After looking at my blog, and the five years of posts, I realized that not one of them is about something that I am knitting. Actually, with the yarn shop, the dogs, and other obligations, my knitting has been on the back burner. But sometimes I get the urge to knit, and I knit for a couple of weeks. Then, as usual, the project gets put in a drawer and languishes for weeks, if not months.
After the very cold winter last year, I knew I wanted to knit a blanket, just in case the power went out again. The warmest sweater that I have is something that I knit years ago in Lopi yarn. It was that sweater that kept me warm while we were out of power for seven days a few years ago.
I’m going to call this project the “Blizzard Blanket,” for it’s sure to keep you warm during a snow storm. It’s hard to take a photo of a blanket while it’s still on the knitting needles. The blanket is folded in half, and I have attached two photos to give you an idea of what it looks like. Click on the photos for a larger view of the blanket.
You can use any weight yarn, all you need to do is do a little math calculation. Figure out your stitches per inch times the total width of the blanket, and that is your cast on number. If you come up with an even number add one stitch to make it odd. The hard part is gauging how much yarn to buy. What I do is find a blanket pattern in the same weight of yarn that I am using, and use that pattern’s yarn requirements as a guide for how much yarn is needed.
The blanket is knit in the “waffle stitch.” Here is a knitted sample in the waffle stitch (click the photo for a larger view):
I saw this pattern in Vogue Knitting American Knits . It’s on page 118 if you have the book. They used much finer yarn, and knit a suit out of this stitch pattern and it looked so sophisticated. It of course looks different in a heavier weight yarn, but still very nice.
Here is the pattern for my “Blizzard Blanket”:
**The pattern is sized to fit on top of a queen-sized bed at 60 inches wide. The amount of yarn needed is estimated since I am only ½ way finished with the blanket.
Gauge: 3.5 stitches to the inch on size 10 needles
Yarn: 14 Skeins Reynolds Lopi (color #0166)
Needles: Size 10 and 10.5, 40″ or 60″ circular needles
Pattern: Waffle Stitch (over an odd number of stitches)
Row 1 (ws) p1 *k1, pl (repeat from * to end of row)
Row 2 (rs) k1 *p1, k1 (repeat from * to end of row)
Rows 3 and 4 Knit
repeat rows 1-4 to complete the pattern.
Cast on 211 stitches with size 10.5 needles. Change to size 10 needles, and begin the Waffle Stitch pattern. Continue until the blanket is the desired length and cast off with size 10.5 needle.
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That’s it. There is no shaping or border needed with this pattern. The natural broken rib that is created keeps the fabric from curling. I used my Denise Interchangeable Needles to knit this blanket. I like these needles for blankets because they sell a long cord, and you can simply replace the tips when changing needles. I also like to use the long cord so I can lay the project down flat on the bed and see how it looks and know when the blanket is long enough.
This is a project that is best worked alternating between other projects, as I found doing rows one and two can be somewhat tedious. I found myself having to put this blanket down if knitting it for more than a few days at a time. I mean how much knit one, purl one can someone do?
You may be wondering why I am using a yarn that is not found on my website. We always planned to add Lopi to our stock, and frankly never got around to it. You will see it online with us hopefully sometime this year. In the meantime, if you want to order Lopi, contact us, and we can special order this yarn for you.
