Super Easy Crib blanket

I hope you are having a splendid week, and are finding some restful down-time.

Last year, I completed my first ‘big’ knit for a friend who is expecting a baby girl this year – the Super Easy Crib Blanket by the folks at Purl Soho. I simply adored these blankets the moment I saw them – so many whimsical and fun colour combos. I decided to try my hand at colour-coordinating and knitting one myself. I can think of nothing nicer than being wrapped up in something warm and bright on a cold winter day – Purl Soho’s creative intuition in designing this simple but lively nursery staple is spot on.

I wanted the crib/stroller blanket to measure around 30″ square. With some garter stitch swatching, I found that, using a 29″ size 11 (US) circular needle and a super bulky wool-blend, I could produce a blanket width of 30″ by casting on 72 stitches. Each of the 7 bands of colour is 4.5″ high, yielding a final length of 31.5″.

With these magic numbers, I took to my needles last October. I wanted to do a jazzy .GIF for you of the blanket growing larger with each stripe, but I lack the technical skills. 🙂 You can watch it grow below.

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Early October 2016: starting out

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On the home-stretch, with unwoven ends. Those last 3 bands are channeling my love of neapolitan ice cream. Sock monkey has been my cheerleader and knitting muse throughout.
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Very last stitch cast off…

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Blanket statements (a.k.a. Learnings)

1) It was interesting to discover that circular needles have non-circular uses. Not having to carry the weight of a large project on straight needles (letting the project lie in your lap) = an easier time on wrists and shoulders. I pretty much knit all things on circulars these days – they are incredibly portable.

2) Pattern-wise, this was a straightforward garter-stitch knit all the way through. Being loosed from a complicated pattern meant that I paid more attention to the qualities of the yarn. Yarn weight and composition aside, I found that different colours produce different knit-feel – white strangely felt the ‘softest’; pink activated my taste receptors (it reminded me of bubble gum and cotton candy); and the energizing red seemed to jet-propel my fingers right across the stitches. I can’t wait to make the next blanket and experiment with more colours.

Wishing you happy trails on your creative projects this week, big and small.

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Posted on Posted in KnittingTagged , ,

13 thoughts on “Super Easy Crib blanket”

  1. such nice clean lines on the blanket. I love using circs for big projects–so much extra security 🙂 I used two of my Addi cords locked together for parts of the last blanket–just to hold all of the stitches. Beautiful work.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Tierney. It was a nice surprise to discover the yummy-ness of the yarn. And yes, it definitely helps to have a little cheerleader from time to time. 😉 Thanks for stopping by!

      Like

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