Granny's Blanket

There is only one other knitter in Zach's family: his grandmother, whom I was able to meet only a few times, unfortunately.  Between all the stories I've heard from the family, she seemed to have been a pretty incredible lady.  Among her many talents, she also knit and crocheted.  So, when the family was cleaning out her things a few years ago, they set aside her knitting and crocheting stuff for me to sort through.  Stored in with all her needles and yarns were patterns and pattern notes that she'd made.  One of these was the blanket that she made for Zach and his siblings and cousins.  Not that it was one blanket, of course; she used the same pattern in different yarns to make a blanket for each of her grandchildren.  Zach still has his, and we use it all the time.  

When my brother-in-law and his wife became pregnant, I wanted to carry on the tradition and make blankets for the new arrivals.  Of course, it turned out to be twins and I had two blankets to make!  And yes, I know that the twins enter kindergarten this year, but I'm finishing the blankets up, and finally got around to typing up Granny's notes as well.  And hey, I got the blankets made before the kiddos were in college, right?  :)

My versions of the blanket (the grey and light blue) are raveled here and here.  The bright blue one in the picture below is Zach's.

Granny's Blanket

(a.k.a Zach's Blanket or The Family Blanket)

Materials:

• Approximately 4100yds of worsted weight yarn. I used just under 5 skeins of Caron One Pound (yes, I just weighed Zach's blanket to calculate how much I would need - his blanket weighed 5lbs).  I stuck with acrylic, like his blanket, since this is to be a blanket the kiddos grow up with, so needs to be heavy-duty and easy to wash.
• Size US 8 needles
• Cable needle
• Crochet hook and/or Tapestry needle for finishing and adding tassels

Optional Materials:

• Stitch markers
• Row counter

Gauge:

16 stitches = 4 inches (gauge isn't all that important, though)

Directions:

These blankets are full, adult-size blankets, not baby blankets, so although the pattern is straight-forward, these aren't quick projects, just based on the sheer size.  The blanket itself is constructed as a series of panels, then seamed together.  Think stitching a bunch of scarves together to form a blanket.  It seems to be a pretty common blanket-making technique, actually, and I've seen similar other patterns around.  This is just the version I got from Granny's notes (with any gaps filled by studying Zach's blanket).

Panels:

Cast on 42 st.

The pattern across the rows will be as follows:

• 2 stitches garter stitch
• 2 st st
• 2 rev st st
• 6 st cable (3 st twist over 3) - cable twist every 8th row
• 2 rev st st
• 2 st st
• 2 rev st st
• 6 st cable (3 st twist over 3) - cable twist every  8th row
• 2 rev st st
• 2 st st
• 2 rev st st
• 6 st cable (3 st twist over 3) - cable twist every  8th row
• 2 rev st st
• 2 st st
• 2 stitches garter stitch

Rows 1-7 - knit in pattern (just knits and purls)

Row 8 - cable row  (I did the cable as a left-leaning twist, but it's really not that important - if you prefer to twist right, that's up to you).

Repeat Rows 1-8 forty-eight (48) times, then 1-7 one (1) more time.  Your panel will have a total of 48 twists, plus a little on the end.

Bind off.

Make 7 panels altogether.

Charts:
 

 Charts created (for free!) on Chart Minder

 
Finishing:

You will seam the panels together to form one blanket out of the 7 scarves you've made.

I used a crochet seam instead of mattress-stitching the panels together because, quite frankly, these are full-length blankets and that's a lot of very long seams (you can see below in the picture). The crochet seam was just a lot easier to back up a stitch or two if I made a mistake :)

Add tassels or fringe, as desired.

For the fringe on these blankets, I cut five lengths of yarn per tassel, and then used a lark's head knot to attach them to the blanket, pulling the clumps of yarn through the edge of the blanket with a crochet hook.  Each panel had about 7 tassels.  In Granny's blanket, she used an overhand knot to secure the tassels.  Personal preference - I just think the lark's head looks neater, but both knots will keep the fringe secure.

Notes, Thoughts and Ramblings:

The stitch markers you can see clipped to the blanket panel in the picture below were marking out every 6th cable repeat - helped me keep track of how far along I was without having to count all the way from the beginning.  It also made seaming a little easier, because I had a landmark to match up between panels.  (I was very excited in this picture.  I'd just finished the first panel.  Yes, I know I still had 6 more to go.  And then another 7 in the second blanket after that.  But I'd finished the first one!)

In my head, I broke up the pattern into 7 sets of 6 stitches - 6 border stitches, 6 st cable, 3x2 little ribs 6 st cable, 3x2 little ribs, 6 st cable, 6 border stitches.  Breaking it up like that in my head made the rows seem even smaller, and helped me to remember the pattern as well.

Of course, no knitting project write-up is complete without a kitty picture :)

As always, the standard wording applies. Thanks very much for checking out my pattern. You are welcome to make any of my patterns for yourself, a friend, or charity, but please do not sell the finished product. If you would like to share the pattern, please do not sell it or try to pass my work off as your own. If you make one of the patterns, I would love to see pictures! Please consider sending me a picture, or letting me know on Ravelry (I’m oddbird26).