Knit a Blanket with a Fun Ripple Pattern

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]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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