Thinking About Blankets for Fall?

It happens that, while I’m busy with all my book knitting, I’m also working on cleaning out my office. We moved into this house about a year and a half ago, and when we did, my daughter was still home with me full time, and she was an into-everything toddler, so the unpacking happened quickly and rather haphazardly (horrible confession: some of my yarn and fabric isstill packed!).

When you’re really, really busy is kind of a bad time to decide you want to organize, but my brain literally was not working when my office was full of all that stuff. So now I’m systematically going through all my books, yarn and other crafty stuff, deciding what I absolutely need and what I can part with (which will be very good news for you in the coming months).

The trouble with this, though, is that I’m looking at all my yarn. That perfect-for-fall colorway of that awesome Knit Picks sock yarn. That gorgeous bamboo/silk blend I’ve been wanting to make a fancy top out of for years. The Malabrigo I’m dreaming of making into a cowl (that one is actually on my list for next month, deadlines be forgotten for a few days). That basket full of Lion Wool I’ve always wanted to make into an afghan.

Speaking of Lion Brand and blankets, I spied a really cute, super simple”car blanket” pattern on their website that is easy enough for new knitters (it’s just stockinette with a garter stitch border) and would be a great way to use up stash. Rather than using just the two colors called for, change colors at random when you run out of yarn. You could, of course, also make this project bigger, just figure out your gauge in one of the yarns you’re using (yarns of the same weight should be close enough to the same gauge for this purpose) and cast on however many stitches you need for the size blanket you’d like.

For even more stashy fun, work a bunch of different stitch patterns in a bunch of different yarns, aiming to make your blocks the same size. Sew them together and you’ve got a great blanket that used up some leftovers and was great travel knitting, too! See my Sampler Baby Blanket at About for more ideas on how to do this.

Planning any afghan or blanket knitting this fall? Spill it!

[Photo by Lion Brand.]

Looking for Fall patterns to Knit? Check out these Fall knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

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