Blanket Square #7: Seed Pearl Block Stitch

My oldest daughter comes up to me this week and tells me that she is almost 7. Of course I agree with her. Then she looks up at me and announces that "7 is half a teenager". LOL I didn't know how to respond to that one. I'm most certainly not ready to be a mom of a teenager and when did she get to be almost 7? She is still my baby that needs hugs and kisses and squeezes (a really tight hug). She is the reason for many a sleepless night and trips to the doctor. She is the one who is silly and goofy even if she is bit ackward but still manages to light up a room the second she enters. Without her my life would be so very different. Good Gravy time certainly flies when you arn't looking.

Blanket Square is the Seed Pearl Block Stitch and while it is incredibly simple to knit, it is also quite handsome. As I was knitting it, I thought it would make a very attractive baby blanket. Granted certain baby thoughts are coming easily to me after I've been informed I'm mother to half a teen-ager.

Enjoy!


Seed-Pearl Block Stitch

A Second Treasury of Kniting Pattern by Barbara Walker p. 8

Multiple of 8 sts plus 1

Row 1: (Wrong Side) and all other wrong -side rows - Purl.
Row 2: P1, *K1, p1; rep from *.
Rows 4, 8 and 12- Knit
Rows 6 and 10 - P1, *k7, p1; rep from *.

Blanket Square #6: Ripple Stripe Pattern

The weather here in Michigan has been such a flirt. Last week we had the mercury upwards of 55-60F and this week we had snow. SNOW! Granted it did all melt but its officially Spring and we are still getting snow. I was informed by Sydney that Spring is coming because the birdies are coming back and that means spring. How did that child get so smart?

This weeks square is the Ripple Stripe Pattern and according to Barbara it is excellent for an easy knit. She also says it is excellent for sweaters, skirts and dresses.


Ripple Stripe Pattern

From "A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns" by Barbara Walker

Multiple of 8 sts plus 1

Row 1: (RS) K4, *p1, k7; rep from *, end p1, k4
Row 2: P3, *k3, p5; rep from *, end k3, p3
Row 3: K2, *p2, k1, p2, k3; rep from *, end last repeat k2
Row 4: P1, *k2, p3, k2, p1; rep from *
Row 5: K1, *p1, k5, p1, k1; rep from *
Row 6: purl

Repeat rows 1-6

Blanket Square #5: Square Lattice

Don't let this pattern fool you because it certainly fooled me. It is harder than it looks because I kept loosing my place in the pattern. I would strongly recommend marking your place. Overall, this was quite fun and I love the resulting square.


Square Lattice
Multiple of 14 sts plus 2

Row 1: Knit
Rows 2, 4 and 6: P2, *(k1, p1) twice, k1 p2; rep from *
Rows 3, 5 and 7: K3, *p1, k1, p1, k4; rep from *, end last repeat k3.
Row 8: P2, *k12, p2; rep from *
Row 9: K2, *p12, k2; rep from *
Row 10: Purl
Rows 11, 13, and 15: K2, *(p1, k1) twice, p1, k2; rep from *
Rows 12, 14, and 16: P3, *k1, p1, k1, p4; rep from *, end last repeat p3.
Row 17: P7, *k2, p12; rep from *, end k2, p7
Row 18: K7, *p2, K12; rep from*, end p2, k7

Repeat Rows 1 - 18

Blanket Square #4: Moss Diamond and Lozenge Pattern

This pattern looks harder than it actually is. It is a rather ingenious arrangement of Moss Stitch "diamonds" - which arn't true diamonds, as they are off-center by one stitch - with lozenges of knit and purl.

Moss Diamond and Lozenge Pattern
A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, pg 17

Multiple of 12 sts.

Rows 1 and 2: *K6, p6; rep from *
Rows 3 and 4: * P1, k5, p5, k1; rep from *
Rows 5 and 6: *K1, p1, k4, p4, k1, p1; rep from *
Rows 7 and 8: *P1, k1, p1, k3, p3, k1, p1, k1; rep from *
Rows 9 and 10: *(k1, p1) twice, k2, p2, (k1, p1) twice; rep from *
Rows 11 and 12: *P1, k1; rep from *
Rows 13 and 14: *K1, P1; rep from *
Rows 15 and 16: *(P1, k1) twice, p2, k2, (p1, k1) twice; rep from *
Rows 17 and 18: *K1, p1, k1, p3, k3, p1, k1, p1; rep from *
Rows 19 and 20: *P1, k1, p4, k4, p1, k1; rep from *
Rows 21 and 22: *K1, p5, k5, p1; rep from *
Rows 23 and 24: *P6, k6; rep from *
Rows 25 and 26: *P5, k1, p1, k5; rep from *
Rows 27 and 28: *P4, (k1, p1) twice, k4; rep from *
Rows 29 and 30: *P3, (k1, p1) 3 times, k3; rep from *
Rows 31 and 32: *P2, (k1, p1) 4 times, k2; rep from *
Rows 33 and 34: *P1, k1; rep from *
Rows 35 and 36: *K1, p1; rep from *
Rows 37 and 38: *K2, (p1, k1) 4 times, p2; rep from *
Rows 39 and 40: *K3, (p1, k1) 3 times, p3; rep from *
Rows 41 and 42: *K4, (p1, k1) twice, p4; rep from *
Rows 43 and 44: *K5, p1, k1, p5; rep from *

Repeat rows 1-44.

