Cozy Knit Baby Blanket

I’m so excited to finally be able to share the details of this blanket! I’ve had it mind for baby Sally even before she was conceived. Novice knitter that I am, this blanket still worked up beautifully. I keep folding and unfolding it, reveling in it’s softness and imagining a squishy new baby snuggled between the folds.

The Summer Sky Blanket pattern comes from the book

 What to Knit When You’re Expecting: Simple Mittens, Blankets, Hats & Sweaters for Baby

and uses my hands-down FAVORITE yarn of all time:

Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight Alpaca #538 Hibiscus

As far as difficulty level, I’d say this is a great “step-up” pattern for a confident beginner. You need to know how to knit and how to purl, how to pick up stitches and knit into the back loop. Fairly straight forward. I found it tricky to pick up stitches properly. The video below helped:

 

Because of the picked up edge, this blanket does have a “right” and “wrong” side to it. That’s not always my favorite thing with blankets because the “wrong” side will always show a bit somehow, but the finished blanket is so luxurious and soft I find myself not even caring! But just so you can see what I’m talking about:

^ Right side. ^

^ Wrong side. ^

You’ll also see a few random “ribs” in my blanket. These are honestly my real mistakes that I ended up leaving unfixed- I decided they added a cute quirk and a Mama touch that I now really adore.

The yarn called for in the patter is slightly over what is needed for the blanket dimensions created by following the pattern exactly (72cm x 78cm). I hate wasting yarn and am kind of the no-blanket-is-too-big side of the fence so I made my blanket longer and more rectangular to use up more yarn. Definitely a great and versatile pattern to use for all of your baby gifting needs. Trust me, Mom and baby will LOVE this one.

*The fibers of this particular yarn DO NOT machine wash well. Spot clean only with lukewarm water and, if necessary, baby soap. If the blanket does get wet, lay it flat to dry on clean towels, smoothing it to it’s original/desired shape and it will dry that way. (Commonly referred to as blocking when discussing shaping knit items that have been fully submerged.) My girls both have many knit and crochet items from this particular yarn. I’ve often wiped away a spot or stain with baby wipes or spot cleaned with no problems at all. I use the blankets often just keeping in mind it’s probably not the best surface to use for changing a diaper or finding out if your baby likes peas or not. 😉  But if you really want a more washable fiber, something synthetic will be better for your needs.

Hope you add it to your pattern que. Definitely a beautiful finished product.

xo

J