Knit a Simple Striped Blanket

It takes a pretty special person to be worthy of a knit blanket as a gift. Other than babies, my daughter is the only one to have gotten one from me. But with a simple and relatively fast pattern like the Easy Caron Long and Striping Road Blanket, you can lower your standards a bit and gift a blanket more often.

This project is made with Caron cakes yarn, specifically the Anniversary Holiday Cakes colorways that were exclusive to Michael’s. I didn’t see them when I went to my “local” Michaels (an hour away from home) but as I write this they were available online. They’re a super bulky yarn, so any striping super bulky would work for this project.

The pattern is perfect TV knitting because it is all garter stitch worked in strips of alternating wider and narrower widths. That makes for a lot of sewing when the blanket is done (or you can join the strips as you go, which I have been doing on a similar garter stitch blanket I’ve been working on for most of my teenager’s life).

Using two different colorways and working the strips to different widths gives the stripes different looks throughout and makes for a really fun and colorful throw. It probably wouldn’t shock you if I suggested you could also use scrap yarn (either super bulky or two strands of worsted weight held together) to make it even more colorful.

The project comes in one size, which is about 55.5 by 60 inches, or 141 by 152.5 cm, depending on your gauge. You can of course add more strips to make the blanket wider, or even knit strips the same width as the assembled blanket and stitch them on the top or bottom (or both) to make the blanket longer. There’s so much you can do with garter stitch!

You can grab the free pattern for this colorful blanket from Yarnspirations.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

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As I’m writing this the United States is about to celebrate a pretty big birthday, and while some of us have complicated feelings about that country right now, I think most of us would agree both that it’s a place worth fighting for and that it’s a good time to remember what got us into this nation in the first place. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some patriotic knitting patterns.

I thought there might be more knitting patterns produced specific to America’s big celebration this year, but I only found one (so far, there are probably more as you read this). The Semiquincentennial Scarf by Kristen Rettig is a bias knit scarf using DK weight yarn. It has one solid blue side and one red and white striped side. The pattern is available for free on Ravelry.

Sara’s Patriotic Shawl by Mitsziko is another great project for the Fourth of July or whenever else you want to show some patriotic pride. This one has a wide lace border, stripes and a blue section that includes white bobbles to imply stars. It’s worked in DK weight yarn. You can find this one on Ravelry.

If there were prizes for the punniest pattern names, Stars & Socks Forever from Katie Franceschi would definitely win something. These socks feature stripes on the body and stars at the top of the leg and the toe, as well as on the heel. The pattern comes in three widths and you can knit to your desired length. This pattern uses a chart for the stars and you can find it on Ravelry.

This little patriotic doll from Nadia Perepelitsa is styled like a boy, but you could give it longer hair if you like. It uses fingering weight yarn and is worked on two straight needles in such a way that you’ll only have to sew side seams when it’s done. So cute! You can find it on Ravelry.

This American flag sweater knitting pattern from SC Pattern is giving big Ralph Lauren vibes. It’s a drop shoulder crewneck with unisex styling that comes in five sizes. The flag is worked in intarsia, so the pieces are worked flat and seamed.

The Patriotic Tam from Judy Lamb is a little more subtle, though it does have red, white and blue colorwork, and a bunch of golden eagles around the base of the tam. It’s worked in worsted weight yarn from the bottom up and the colorwork is charted. This pattern is available on Ravelry.

If you’re looking for a big project to work for the fourth that you can use all summer every summer and you’ll want to, because it’s a big project) check out the American flag blanket pattern from Dr. Josie’s Joys. This is a vintage pattern, so the yarn doesn’t exist anymore, but it would still be lots of sun to make. It is worked with the stripes and block of blue, and the stars are added with duplicate stitch.

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