Knitted Diagonal Blanket - Yarn by Craft Cotton Company

Its always nice to have a lil stash of blankets ready to go and this one is just so simple to knit up!

I used three different colours of wool by the craft cotton company. They actually picked out the colours for me and I;m glad they did because I would have gone for something more babyish like pale pink and white but I actually love how modern the grey and blue look with the white. It give the blanket a longer life for more use and as every mother knows dark colours are 10000% better for hiding stains! 

The wool is acrylic which means it can stand up to the battering that all baby items take in the washing machine. I mean seriously all I seemed to do when Lil man was lil was wash puke stains out of things people had lovingly knitted for him.

Construction wise its so simple!

You cast on 3 stitches

Then you knit 200 rows and increase 1 stitch at the end of every row. [or you can just go on until you get the size you like. But 200 rows makes a 1 metre square blanket]

Then you knit another 200 rows but this time you decrease one stitch at the end of every row until you have 3 stitches left then you cast off. 

For the colour changes you just knit two rows in each colour. 

Then as an optional extra you can add a cute crochet trim!

[I used 2 100g ball of each colour so six balls in total]

I knitted mine up on size 4mm prym ergonomic knitting needles, and it honestly felt like it took forever but I did a lot of it whilst watching t.v and just generally relaxing. The wool was really nice to knit with and I had no issues with it splitting or fraying. I did have to keep cutting it and re tying it on though because I was getting the three colours tangled up!

I used garter stitch because it means I don't have to concentrate so hard and I like the texture but it would also look really cute in moss stitch!

Now typically I put these into a draw ready for the next baby that's born BUT I'm squirrelling this one away into our airing cupboard so Its ready for them we get a dog! Now we're not getting one just yet but I'm definitely wearing Rikki down! We don't have a wedding to save for anymore so he can;t use that as an excuse and I've been making a really big effort to keep the house tidy. All of which has been noticed! So fingers crossed maybe next year I'll have a little bundle of fur to destroy the house! 

Much Love

Frankie 

x 

disclaimer - whilst the wool for this project was provided for free all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Baby Gifts!

I finally got around to quilting my most recent baby blanket.

The front is really simple HST done in a variety of fabrics, I even dug into my precious stash and used some of my dashwood studio prints in there as well as some prints from the craft cotton company and abakhans. 

The couple don't know if they are having a boy or a girl so I went for a pretty neutral palette of yellows greys and teal. I think the whole thing looks really fresh and modern. 

It took me a while to find a fleece blanket to use on the back and in the interest of full disclosure Rikki chose this one from home and bargains. You'll have to take my word for it but it is SUPER soft!

Quilting wise I just quilted along each triangle using my walking foot, It took me barely any time at all. In fact hand stitching the binding down might have taken longer!

I added a handmade tag for a personal touch and naturally after I saw it all cute and folded up I just had to make a matching bunny and taggy blanket. These are made in exactly the same way as all of my other ones and feature a lot of the same prints!!!

This is my absolute favourite set I have ever made EVER!

It all just looks so adorable when its together and I can't wait to gift it when baby is born!

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Easy Diagonal Baby Blanket

I loves a easy baby blanket and this one is an absolute breeze to knit. You can ritz it up by using posh stitches are you can keep it simple like I have and use garter stitch!

You can be fancy and buy some lush chunky wool or you can be thrifty like I have and use odds and sods from your knitting basket doubled up!

And in all seriousness if you find yourself in a tight spot you can bust one of these out with like a day of solid knitting!!!! 

Anyway here's a brief tutorial on how to make this blanket.

Garter Stitch Diagonal Baby Blanket

*Use 6mm needles

*Use chunky wool or two strands of regular wool

*Cast on 3 stitches

*Work each row in garter stitch increasing 1 stitch at the end of each row

*Continue knitting in this manner until one of the shorter edges of the blanket is the width you would like your blanket to be

*Now decrease 1 stitch at the end of every row until only three remain.

*Cast off

*optional* crochet a border

In other news! Boy was it freezing this morning! I honestly felt like my toes might drop off! 

I am however wearing a pretty snazzy new make in the hopes of photographing it later so that cheered me up!

And I posted a new video this week of what I'm planning on making in December! 

Obviously though I've not included Christmas presents because that would ruin the surprise!!!!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx