It seems that I will never tire of designing (or knitting) blankets, since today marks the release of my eleventh blanket design! This is the Magnolia Blanket.
It’s always been one of my goals to design patterns that will stand the test of time in your wardrobe or home, but I was moved in this instance to create something particularly timeless: to fit with any style, any recipient, and any decor. (Especially when I think about designing for children and their parents, something that suits everyone is important!) Luckily for me, cables usually fit the bill.
In thinking about the word (and the feeling of) “timeless,” the imagery of circles kept coming back to me and I’m glad that I was able to honor that instinct in the cable patterns that I chose. Three different, but complementary, circular cable patterns gracefully wend their way along the surface of the blanket. I like how they make me think about connections and what it means to feel (and be) interconnected.
From a practical standpoint, slipped stitch edges with small cable twists at each edge, and ribbed borders that flow into and out of the cable patterns, ensure that the blanket lies flat.
The blanket is shown in the carriage blanket size, but the pattern also includes two larger sizes for a lap throw and an afghan. If you’d like to make a custom-sized blanket (especially if you have a specific yardage of yarn), you can easily customize your own blanket size by adjusting the number of pattern repeats and/or the length as described in the pattern. The cable patterns are also fully written out AND charted to suit everyone’s knitting style.
The blanket is worked flat in one piece in an aran-weight (or heavy worsted) yarn. A solid or mostly-solid colored yarn works best here to allow the various textures in the pattern to shine through.
The Magnolia Blanket is the second time that I’ve used Simpliworsted by HiKoo for Skacel (shown here in the Natural color #003) and I’m still really impressed with this yarn for baby knits. It’s a superwash merino/acrylic/nylon blend yarn that feels like soft merino wool when you knit with it, but it washes up as nicely as any all-synthetic baby yarn. And because there’s such a high proportion of wool in the blend (55%), the fabric is warm and it doesn’t pill when you use it or wash it. As a knitter, I also appreciate that Simpliworsted comes in dozens of lovely colors if a pale, natural tone isn’t your first choice.
I love designing blankets because I enjoy giving them as gifts, and knitting the blanket by hand gives me the opportunity to imbue it with all of the happy and hopeful things that I wish for the recipient. The act of creating something for those reasons feels especially vital these days and I hope that your knitting brings you equal fulfillment!
You can find the pattern here on Ravelry and here at DCD. And, happily, it’s 25% off through midnight EDT on May 26th, no code needed!
Happy knitting!
xoxo Danielle
daniellechalson.com 