Book Review: Knitted Baby Blankets and Cuddle Bags

Baby blankets are my favorite baby gift to knit. I love that they don’t have to be a particular size, you can play with stitch patterns and colors, and they are always useful (and tend to be useful longer than garments that may be quickly outgrown).

Marta Skadsheim Torkildsen shares more than 50 snuggly projects for baby in her book Knitted Baby Blankets & Cuddle Bags.

As you’d imagine from the title, this book is chock-full of baby blanket knitting patterns, most of which are pretty classic, solid color with an allover pattern or pattern blocks, or two or three color stripes. Six of the blankets are sized for preemies. In addition to the blankets there are three patterns for cuddle bags.

The patterns have a skill rating of one to three balls of yarn. Among the blankets, 18 are level one, 27 are level two and three are level three. The cuddle bags are one at each level.

The patterns aren’t listed on Ravelry but you can get a sneak peek on the publisher’s website. (Click on see inside this book.)

There are lots of cute options, such as Målfird, which has lacy heart blocks; Hilde, with blocks of reverse Stockinette stars; Torunn, covered in a lacy zig-zag; and Anne, with a textured diamond pattern.

This book is a great reference if you knit a lot of baby blankets for friends or for charity. The patterns are pretty and straightforward and should keep you happily knitting for a long time.

About the book: 144 pages, 51 patterns, hardcover. Published by Trafalgar Square Books, suggested retail $23.95.

Looking for more Baby Knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

Next Pattern:

There’s just something about stripey socks that makes me smile. It’s not really any more difficult to knit socks with stripes as it is to work in a single color, but for me, the payoff is pretty big in terms of added cuteness. Let’s take a peek at some fun striped socks you can knit.

I have to start with the Rainbow Panda Socks from Sheila Toy Stromberg because I was one of her test knitters and these socks are delightful. Not only do they have stripes on the toe and the leg above the ankle, they also include duplicate stitch panda faces on the backs of the legs and ears you knit into the bind off at the top. They are so cute and fun to make and sized for everyone from infants to adult XL, so you’ve got no excuse not to knit them for everyone you know. Get the pattern on Ravelry.

Those socks are totally ’80s in their coloring, but if you want to step back to the ’70s, try Jeff’s Groovy Socks by Anne Vally. These athletic style socks have a ribbed body and stripes of two contrasting colors on the leg and you can pick one (or both) of the contrasting colors to use for your heels and toes. These come in three sizes for different widths, and you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

If you’d rather have allover stripes, check out the Easy Striped Socks pattern from Knitgrammer on Etsy. These sweet socks can be worked toe up or top down using whatever needle configuration you prefer. Either way you can make a custom fit sock, but toe up makes it a lot easier to fit your foot (without swatching!).

Add a little more color while maintaining allover stripes with the Hunky Guy sock from Long Beach Designs, which adds a contrasting color for the cuff, heel and toe. These are worked in worsted weight yarn for great hiking socks, and despite the name the pattern says it’s sized for adults and teens.

Summer Lee’s sock patterns are synonymous with happy to me, and her Classic Ribbed Socks are a great example of that. They use three colors and I love the bold red and white, which makes them look perfect for spring. And they come in five sizes.

If you want to add even more colors to your socks (or use a colorful self-striping yarn) try the Collection of Columns socks from Nancy Wheeler (on Ravelry). This one is a pretty standard sock with six different charts for “columns” of stitch patterns you can add to make the knitting a bit more fun. There are mock cables, textured stitches and eyelet options, and the sock pattern comes in three sizes.

And we can’t talk about stripes without adding some rainbow stripes, so be sure to check out the Happy Friends Socks, a free pattern on Ravelry from Monika Soltysik. These fun socks use crocodile stitch worked flat for the cuff, which is then joined in the round to knit the body of the sock with two-round stripes. Use any leftover yarns if you don’t have rainbow colors handy.

The Perfect Socks to Knit for Fall

Knit Socks on a Circular Knitting Machine

Learn to Knit Socks with this Easy Ribbed Sock Pattern

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