baby blanket

sheilavw

hi

My youngest Daughter and Husband are expecting their first Daughter in June. I would like to have a go at knitting a simple baby blanket. My knitting skills aren't great. I can do knit a row, purl a row!

Has anyone any pattern for a simple blanket and suggestions for best place to purchase wool

many thanks

Brie

My knitting skills are abysmal which is why I always crocheted. And generally I just made things up as I went along so no patterns available.

Check the charity shops for inexpensive "wool". Lots of people buy lots and then give up on overly ambitious projects. Also if it's for a baby it will need to be washed so go for something acrylic. In my opinion.

Congrats on the impending grandbaby.

Spikeygran

Do you use youtube? I put in basic baby blanket knitting pattern and there are many options. Some are better than others of course, but most will guide you through the whole process, seeing it demonstrated visibly is really handy especially if you dont fully understand the written pattern. Theres often a link to a printed pattern. If you can knit and purl and follow instructions thats all you need. Complex patterns are all formed from that.

Lidl/aldi often have decent yarn in their middle isles. Find a tutorial you like, then buy the recommended weight of yarn.

I'm going to pour a little cold water on this project, (sorry 😪). It might be an idea to find out what they are planning to use or like, before starting the project?

While its a lovely idea, unfortunately the younger generation mostly (there are exceptions of course) seem to prefer bought branded items that all their friends and aquaintances have. Its partly the convenience of shoving everything in the washing machine and getting it dry fast, outgrown name brands sell on easily. Baby sleeping bags ( a cross between dungarees and sleeping bag) seemed to replace upper bedding completely for the first year of so with my lot.

jackieblack

My go to, tried and tested, baby blanket pattern, which I have knitted about 20 times is:

3 x 100g balls of DK, size 4.5 needles (I use circular needles as I find these much easier)

Cast on 130 stitches

Row 1 knit, row 2 pearl, row 3 knit, repeat until the blanket is the desired length.

Each set of 3 rows curve in on itself slightly, then the next set curve the opposite way - it makes a lovely 'stretchy' stripy effect.

It's not an old fashioned lacy pattern, but I made the first one when my daughter was expecting my granddaughter, and have had multiple requests from various friends and colleagues since. My granddaughter even asked me to knit a smaller version for her dolls pram.

I have done several in a single colour, but it lends itself brilliantly to multicolour, which is what is usually requested - when I do a multicolour one I tend to pick 3 colours and do three repeats of the 3 rows before changing colour each time.

CliveOfIndia

My grandma used to make blankets for all the babies in our family - small crochet squares sewn together with wool. I never knew until my daughter told me, they're actually common referred to as "granny squares" :-) There's loads of patterns online if you search for "granny squares".

They're great for beginners, and because each square only uses a small amount of wool they're great for using up odd bits of wool.

As others have said, charity shops can be good for buying wool, but Aldi and Lidl often have them in the centre aisles. It's also worth looking at places like B&M, The Range and such-like.

sheilavw

Thanks everyone. I have bought the wool at the Range. They didn't have the right size needles so I have ordered some on Amazon

Savvy_Sue

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81886069#Comment_81886069

That does sound brilliant!

I am in a similar position, first grandson anticipated for July. Little bit of competitive knitting going on because both his great-aunties 'took' to knitting much earlier than I did: we all learned as children but I did not enjoy it so gave up until we 'inherited' vast quantities of wool from our late mother, at around the same time as our local community Cafe decided that knitting the largest tea cosy in the world was JUST the thing to do to celebrate our 4th birthday. I donated huge quantities of DK to anyone willing to knit squares, but felt I should do a few of my own, and I haven't really stopped since.

My own blanket is being knitted in VERY chunky wool, using the Jordan pattern. A little more complicated than jackieblacks, but makes sort of bubbles. A very experienced knitter thought I'd be inspired by the Tree of Life pattern, which is beautiful but would require more concentration than I can give.

But a suggestion for a beginner would be to knit diagonally and make it square. That way, when you've had enough, you can give up. 🤣 You could do that with jackie's pattern, and the stripes would go diagonally. You'd need to increase each end of alternate rows, and then decrease when you've used half the wool … A small blanket can be very useful - Mum gave me one where she'd sewn all her tension squares together, and it was great for throwing over the car seat!

My other suggestion is to use interesting wool (although I note you've already bought yours) and straightforward patterns - like jackie's. Fewer tears.

And my very best suggestion is to find a Knit'n'Natter group, for when you run into problems. I think I could find one every day of the week near me, they're usually very friendly. And also, our Local Yarn Shop (LYS) is always very helpful. The wool isn't necessarily the cheapest, but they give good advice about what to go for. Failing that, I've always found Google very helpful!

sheilavw

thanks, been so long since I've knit anything. Rather than pink I've gone for a lovely sage green.