Knitted Blanket

My daughter asked me to knit a blanket for her queen size bed. I laughed!

I told my, sister Esther. She laughed!

I didn't want to refuse, but the task was daunting to say the least. The challenge piqued my interest though, and I began searching the internet for designs appropriate for a queen size blanket. I came across a photo of a beautiful hand knitted blanket displayed on a full size bed. The design of the blanket showed that it was made by an advanced knitter, but I could knit a blanket of a simpler design.

I tackled the problem straight away with PLAN A. It would be plain flat knitting with a non curling border. The blanket was to be 80”x80” @ 4 stitches per inch, which would mean 320 stitches across each row of knitting. I would have to buy new 47 inch circular knitting needles, but they were expensive and hard to find.

PLAN B came into existence. Knitting squares and sewing them together was an option even though weaving yarn ends would add to the work of sewing the squares together. I still had to pick a design that would be interesting. I surfed the net and looked at hundreds of patterns.

When I gave my sister a progress report during a computer chat, she casually mentioned finding 60 inch circular knitting needles listed in a Google search. WHAT??? I had never heard of 60 inch circular knitting needles. I immediately Googled and found 2 new ones offered for sale at Amazon for $4.95 each. I bought them both.

PLAN C allowed me to re-contemplate a one piece blanket now that I had longer needles to work with, and the search for a pattern was on again. I found a wonderful 2 color Celtic design. While toying with that idea, I kept coming across photos of knitted log cabin afghans knitted in squares and joined. I decided to knit a small sample of the technique and discovered to my delight that it was EASY PEAZY knittin' !

PLAN D is a knitted Log Cabin Star pattern. I have not yet purchased the yarn in the colors I want. Still debating on the number of colors to use, but will knit the squares in warm and cool colors so light and dark surround the red center of each block. After I finish the squares and sew them together, I will use my new 60 inch circular knitting needle and knit a border around the squares.

I think PLAN D is my final choice and plan on stickin' with it!

60 inch knitting needles