Does anyone ever knit blanket squares and answer a question?

[nkf]

I'm teaching my daughter to knit (and reminding myself how it's done). I remember my mother used to make blankets by knitting squares. And she always had a neat formula. One ball of wool, 50 stitches and it made a square. Or am I making it up? And if not, how big was the ball? This was in imperial measurements. The squares were pretty big. Or at lest they seemed big but then I was small.

Bump. Please.

My mum always used to knit squares on the diagonal, so she'd start with one stitch & increase by two every row until she had the right size, then decrease again. It made sure the squares were the same size & they kept their shape better, but it might be a bit difficult for a beginner to do.

I think it might but it's a nice idea. You could end up with some handsome patterns if you changed the wool. I don't know how to decrease or increase. I'm still getting back into practice.

50 stitches seems huge!
We recently did a mn blanket, and the squares were 6" (15cm) -depending on the yarn, and how tightly you knit... would be between 25 and 33 stitches. (my tension is v v tight I'm afraid...)
Wool tends to come in 50g balls (rowan or jaeger) but patons comes in 100g. Acrylic is usually 100g balls.
HTH- I am an extremely novice knitter, but I'm sure other mumsknitters will be along soon! (though we seem mostly to be on ravelry these days!)

So do you just keep measuring the knitting to see that it's 15cm? What's ravelry?
Thanks for the tip about the size of wool. We had some cheapo balls of wool that I'm practising with. I won't buy any till I know that I can make a good job of it.

Hello nkf - the thing with knitting 1 ball per square is that it doesn't take into account different weights of yarn. As EachPeach says, acrylic generally comes in 100g, posher stuff in 50g - but the actual length of the yarn can vary quite a lot.

The technique RustyBear suggests is great for ending up with identical sized squares of different yarns - but as she says it's maybe not the easiest way to start.

I think tbh she is better off starting with 30 sts on the needle (if it's DK (double knitting) yarn), or even better go for a chunky yarn and bigger needles (say 5mm instead of 4mm), then she will see it growing faster! The best way to see if it's square is to fold up the bottom left corner to the top right of the square (this can be done with the square still on the needles) - if it is a square then folding the corners together should give you two equal triangles.

If you need reminders on any techniques, then there are some great videos on YouTube, or go to knittinghelp.com, they have vids on there too.

Or shout up for more advice!

Oh and ravelry is a knitting site (ravelry.com). You sign up and get an invite in the following few days. It's a brilliant site with masses of help and support for any questions, plus you share your projects etc. Great place (can you tell it's my second home )

I see what you are saying. I guess the ball per square worked for my mother because she'd been knitting for years. It was her own personal measurement rather than a rule. I'm using 6mm needles at the moment. Seems to give a nice thickness. I've been experimenting with different amounts of stitches. I shall only do a small blanket to start with. For a doll's bed. That sort of thing. It'll be a long time before I'll be kniting for people's babies!

PS: why are the sides (i.e the first stitch) so difficult to get right? Mine are always loopy.

Miaou! Lovely to 'see' you on here again

NKF- I agree edges are a bit naff- it helps to slip the first stitch over rather than knit it- gives a (slightly in my case ) neater edge.

EPPM

I'm only dipping my toe into A&C and the odd other bit. But thank you for noticing

I'm knitting squares for a blanket. My question is - do they need to perfect squares.

Katrina