Many knitters shy away from lacy baby knits because they are worried about little toes and fingers getting caught, or they don’t care for the traditional frilly look characteristic of so many blankets or trousseau pieces. While the patterns I shared with you yesterday and the day before were more stockinette based, I thought it was time to include some textured stitch patterns. Bamboo Pop Dots does such a good job at showing off textured stitches, so I thought I’d design a more modern blanket with texture and a wee bit of lace.
The amazing, durable softness of this machine washable and dryable yarn is great for baby blankets. The colors are fun, too!
There are many common stitches and stitch patterns in this baby blanket design, but the one that may be new to some knitters are the bunny ear decreases. You can read more about these decreases and watch a video in my April 2018 post ‘Bunny Ear decreases make this stitch pattern best for knitted baby blankie‘.
The other stitches are garter stitch, ssk (slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 purlwise, return 2 sts to LH needle, knit them together through their back loops), and the standard k2tog & p2tog. Twisted stitches are also included, but there’s a video below for them.
Pairs of twisted stitches lay between each garter-stitch and lace panel across the width of the blanket.
Crossing Stitches
When you work a pair of stitches by working the second stitch on the needle before the first stitch, you are, in essence, working a cable with 2 stitches. Some people use cable needles to do this, and that’s a good starting point, but it is possible to cross stitches without a cable needle and without removing the un-knit stitches from the left-hand needle.
To work a left crossed pair (1/1CL), insert the tip of the RH needle between the first 2 stitches on the LH needle from back to front and into the front leg of the 2nd stitch. Knit this stitch without removing it from the LH needle, and in one motion, bring the tip of the RH needle from below around to the front of the first st and into its front leg, and knit it, removing both stitches from the LH needle.
To work a right crossed pair (1/1CR), insert the tip of the RH needle in the front leg of the 2nd stitch on the LH needle from below and tug at it so it lays across the first stitch. remove the RH needle tip quickly and return it into that tugged loops from front to back and knit it. Then, knit the first st on the LH needle as usual, removing both stitches from the LH needle at once.
Crossing Pairs of Stitches – YouTube
A 2-stitch i-cord edging creates a neat border for the sides of this blanket.
To create this nifty 2-stitch i-cord edging, purl the last 2 stitches of every row, and slip the first 2 stitches of every row with the yarn in back.
The dots of Bamboo Pop Dots are very randomly placed on the yarn, but somehow still manage to appear somewhat evenly distributed across the knit fabric as if it were planned.
Security Blankie Pattern
finished measurements 14″ x 17″
materials
1 ball of Bamboo Pop Dots, Watermelon colorway and size 5US [3.75mm] needles
gauge
18 sts = 3½” [9cm], but gauge is not critical
For larger sizes add multiples of 22 stitches for a pattern repeat.
abbreviations
K – Knit
P – Purl
yfwd – yarn forward – bring the yarn from the back of the work to the front
yo – yarn over
k2tog – knit 2 together
sl – slip
SSK – slip, slip, knit together through back loops
p2tog – purl 2 together
LH – left hand
RH – right hand
1/1RC right cross 1 over 1
1/1LC left crochet 1 over 1
bec – bunny ear decrease
st(s) – stitch(es)
[ ] indicates pattern motif repeats; ( ) indicates stitch counts
The lace panel features only 3 eyelets per 4 row repeat, but if you don’t want the open work, you can work those stitches in stockinette stitch.
Instructions
Cast on 78 sts (2 for each i-cord eding, 8 for symmetry of panels, and 3 x 22).
Rows 1–4: Slip first 2 sts with yarn in back (for i-cord edging), knit to last 2 sts, p2 (for i-cord edging).
Row 5: Sl2, [ssk, yo] across to last 2 sts, p2.
Row 6: Purl.
Rows 7 & 8: Knit.
Row 9: Sl 2, [K8, 1/1CL, P1, yfwd, bec, yo, k2, k2tog, p1, 1/1CR] across to last 10 sts, k8, p2.
Row 10: Sl 2, K8, [p8, yo, p3, k8] across to last 2 sts, p2. (81 sts)
Row 11: Sl 2, [K8, 1/1CL, P1, k7, k2tog, p1, 1/1/CR] across to last 2 sts, p2. (78 sts)
Row 12: Sl 2, K8, [p14, k8] across to last 2 sts, p2.
Repeat Rows 9–12 until you have 10 yards of yarn left.
Next 2 Rows: Knit.
Next 2 Rows: Rep Rows 5 & 6.
Last 3 Rows: Knit.
Bind off Row: [P2tog, return st to LH needle] across.
One skein of Bamboo Pop Dots makes this Soothing Blankie that can be machine washed and dried. If you make 2, you’ll have one for wash day!
I hope you enjoy knitting textured stitches using Bamboo Pop Dots. Tomorrow, we try 2 different kinds of brioche knitting, which also looks dazzling in this yarn because the stitches are so well defined.
This is part 4 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 3: Using speckled yarn for accents and for larger knits
[shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”23784471″]
