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 ...

I feel soooooo bad for pointing that out to you trib as I know you have worked so very hard. I can't say for definite if that is what messed me up but I had worked on to about row 21 and looked at the right side and called myself a rude name and thought, Oh I know what I have done, I've worked the row the wrong way.

I just ripped out a few rows and looked at the chart and just kept comparing my knit stitches on the right side creating the bird and then noticed the chart. It's looking good!!

No no Kitty I'm glad you told me, so annoying. Of course I can't QA the patterns in great detail as my work like it if I help out there every now and then but there's also a double 'wrong side' at about row 23. Actually I would be better off not saying which side was which since it doesn't actually matter - the only key thing is to purl the pattern stitches on the right side and knit on the wrong. BUT I have created a corrected pattern in the same workbook, here.

In other news, this is my attempt at a peanut-inspired Fairisle pattern. The cream is Rowan rather than Debbie Bliss and seems a little on the thin side, even compared to other Rowans I have left over from the previous blanket project. I think it might look nicer in Dave the Donkey and also with a slightly fatter peanut shape.

I have yet to learn working with 2 colours on the same row!

A colleagues sister is due a baby and we are going to do a joint effort on a blanket of squares with some motifs in!

Sounds like lots of fun, Kitty - although you will be learning the pain that Knotty and Pistey go through having to join our squares together I suspect! Sewing one's own squares together is bad enough but at least you know they all have the same tension and stuff.

Evening lovely Woollies

Just posted more safe arrivals of squares on the threads.

It has been busy in here today! i am off to catch up with you all....

Trib-I love the peanuts! They are gorgeous and stylised but obviously peanuts.

I did a blanket for my daughter last year 140 granny squares! And I had not long learned how to crochet!

I am doing a log cabin effect blanket for our bed now, 16 big squares, on number 6 just now!

I'm done! squares for Greengoose on my profile (just don't look at the back of the bird one).

A little bit of each colour left, so I may see if they'll be enough for a standard granny. If not, they'll be in the post with the squares to aid with The Great Fastening Together.

Beautiful, Umami :)

Thank you Trib!

I love your elephant squares. I wish I could knit. I just can't seem to get on with it.

I have very much enjoyed getting my crochet on again. My Nan taught me how to crochet when I was wee (probably pre-10, I think), and I'm always amazed at how my hands seem to remember how to do it more than my brain does. Downfall of being Nan-taught is that I'm never sure that what think of as e.g. sc is what everyone else calls a sc!

was wondering if it would be ok if I made a pocket square with mouse or bird in pocket on a string or a star. thinking ones where you knit pocket lining first cast off from main piece and knit in lining

Umami, only Americans have sc's - single crochet - in England its called double crochet (dc). Hook through, yo, pull back, yo, through loops.

American - english

Sc - dc
Hdc - htc
DC - tc
Tc - erm, I get confused on this, think it's known as extended treble crochet (extc) but I think of it as quadruple.

English makes more sense to me because it describes the number of movements needed iyswim?

That does make sense Pidj, thinking of the number of movements. Quadruple does seem logical, although I thought that's where double treble and treble treble started coming in

If my Nan's crocheting was anything like her card playing, the rules were probably made up anyway

Just finished this one - Waves of Love.

That's beautiful Trib! So much texture!

Upsy, I think that a pocket with a little pop-out animal would be lovely. An interactive blanket! Perhaps you could manage a peanut and a mouse in there together?

Umami - those are just beautiful! I absolutely love the birds!

Trib-loving the waves of love. Nice name for a stitch too. I've been trying Cornish themed-haven't found a merryn one yet. My second ball of wool is thinner than the first and has different yardage-still cashsoft dk though, just different label. Have they changed it I wonder? Gorgeous creamy loveliness though

Morning all

Mole, I've found that with the cream at times. There's also a very pale pink that can be less consistent in thickness.

We've had small teddies attached to some of the previous blankets that can be removed. So a little mouse in a pocket would work. The dk wool is a bit too thick to make an ami peanut: I've tried! I suppose it could be split if you fancied a go. However, there will be quite a few peanuts spread across the blanket already: am making a load to stitch onto some of the simpler squares.

Sorry, not ignoring all the links to beautiful squares. On phone and sometimes the links don't open. But... I know they are gorgeous

Mole - there are some gorgeous cables in this child's guernsey? Merryn means joyful and there is a lovely square on Rav called joyful children, and there's also a rather splendid lighthouse there that could lend itself to a pattern?

Major performance anxiety here. I've even managed to cock up my garter stitch. Argh.

Also some rather lovely Celtic motifs here.

I may not have thought this through given I don't have any longer DPNs in the right size.