Knitted Baby blanket questions + pattern request?

Hi. I’m going to be an aunt sometime around April. I’ve been knitting for about 3 years now, but I’ve never made something as large as a baby blanket.

Congratulations on becoming an aunt!

A blanket 32″ x 32″ up to 36″ x 36″ is ideal for wrapping a newborn or for covering a sleeping baby. Anything smaller would likely be used in the car seat or stroller. Your target of 34″ x 34″ is perfect.

If you want to go fancy and lacy, the Project Linus pattern is hard to beat: http://www.projectlinus.org/patterns/apka.html . I have made one of them, and it’s not difficult. However, like any hand-knitting project, it is going to take hours and hours of work, and because it does have a repetitive pattern, it will take longer than a straight garter or stockinette pattern.

Probably the easiest baby blanket pattern is this one:

Cast on 6 stitches. Knit 4 rows.
Row 4: K 3, YO, k3.
Row 5: K3, YO, P1, K3.
Row 6: K3, YO, K5.
Row 7: K3, YO, P3, K3
Row 8: K3, YO, K7.
Continue in this manner. You are increasing one stitch each row. The first 3 stitches on each row are knit to create a garter-stitch border, which keeps the edges from rolling. The YOs create a lacy edge right inside the border, which you can leave as-is or run a ribbon through. The center is stockinette stitch. When you have each side 34″ long, start decreasing on a knit-side row:
Decrease Row 1: K2, K2tog, YO, K2tog, knit to the end of the row.
Decrease Row 2: K2, K2tog, YO, P2tog, P to last 3 stitches, K3.
Repeat those 2 rows until you have 6 stitches. Knit 4 rows and bind off.

I’m knitting a variation of that pattern right now, using two strands of worsted-weight yarn and size 11 needles. Also, I’m using garter stitch only and making a crib-size blanket. It’s a versatile “pattern”!

About booties: There are dozens–maybe hundreds–of patterns for baby booties. Nearly all of them are kicked off within minutes–seconds–of putting them on. For that reason, I knit socks for babies using the pattern from Plymouth Yarn: http://www.plymouthyarn.com/index.php?nav=cPatterns.freePatterns&pattern_id=000021. I have a friend who has knit booties for 75 years who swears by the Quaker Stitch pattern: http://www.carewear.org/patterns/knit/knit.cfm?pid=_p15_booties_in.cfm

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