Monday, April 28, 2014

Diamond Lace Panel Baby Blanket



Introduction
This blanket pattern is not my own design.  A fellow knitter found an unfinished blanket at a local thrift store with this pattern, bought it, and gave it to me to finish it.  It looked like the original knitter had run out of yarn and decided to give up on the blanket.

I took the blanket apart row by row and figured out the pattern while doing so.  Then I measured how much yarn I had, both in weight (417 gm) and yardage (834 yd) - about aran weight.  Then I knitted a swatch of stockinette on 4.5 mm needles to see how many stitches I could get per yard.  By my calculations, I had about 26.47 stitches/yd - giving me a total of ~22,000 stitches to work with.  My swatch showed that 4 stitches across would be roughly about the same as 6 rows up.

I figured out that the pattern is a multiple of 12 + 3, and I added a moss-stitch border.

Materials
~800 yd aran weight yarn

Tools
US size 7 (4.5 mm) needles
Yarn needle for weaving in ends
Stitch markers

Finished size
Approximately 37.5 inches wide by 30 inches long

Glossary
k - knit
k2tog - knit 2 together (right-leaning decrease)
p - purl
sk2p - slip 1 stitch as if to knit, knit next 2 stitches together, pass slipped stitch over (centered double decrease)
ssk - slip 1 stitch as if to knit, slip 2nd stitch as if to knit, put both back onto the left needle and knit through the back loops of both (left-leaning decrease)
yo - yarn over

Moss-stitch Pattern
Row 1 - with yarn in back, slip as if to knit, * p1, k1, continue from * to end.
Row 2 - with yarn in front, slip as if to purl, * k1, p1, continue from * to end.
Row 3 - with yarn in back, slip as if to knit, * k1, p1, continue from * to last stitch, k1.
Row 4 - with yarn in front, slip as if to purl, * p1, k1, continue from * to last stitch, p1.

Diamond Lace Panel Pattern
Row 1 - k6, * k2tog, yo, k10, repeat from * until last 9 stitches, k2tog, yo, k7.
Row 2 and all even rows - purl across.
Row 3 - k5, * k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k7, repeat from * until last 10 stitches, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k5.
Row 5 - k4, * k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k5, repeat from * until last 11 stitches, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k4.
Row 7 - k3, k2tog, yo, k5, yo, ssk, repeat from beginning to last 3 stitches, k3.
Row 9 - k2, * k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k1, repeat from * to last 13 stitches, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k2.
Row 11 - k1, k2tog, * yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k2, yo, sk2p, repeat from * to last 12 stitches, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k1.
Row 13 - k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k1, repeat from beginning to last 3 stitches, k1, yo, ssk.
Row 15 - k2, * yo, ssk, k2, yo, sk2p, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, repeat from * to last 13 stitches, yo, ssk, k2, yo, sk2p, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k2.
Row 17 - k3, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, repeat from beginning to last 3 stitches, k3.
Row 19 - k4, * yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k5, repeat from * to last 11 stitches, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k4.
Row 21 - k5, * yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k7, repeat from * to last 10 stitches, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k5.
Row 23 - k6, * yo, sk2p, yo, k9, repeat from * to last 9 stitches, yo, sk2p, yo, k6.

Cast on 123 stitches (111 for the pattern + 12 for the side borders).
Starting on row 1 of the Moss-stitch pattern, knit 8 rows (2 full repeats) of that pattern.
On row 8, place marker after 6 stitches, and place a second marker before the last 6 stitches - this will help to remind you where to switch between the Diamond Lace Panel pattern and the Moss-stitch border.

On row 9, knit 6 stitches of Moss-stitch, then start on the Diamond Lace Panel pattern until the second marker, and end with 6 stitches of Moss-stitch.  Continue in this way until 6 repeats are done, and end on row 2 of the Diamond Lace Panel pattern before starting the last 8 rows of border in Moss-stitch.  Bind off in technique of choice - I used Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy bind-off.  Weave in ends and block.








13 comments:

  1. Hi Dee, lovely blanket, but I'm having trouble with the math. 12 stitch repeat x 8 repeats is 96 +6 at beginning +7 at the end is 119 not 111? Are we missing something here?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's actually 9 repeats X 12 stitches = 108
      108 + 3 = 111
      111 + 12 border stitches = 123

      Hope that helps. :-)

      Delete
  2. Oops, I mistyped: 109 stitches rather than the 111 we're supposed to have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If it helps:
      12 X 8 repeats = 96
      8 stitches at beginning (k6, k2tog, yo) + 7 stitches at end = 15
      96 + 15 = 111

      Delete
  3. on row 15 and 17 you do not have an * for the repeat. so where does it go

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You repeat from the beginning. I've edited the pattern to reflect that. Thanks for the reminder. :-)

      Delete
    2. To clarify - repeat from the beginning of the row. :-)

      Delete
    3. Chris,

      I have edited row #15 - I hope it is clearer now as what is happening with the row. I hope this helps. Please feel free to comment or send me a private message if there are any other questions. :-)

      Delete
  4. hmmm...here we go again: knitting through this, it looks like row 3 should end repeat to the last 10 stitches: k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk k5.

    ReplyDelete
  5. you're almost there: I'm pretty sure rows 7 and 17 should say "repeat from beginning to last 3 stitches. k3" Don't you just hate having to do revisions? Used to happen to me all the time with quilt patterns.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for all your help. :-D

      I didn't bother to add the "k3" at the end, since it's the same as if you were starting another repeat of the pattern with the last 3 stitches left - and the first 3 stitches of the pattern are "k3". Think I should anyway?

      Delete
    2. I went ahead and added the "k3" so it's clear. :-)

      Delete