I like to welcome babies into this world with a hand knit blanket. It will keep them warm and cozy and they will not grow out of it the first couple of years. 🙂 My most recent baby blankets have been versions of the #tutorialthrow, i.e. made up of squares, the instructions for which you can find on this website. However, in the times before the website, my go-to baby blanket pattern was this one with diagonal garter stitch stripes. It’s an easy no-purl pattern, perfect for TV-knitting and a great stash buster!
Dimensions:
The finished blanket measures ca. 80 x 80cm.
Materials:
You can use any weight of yarn you like – wool, cotton, acrylic, silk… The thicker the yarn, the more you will need. I used DK wool (ca. 100m/50g). In total I used approx 500g.
You will need a circular needle with a length of 60cm or more. At some point you will have a lot of stitches on your needle! Needle size will depend on the yarn you choose.
Instructions:
Cast on 5 stitches.
Knit a row.
Increase row: Slip 1st stitch purlwise, knit 1, make a twisted loop, knit to end of row.
Make any stripes you like! Since the first stitch is slipped, colour changes are made on the second stitch.
Repeat the increase row until work measures 50-52cm from cast on.
Next, start decreasing.
Decrease row: Slip 1st stitch purlwise, knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.
Repeat the decrease row until there are 5 stitches left.
Cast off. Weave in ends.
Anna’s tips 😉
🧶 Make any stripes you like! I like to knit single garter ridges alternating between a main colour and contrast colour(s). But I have also made blankets with wider stripes in the past. Follow your heart!
🧶 When decreasing, do not make the first stitches of the row too tight, or the second half of the blanket will turn out tighter than the first half!
You are welcome to share your work on social media and to tag me (@annaplexis.knits on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, @annaplexis on TikTok, X, Mastodon, tumblr and YouTube). I’d love to see your work 🙂
Hashtags: #IMadeThisBabyBlanket and/or #BarbaraBabyBlanket
Annaplexis 