Support thread - new blankets

[tribpot]

I'm starting to pull together some ideas for our new blankets, very sadly knit for MNers who have both lost a beloved baby recently :(

You will have instructions from Pistey about wool colours and some suggested shops to buy from - personally I buy mine from McA Direct and have found their service excellent, but there are lots of alternatives out there. Warning: Hobbycraft do not generally stock the required yarns.

The question of how many stitches to cast on comes down to the question of gauge; how tight or loose your knitting is with the yarn in question. Best way is to knit a sample (or a plain square); just measuring how wide it is once you've cast on won't be a very reliable measure because it stretches out once you start knitting. Equally, if it's already more than 6" wide you're on a hiding to nothing. For most people, on 4mm needles, 33-ish stitches and about 45-ish rows should give you a 6" x 6" square but don't do a whole one if you're not sure or a slow knitter, as it's mega-frustrating to have to pull it all back down again.

What follows is mostly links to patterns that we've done or revised in earlier blankets, or ideas for things you might want to try. I know there are some specific pattern requests for these two blankets and I'm looking those out. Warning: many of these are links to patterns on Ravelry, which is like the Facebook of knitting. Registering is free and 100% worth it, although it may mean you start sending your salary direct to your yarn shop of choice at the start of each month as you discover more and more amazing things to knit.

If you want to start with something more adventurous than garter stitch (knit every row) or stockinette (knit one row, purl the next, and so on) why not try the Chinese waves pattern? (Non-Ravelry link). Or maybe stars - this is a bit more difficult - (Non-Ravelry link).

Birds have been specifically requested so we're starting with this lovely Owl pattern - this involves cables and ends up looking a bit like this.

Note, though - before having a go at these patterns you need to know what your gauge is, so you can modify the pattern (so in the case of the owl, cast on fewer stitches / chop out a few rows in terms of length for example) or change needles to get it close to the 6" size.

If you want to follow our adventures in trying to get a particularly devilish heart pattern right, please see the support thread in which Team Heart did battle with hearts, trees and elephants.

More to follow ...

Maybe try fewer stitches if 33 is coming up too large? I think I do 30.

Hope the colds go away, and don't be sadly excited - be joyful and rush!!

thankyou :) and yes so do i, ds4 is miserable and napping during the day etc, very odd for him and dd's sleep has deteriorated, such fun, still at least the sun is shining today :) and i am looking forward to going shopping and choosing some lovely wool

So-fought the anxiety and won-have just had a big chuckle at the "things donors are not sayin" up thread. Blanketeers of the world unite-donors and crafters are cogs in the same (knitting) machine!

I have made a practice flower out of some old bits of wool while I wait for the good stuff to arrive, the edges aren't very square but it's not bad. Have put the photo on my profile

My wool arrived the other day, many thanks to my donor!

Have decided to do different ones to what I normally do this time and am about to try a hummingbird one!

Poop, just realised it is a 9inch pattern! :(

Purple, the hummingbird is 9" on US size 7, which is 4.5mm. If you drop down to a 3.5 or 3.25mm this will make it smaller, plus you can make the border narrower. But I can stick it in a chart and see how it looks? How many stitches do you normally do for 6"?

It's OK tribpot, I am now doing a little owl one you linked to.

For 6 inches it seems to need about 33 -38 stitche for cast on

Can I ask a really silly question?
It's probably been covered 100 times for the other blankets, but I'm quite new to MN and this is the first couple I've got involved in.

What is the problem with using the Baby Cashmerino? It is exactly the same composition as the DK. Is it because it knits between 4ply and DK so buggers the tension/sizing?

I live in the back end of beyond, am am not overly blessed with wool shops (my stash is bigger than one of the local shops ). So I could only get 2 balls of the DK in the right colourways (pale ice blue and warm mid pink); and so I got a couple of balls of the baby (which, 'cos it's akward they had in all the colous).

I've split it and if you add an extra strand it makes it up to DK weight, and once knitted up (plain heart pattern square as a tester) it is just right. Don't want to make a mistake or get my squares chucked out, so thought I'd ask before I make many more.

The baby cash does indeed feel different tension wise once knitted up and can throw less experienced knitters because of the 4 / 4.5ply. We have quite a few crafters who are fairly new to knitting and crochet so it is far easier to stick to the DK wools we have for the moment.

If you're happy to split and add, I'm happy to use them. And bloody well done for having the patience to do that

Thanks for that. I was pleased I'd managed to get the right yarn at all.
I knit a lot of toys and regulary split yarns or use several 1ply yarns together to get just the right shade (I'm a bit obsessive about getting the Very Hungry Caterpillar just right).

I shall get on then, am on my third square, trying a two-tone cable which I haven't done for a while (getting into knots with 13 different little balls).

These blankets are such a lovely thing to do, I just wanted to be involved once I found out about them.

I'm amazed you could face splitting the yarn, Id. I'd just use the magic of t'internet to make the problem go away :)

I've joined in to knit a couple, I have designed a baby's handprint for one square, I'll see how it works if I get some wool from one of the very kind donors.

tribpot, I have added you as a contact on Flickr. Just in case you wonder who the random stranger is!

I didn't know you could split wool

WhoKnows - I love your flower, I made my first ever flower for the Wubbly blanket, my 17th attempt was The One. The thing I find hardest is the ring to start with, unbelievably fiddly. I'd been trying and trying in purple, and it kept going wrong, then I switched after 16 attempts to green and Ta Da! Well it is a flower anyway, and this all reminds me I haven't entirely sent it to Knots yet

IdRatherBe - We are glad to have you with us
I wonder if 5madthings got her wool...

And Blue - you will get a donor my lovely, you are second on my list

Purple, I'm glad to see your Flickr photos are as random as mine

Received the first squares today Fabulous, from Oma, check the threads...

Let me just say that I haven't started yet!

I have done a square and a half so far. Plus two thirds of one last night that I had to frog because my tension has changed and it came out too big (used 4.5mm needles before but now better with 4mm)

I forgot how lovely the wool looks when it's knitted up

Oh yes, my flickr is pretty random! Not put anything on for a little while. Last exciting update was the hole in the ceiling of the boiler cupboard!

And how beautiful it feels as well, Minnie

Thanks Pistey. My starting rings have been revolutionised by following the link in the first post of this thread Crochet Tips. It is far easier than using a chain.

Piste, did you get my reply?

I actually did chart up the hummingbird pattern for anyone who wants to have a crack at it.

What I would do is simply eliminate the borders, which would make it 40 stitches wide by 50 rows tall. Just knit the first and last stitch of each row, so only a single pattern stitch on either side of the hummingbird's beak and tail. Equally there's a few columns of his body that could be edited out!