Knit a Blanket with a Fun Ripple Pattern

May 29, 2026 by Sarah White

I feel like I’ve been seeing feather and fan and similar stitch patterns a lot lately. Maybe it’s just because I knit a feather and fan scarf earlier this year so now I’m paying attention to it. But this stitch pattern and its variations are a fun introduction to lace knitting, so it makes sense that they would be popular.

Studio Knit used a feather and fan (also known as old shale) variation to make her Mavericks Ripple Wave Blanket. This one has a garter stitch border and uses garter stitch ridges and an eight-row repeat (the feather and fan pattern I used is a four-row repeat) that’s easy to memorize.

The pattern calls for sport weight yarn, and she used four colors in a repeating stripe pattern to evoke ripples in the water and sand on a beach (Mavericks Beach, to be specific). You could of course work yours in a solid color or a multicolored yarn, or make it a stash busting project and change colors whenever you need to.

There’s a chart included to show you when she changed colors, or you could make your own for the colors you are using if you want to change it up. The instructions are both written and charted.

There are six size options given in the pattern, including a baby blanket, stroller size, receiving blanket, lapghan, throw and bedspread size. The sample shown is the throw blanket size, which is about 42 by 64 inches, or 107 by 163 cm, and uses around 2,026 yards (1,853 meters) of yarn total.

You can grab the free pattern for this great blanket from Studio Knit, and if you want to learn more about feather and fan, and why it should really be called old shale, check out my post all about feather and fan over at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Studio Knit]

Have you read?

Knit a Pastel Plaid Sweater

There’s just something about plaid that makes it a classic for any time of year in just about any colors you can imagine.

The lines on the Piet Sweater from kolibri by johanna give a modern take on plaid with bright, poppy colors and a hint of pastel.

The project is worked with two fingering weight yarns held together (an alpaca and a mohair for a bit of fuzz) or you can use any DK weight yarn that gets you the correct gauge.

The pattern is worked from the top down, mostly in the round, and uses short row shaping to shape the sleeves, which are knit directly onto the body and cuffed with ribbing to emphasize the balloon shape.

Horizontal stripes are knit as you go, while the vertical stripes are added at the end with a crochet hook.

It is meant to be oversized but also cropped, though you can adjust the length if you like.

The pattern comes in seven sizes, and uses a main color and four contrasting colors. The actual chest measurement of the finished sweater ranges from 41 to 55.5 inches, or 104-141 cm, and is meant to be worn with 6 to 8 inches/15 to 20 cm of positive ease.

The designer rates the project as for advanced knitters, but if you have some garments under your belt and are comfortable with short rows and a little bit of crochet you should be fine.

The pattern is available in English, French and German on Ravelry. There’s also a cardigan version of the same style of sweater if you’d rather have a cardigan than a pullover. The sample of that one has a much more toned down, pastel color palette so it’s interesting to see how the pattern looks in different yarns. (There are quite a few projects for both sweaters on Ravelry if you want to see how it works in different colors.)

Photo: kolibri by johanna