Autumn's Pink Blanket

I love a pattern I have for a round garter stitch knit blanket. I have made four of them for four out of my five grandchildren. My oldest granddaughter Autumn, soon to be six, never got one. When I questioned her mom, my daughter, if Autumn would like one her mom said – and I quote exactly – "Autumn could give a rat's a** about blankies." Well – OK, then – guess I will not invest my time making her one. But then I felt guilty. She should have one whether she wanted it or not. In writing this post I searched for a "waste of time" image and came across a poster that quips "Love is a Waste of Time" and I thought, "What better way to waste my time?" Instead I found this graphic I like much better. (The clever heart with yarn image is from Smithsonian Associates.)

Then my daughter let slip that Autumn was curled up under her brother Isaiah's blanket. That clinched it. I was most definitely compelled to make Autumn one and I just completed it in two tones of pink. Twelve wedges form a circle and each one takes about two hours or less to knit. It uses two strands of worsted with yarn and size 10½ straight needles. This is not a huge time investment nor a complicated pattern. It is a methodic, yoga-like activity that is much more productive than say playing solitaire on the computer or web surfing. I chose a pale "pink" and a medium "candy pink" for Autumn's blanket. How wrong can you go with pink for a young girl?

The Snuggly Wuggly™ Yarn by Loops & Threads® comes from Michael's in 5oz/141g skeins. I used less than three skeins of each color. The entire blanket, with doubled yarn, takes less than 30 oz. One skein pair of light and dark completes four wedges and lasts part way into a fifth wedge. See four completed wedges in the next photo.

The darker color typically runs out of yardage first. Hmmm... is this chance or does dark dye weigh more so there is less yardage? See how much more of the pale I have?

In the fifth wedge, I was able to complete up to the row where 52 stitches had been knitted and 18 stitches remained to be worked. I've repeated the instructions below:

• Cast on 70.
• Knit 2 (toward center), TURN, knit back over those 2 (toward outer edge).
• Knit 4 (toward center), TURN, knit back over those 4 (toward outer edge).
• Knit 6(toward center), TURN, knit back over those 6 (toward outer edge).
• Can you see a wedge developing?
• Continue this way. Two short rows of 8, then 10, then 12, then 14, etc. up to 70.
• Once you've knitted across 70 stitches, turned, and knitted back you've finished the first wedge.
• Do 12 wedges and you have finished your blanket. Just sew your last row to your first cast on row.

Once I completed the blanket, the leftover yarn was 1.85 oz pale "pink" and 1.95 oz medium "candy pink".

Finished, the blanket measured about ~48" to ~50". Here it is plopped on the floor with out making much effort to spread it out. The metal tape measure shown for scale in the photo is locked in at 4 feet.

I love how this combination of yarn and needle size drapes to make a truly cuddly blankie.

I kept a history of my other color combinations. The top row of three is for my son's three children and the bottom row of two is for my daughter's two children. The first two for Vivian and Lillian were made with two strands of a variegated yarn. With two strands of the same variegation, the look is a bit more muted because the colors from the two strands do not align with each other. The last three were knit with two strands of solid yarn. This combination gives a more tweedy/heather look.

Posts for previous blankets with color callouts, some with back stories and some with poems, are at these links:

• Vivian 12/26/13 a-blankie-for-christmas
• Lillian 3/21/16 circling-blanket-tradition 
• Isaiah 12/17/16 going-in-circles-again 
• William 12/20/17 round-blue-blanket-for-baby-boy

I have not yet decided if I am going to mail it to her in Oklahoma for her mid-October birthday or wait until she comes out to California to visit us at Thanksgiving. I would love to give it to her personally but then it would need to be hauled back in a suitcase, which is often cramped for room. I have time to make up my mind. I will just enjoy looking at it for a while.