Blanket Square #3

This texture pattern I borrowed from another pattern, Druid Mittens by Jarod Food. It requires minimal attention and is definately a sitting-in-front-of-your-favorite-tv-show kind of knitting.

Jarod's Texture Pattern

Multiple of 2 sts.

Row 1: *K1, with yarn in front slip 1 stitch, Repeat from * across.
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: *With yarn in front slip 1 stitch, k1, Repeat from * across.
Row 4: Purl

Blanket Square #2

For the second square I decided to keep it simple and go with the seed stitch. I absolutely love the seed stitch. The texture is amazing, its very easy to do, and the results are to die for!



Seed Stitch

Multiple of 2 sts.

Row 1: *K1, p1. Repeat from * across.
Row 2: *P1, k1. Repeat from * across.

Blanket Square # 1

Determining what type of square to knit was alot harder than I thought it would be. The possibilities are endless afterall. There are cables, or texture, or lace, or cables with lace, slip-stitch patterns. Like I said, the possibilities are endless. So to keep my sanity I decided to limit it to texture squares.

Here I am, curled up on my couch going through the "Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns" by Barbara Walker, trying to decide on a texture stitch pattern. The book contains over 700 patterns so I'm bound to find something. Right? I flip on over to the "texture" section and again find an overwhelmingly amount of patterns. Left leaning texture, right leaning texture, texture with zigzags, texture with ribs. What part of this is going to help keep my sanity? Damnit woman, just pick a pattern and be done with it!



For the first square I chose the "Seeded Rib Pattern" located on page 7.

Seeded Rib Pattern

Multiple of 4 sts plus 3.

Row 1: K3, *p1, k3; rep from *
Row 2: K1, *p1, k3; rep from * end p1, k1

Libby's Blanket

So I was thinking that it sure has been awhile since I’ve made myself a big blanket and wouldn’t it be great if I got my bum in geer and made myself one?

To help stay on track, I came up with a timeline for what needed to be made and by when.

Jan: make 3 squares
Feb: make 3 squares
March: make 2 squares
April: make 3 squares
May: make 2 border strips
June: make 3 squares
July: make 2 squares
August: make 3 squares
Sept: make 3 squares
Oct: make 3 squares
Nov: make 2 border strips
Dec: Sew it all together

When its all said and done, I'll have made 25 12"x12" squares and 4 5' border strips. And when its all sewn up, it will be my blanket!

Now for the yarn. I've decided to go with Elann.com Peru Soft (now a discontinued yarn) because I have a crazy amount of it. Yes, Ann had a bag sale at an amazing price and lets just say that I have several bags. The other thing that is absolutely great about this yarn is that its a bulky wt, translating to very fast knit!

So if all goes accordingly to plan, I will have a blanket by the end of the year!

Betsy's Blanket

Back in October of 2010 I got a phone call that stopped me dead in my tracks. My good online friend Betsy had a massive stroke. How could this happen? She is in her 50's and much too young for this kind of trauma. I was stunned and wanted to help but I'm in Michigan and she is in Texas. There isn't much I'm gonna do up here but pray. And pray I did. Its embarrassing the amount of candles lit before the IOP (Infant of Prague) with novenas and litanies and short prayers for Betsy.

Then the knitter in me kicked into gear. I sent out feelers via Ravelry if anyone wanted to put together a blanket for our friend. The response was overwhelming and I found a way we could help from afar.



I chose a yarn I knew that Betsy would love in colors that were meaningful to her. Furthermore I instructed each knitter to knit a 12" x 12" square and get it to me by the specified date. This would give me time to sew it all together so Betsy would have it just in time for her rehabilitation and recovery time. Sounds easy enough in theory. But you know what they say about best laid plans!



When the squares started rolling in I was so incredibly excited. And then they kept coming and coming and coming. 25 in all plus the border edges. To put it mildly, I was getting overwhelmed. What did I sign up for? Sure, I've done blankets like this before but right before Christmas? OK, buck up Libby Grant, you can do this.



I decided to tackle this little by little and sew up the squares 30 minutes at a time. Picture this. I have all of the squares laid out on the basement floor. Me on my belly lying on top of the blanket sewing away with 2 kids thinking we are gonna play horsey. Yep the kids were climbing all over me while I was sewing away. So I was only able to get a couple of 5 foot lengths sewn together at any one given time. And there were 8 of them to do for the inside squares and another 4 to do for the borders.



Eventually they were all sewn together and then came the border strips. At this point I was getting excited and could actually visualize the finished project! Then came the final touches when I mitered the corners and wove in all the edges.



Then I just looked at it in amazement because 29 women got together to make a blanket for our friend. It truly is a work of art.