I recently had the opportunity to not only knit, but also design, a wonderful blanket for baby Sonali. Baby Sonali lives in the Bay Area, so I decided to use a light cotton-bamboo blend yarn I had ordered in bulk from the Lion Brand catalog last summer.
To design the blanket itself, I pulled out my handy 365 Knitting Stitches a Year calendar book and was quickly overwhelmed by all of the patterns. I decided to narrow down the options by focusing on lacy repeats that wouldn't add too much bulk to what I hoped would be a lightweight blanket. I ended up settling on two different repeats and ultimately had Andy select both the winning repeat (Staggered Fern Lace Pattern/Nov. 28 on the calendar) and the winning yarn color (Green - Snapdragon).
I then had to figure out how to break up the lace repeats so that the blanket would look complete, and not just some discordant pattern repeats thrown together. This task ended up taking up the most time of the entire design process, and somehow I still got by this step without making test swatches. I decided to try a 5-stitch - k2tog, yo, k1, yo, sl1, k1, psso - repeat between the lace panels, based on this pattern from my go-to blanket book, the Leisure Arts Our Best Knit Baby Afghans.
So now with my yarn, gauge and designing processes over, I got to knitting. My devised pattern was fairly easy to get into, and I noticed results pretty quickly after getting started. I decided to complete the top edging after about 22 inches of the blanket was completed, and after blocking, ended up with a slight rectangular blanket.
True to my design inspiration, the blanket was light and somewhat fluffy, and I think the pattern/color combination worked out really well with a green leafy blanket, similar to baby Asha's blanket. I hope baby Sonali is enjoying it!
Blanket for Baby Sonali
Pattern: Cast on 107 stitches. Full pattern below. 20-stitch lace repeat with 5-stitch lace dividers and 6 garter end stitches on each side.
Yarn: Lion Brand LB Collection Cotton Bamboo, 1.6 skeins in Snapdragon
Needles: One US 6 circular
Measurements: 21 3/4 inches wide by 23 inches tall, post-blocking
Full Pattern:
Rows 1 - 6: Knit across.
Row 7: K6 (P2, K9, YO, K1, YO, K3, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K1, psso) three times, P2, K9, YO, K1, YO, K3, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K6.
Rows 8 and all even rows: Purl across.
Row 9: K6, (P2, K10, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K1, psso) three times, P2, K10, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K6
Row 11: K6, (P2, K3tog, K4, YO, K1, YO, K3, (YO, K1) twice, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K1, psso) three times, P2, K3tog, K4, YO, K1, YO, K3, (YO, K1) twice, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K6
Row 13: K6, (P2, K3tog, K3, YO, K1, YO, K9, P2, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K1, psso) three times, P2, K3tog, K3, YO, K1, YO, K9, P2, K6
Row 15: K6, (P2, K3tog, K2, YO, K1, YO, K10, P2, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K1, psso) three times, P2, K3tog, K2, YO, K1, YO, K10, P2, K6
Row 17: K6, (P2, K3tog, (K1, YO) twice, K3, YO, K1, YO, K4, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, sl1, K1, psso) three times, P2, K3tog, (K1, YO) twice, K3, YO, K1, YO, K4, sl1, K2tog, psso, P2, K6
Row 18: Purl
Repeat Rows 7 - 18 until desired length reached, and then finish with 6 rows of garter stitch (knitting across).
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