Knit a Blanket that Looks Like a Quilt

I’ve been seeing a lot of knitting projects lately — whether they are new or older — that include elements that look like quilt blocks and I am here for it. My aunt is a quilter but I’ve never been much of one, but I love the look of classic quilt blocks incorporated into different media. Whether that’s painted on a barn or worked into a knitting project, it’s a fun way to give a nod to other traditional ares while sticking within your comfort zone.

The Stella Quilt Blanket by Laura Penrose uses a traditional nine-patch star pattern converted into modular knit garter stitch squares in a rainbow of colors. The squares are worked in short rows and are joined as you go so despite all the different colors and pieces used it’s actually worked as one piece. You star from the bottom right corner and then add the next piece to the side of the first.

There’s also an option to work each square separately and sew them together when you’re done knitting. This makes the project more portable, and if you’re using stash it might be easier for you to determine the placement of your squares once they’ve all been knit.

The idea is that you can use DK weight yarn or fingering weight held double, so it’s a great way to use mini skeins or leftovers from other projects. There are also two sizes of motifs you can use depending on the quantity of yarn leftovers or skeins you have on hand.

The project includes general sizing and needed motifs for four sizes of blankets, ranging from a lap blanket that use four motifs to a throw rectangle that is made from three by four rows of motifs. Choosing to use larger or smaller squares also changes the size, and of course you can keep adding to make an even bigger blanket if you want.

This project is suited for intermediate knitters who are comfortable with picking up stitches and working German short rows.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Laura Penrose]

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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