Knitting a baby blanket with squares

[PigeonPie]

DS1's teacher is just about to go on maternity leave and his other teacher (they job share) has had the bright idea of us all knitting a square each (or as many as we'd like) to turn into a baby blanket.

I thought it would be easy to find a pattern / ideas about size etc but haven't had much success and I'm having a brainless moment!

If we wanted to do 10cm squares, what size needles and how many stitches / rows for DK wool? I was thinking of suggesting garter stitch, so that some of the children might be able to have a go too and then I'll block it and sew it all together.

We haven't got much time as she leaves at the end of the first week after half term!

Thanks for your help.

Can you knit?? If not a 10cm square in three (?) weeks is a big task.

If you can then most yarns have a gauge on the side that says what size needles and number of stitches and rows for a 10cm square.
If you wanted to involve the children you could get fabric pens and draw on squares that you see together.
K

Dk wool for 10cm square is around 22 stitchs cast on and 30 rows. I'm an basic knitter and it would probably take me about 45-1h per square.
Obviously if your using chunky wool the faster it would be. But to teach kids and get them enoug practise to come up with square that's a square and not to wonky or missed stitches is big job!

Agree about making a class blanket out of other material or maybe a picture for nursery?

KatyN, yes I can knit and am pretty quick (fortunately), and I know a number of the other parents can too. 10cm squares aren't big, they should be done in about an evening, but I wanted to have an idea of stitches / rows to give to the others if they used DK wool.

Woolly Hugs normally does 6" squares and recommends 4mm needles using DK. You might want to have a look at the site as it has loads of links to patterns, suggested yarns etc. In such a short time period I would keep completely simple and go for garter stitch only, maybe 3 or 4 complimenting colours and a very firm deadline for getting the squares to you.

I would suggest Stylecraft Special DK - it washes well, has a ton of colours, the only downside is it's not readily available in many real-life shops, so people may not be able to get started til next week. Alternatively I'd go for something Hobbycraft is known to stock, like Sirdar Snuggly or the WI DK.

Size is likely to be dictated by how many square you get, I wouldn't worry about that til you see what's in front of you. You will probably want to do a small border around the blanket to give it a finished look, so do leave time for this as well. WH require us not to block squares to make them easier to join.

You will get a variety of sizes if you have a lot of beginner knitters. The gauge on the ball band of the yarn is only a guide, there's no way to guarantee exactly how many stitches and rows a particular knitter will need to make 10cm, although it should be reasonably close to the suggested number. For 6" squares we normally have somewhere between about 28 to 35 stitches.

Thank you so much - that's a great help. We've given them a deadline of the 23rd which will give me three days to put it together ! We've also got a fantastic wool shop in town so I'll see if they have stylecraft DK.

A tip I learned recently for total beginners is to alternate rows with an experienced knitter, so they can pick up dropped stitches etc. Works well for an adult teaching a child, and means your first ever square won't be more of a triangle.

You'll have to be very tough with those who miss the deadline. I would basically put their squares to one side to do a comforter or mini-blanket for the baby which you can deliver later. (The blanket, not the baby).

Woolly Hugs normally crochet the blankets together, btw. If you want to do that, choose a neutral shade to go with the colours you select for the squares.

Is anyone likely to get started this weekend? I would put the word out quickly that you want them all doing in one yarn and what that is.