I love this blanket and i made it all the way up to the border... now I'm a little stuck. I want to do the girly option and do a picot edge, but I've never done one and am a little confused on how to do it. Do I continue alternating between round 4 &5 until the 8 row and then do the yo ktog? or how exactly do I do it?

Flea said...

Sorry I've been taking a break from the internet so I've not had a chance to catch up on comments. I hope you sorted the blanket out.

The picot edge is only 1 row which is then folded over. So you'd continue your decrease where you would normally do your yo (as you've mentioned.

MrsVorm said...

Love this blanket, it's gorgeous. I'm trying to start it and I'm really confused about how to go about dividing the stitches. You don't really go into any detail on how to start it...anyone? I need help! I watched the tutorial over on very pink.com on knitting in the round with a very small number of stitches, but I still don't think I'm doing this right...