This blanket is knitted using the holding position and consists
of 11 pie-shaped wedges, each with a rose motif made up of purl stitches. It
is knitted with two strands of contrasting colors throughout. Any yarn that
can be knitted double can be used. If you haven't been there yet, check out
this page for how to knit with
the two strands.
Cast on 100 stitches with waste yarn and knit several rows.
If desired, knit one row with ravel cord before beginning with the main yarn.
That makes it easier to remove the waste yarn from the knitted piece later.
Base Row: COL Knit one row with main yarn across all 100 needles,
or however many you are using. After knitting the next row, you may want to
remove your weighted hem and use claw weights instead as it tends to get lopsided
very quickly with so many needles in holding position. You don't really need
any weights under those, only below the ones in working position.
Row 1: COR Put all except the two outermost needles on the carriage
side to holding position. Separate the two strands of yarn and pull the strand
that you want showing on the knitted (right) side slightly to the left of the
first needle, then pull the first needle to holding position, in between the
two strands. Leave the other strand of yarn (the one you want to show on the
purl side) on the right side of the needle. As you begin to knit, check the
first stitch and make sure it has knitted in the arrangement that you want,
otherwise the entire row will knit with the wrong color facing you. Pull up
slack in yarn (not too tightly, because we're slipping the first stitch every
other row!) and knit across the next stitch.
Row 2: COL Push needle 3 just far enough back towards the bed
so you can slide one strand of the yarns under and to the right of it. It should
be the strand that you want to show on the right (knitted) side. The strand
that you want on the purl (wrong) side should be on the left side of the needle
in holding position. Move the first needle on the other side of the bed back
to forward working position. Pull up slack in yarn and knit from left to right.
Row 3: COR Separate yarns as before, pushing the first needle
out to holding position, between the two yarn strands and also pushing needles
3 and 4 from holding into forward working position. Pull up slack in yarn and
knit from right to left.
Row 4: COL Separate strands of yarn as before, wrapping just
one of them around needle number 5 as above and also push needle number 1 back
to forward working position. Knit across.
Repeat this wrapping throughout and also bring two additional
needles on the left side from holding to forward working position every second
row until there are four needles left in holding position.
On the next row, bring three of the four needles to forward working
position. Knit across. Separate yarn strands as before and pull the 2nd to the
last needle to holding position again, in between the two strands before knitting
back. By not knitting the very last stitch at all and only knitting the second
to the last stitch every other row, you avoid having a large hole in the center
of the blanket.
Repeat Row 1-98 10 more times.
At the end of row 38, COR, begin to convert purl stitches to
knit stitches according to the chart.
The method I used was to make a little booklet with strips cut
from a couple of sheets of 1/4" graphpaper. I put it on top of the bed,
marking the needle channel spaces, then put the pattern repeat numbers from
9-40 just once at the top of the sheet. At each end I put an arrow and the row
number that would be knitted next after the stitches were converted.
Following the pattern chart, I put the number of rows (purl
bumps) that a stitch had to be laddered down in the column under that stitch
number, then cut all the strips apart on the lines and threaded them together.
I made a narrow tray from a clear piece of plastic with sides the height of
the booklet and slightly shorter than the strips and open on both ends and laid
the little booklet in it so that the side I would have to flip over was outside
of the tray. On the bed, with freezer tape, I also marked the first and last
number of the pattern repeat, 9 and 40. While knitting, I would set the tray
on top of the needle channels lining up the numbers 9 and 40 on the strip with
the numbers 9 and 40 on the bed and I could see at a glance which stitch had
to be converted and how many rows down. After converting the stitches, I moved
the tray behind the machine and after knitting the next row, put it back on
the bed and flipped the strip over to convert the stitches on this row. All
that may sound a bit goofy (ok, ok, I admit....., it does!), but I lost a lot
of time first trying to find the stitch column on the chart, then going back
to the bed and finding the right stitch to convert.
This may be too much trouble if you are only knitting one repeat
of a motif, but it came in handy for doing 11 of them because I never had to
look from bed to chart and back again to find my place. Maybe it will work for
you too, but of course, you can work straight from the chart instead.
After all 11 sections have been knitted, run a piece of spare
yarn through the stitches and remove fabric from the machine. Join both ends
together with the Kitchener Stitch. I used only the white yarn first and then
duplicate-stitched the pink yarn over it, to me that seemed easier than trying
to always have the pink strand on top, covering the white strand. Try it and
see what works for you. Pull the hole in the center together and add whichever
edging you want to the outside. I used the worm trim, using 6 needles and knitting
them for 16 rows instead of the usual 3 needles and 8 rows, it made the trim
look a bit larger.
If you find an error somewhere, please let me know and also if
you come up with time-saving or any other ideas, I'm always glad to find a better
way of doing something.
