Striped Blanket



(Click on photos to enlarge)

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Here is another masterpiece from our granddaughter, the rising machine knitting star.  She wanted to make a blanket for her little brother’s first birthday but didn’t want panels that needed seaming as in her very first afghan.  So again Gramma came to the rescue.  I have an extra KX350 midgauge plastic machine so we decided to put two beds together to make a wider knitting span.  It’s very easy to join the beds together but my only problem was where and how to mount it.  Neither the bar counter in my kitchen nor the dining table are long enough for this double sized machine.  But DH found an 8’ long by about 12” wide piece of 3/8” plywood that it fit on nicely.  I put the leaves in the dining room table, mounted the machine to the plywood, then mounted the plywood to the table.  I put a couple little pieces of thin cardboard under the clamps of the machine so it wouldn’t mar my table.  And all went well.  My kitchen was in a state of disarray for a few days but it was worth it.  Her blanket is gorgeous, little brother loves it and she got lots of rave reviews at the birthday party. 

I especially like how the borders worked out.  The beginning edge is a hung hem and the ending edge is folded over and tacked down to the back side to form the end borders.  The side borders are attached by Sew As Ya Go (SAYG) and then folded over and tacked down to the back side.

Here’s how we did it.


Machine:  KX350 7mm midgauge, 2 beds joined together
Yarn:  I Love This Yarn Sport, 2.5 oz  (230 yds)
               Black, 1.5 skeins
               Bright Blue, 1.2 skeins
               Red, 2.8 skeins
               Sun Yellow, 1 skein
               Plus 1 skein of each color for the borders
Gauge:  T2, 6 sts and 9 rows = 1”
Size:  Approx 39" x 42" without borders

1)   CO 234 needles with waste yarn and ravel cord. 
2)   T2, RC000, K36R with border color.
3)   To form a hem, pick up the stitches from the first body row and hang on corresponding needles in work.
4)   T3, K1R across.
5)   T2, RC000, knit a total of 374 rows changing colors as desired.
6)   RC000, K36R with border color. 
7)   End with COL and back stitch bind off.
8)   When blanket body is complete, fold the border of last end in half toward the back side and whip stitch to the body. 

SIDE BORDERS:  (Sew As Ya Go, SAYG)
1)   Bring out 25 needles.
2)   T2, CO with waste yarn and ravel cord.  End with COR.
3)   Hold the blanket with the wrong side facing and starting at the bottom right hand corner, *on the side away from the carriage, pick up and hang the first loop stitch of the blanket onto the left edge needle of the border. 
4)   Knit 2 rows.**
5)   Repeat from * to ** for the full length of the blanket edge.
6)   Scrap off with several rows of waste yarn.
7)   Repeat for other side.

FINISHING:
1)   Fold the side border in half lengthwise and seam each end by grafting from the purl side.  Remove scrap yarn. Then whip stitch the border to the back side of the blanket, covering the seam line and yarn tails at the color changes.  Seam the edge of the side border to the end border with mattress stitch.
2)   Weave in all yarn ends.
3)   Gently launder and only partially dry in the dryer.  Then block and lightly steam if necessary.  The hems and wide borders keep curling to a minimum.

This is the schematic for the striped patterning we used, designed and implemented totally by our granddaughter.  This was such a fun project.