I’m a fairly new knitter. Actually, my mom taught me a few years ago, I forgot, and then she retaught me the other day. I’ve never been SUPER good at it.
Anyways. I want to knit a blanket, not a baby blanket, but a BIG blanket (twin sized) with thick wool yarn. It doesn’t need to be fancy, I just think that it would be a rewarding project to undertake while watching TV for a few months. I only really know the Knit stich, though I can do purl, but I don’t really want a pattern anyways.
Does anyone know how to go about this? Should I just make a bunch of squares and sew them together? Is that what people do?
Also, how do you make the tassel ties? I only know how to cast-on.
Any recommendations for where to buy the yarn?
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9 Comments
You should first practice on some scarves. If, after that, you’re still committed to making a big blanket, get some long needles of a large size and thick yarn, so it won’t take too long. If you can’t get long needles, tie rubber bands to the ends to keep your stitches on; the less seperate squares you have to knit, the quicker it’ll go. A plain knit stitch would probably be best, because if you alternate purl and knit, it’ll curl in on the sides. Jo-Ann Fabrics is a good place to buy yarn, it’s cheaper than Michael’s.
Ah, this is what we call “mindless knitting” — something that you can do while watching tv, that has no pattern so you can put it down and pick it up and not have to worry.
Go here http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/afghans.php
and go through the afghan patterns to see what takes your fancy. You might like to try the diagonal stitch blankets like this one http://www.kristentendyke.com/patterns/phoenixblanket.php. They require you to increase stitches and then decrease stitches which is quite easy and good techniques to learn on a fuzzy blanket.
The other thing you can do is make squares. If you plan to knit in the summer, the squares are not as hot and sweaty to make but I am lazy about putting them together, so I tend to avoid them.
Buying yarn: It really depends on where you live. Also, you should buy quality yarn since you are planning to put a lot of work into it. However, having said that, I tend to make casual blankets out of the cheap stuff. Go with something smooth, not the furry, eyelash stuff even though some of it looks great. Smooth is easier to work with. Since you want a big blanket, stay away from 100% cotton as it will make your blanket really heavy and it tends to sag and stretch. A cotton/acrylic blend or a straight acrylic would be fine and would wash in your washing machine without you having to do anything special.
Bernat makes “pounders” – yarn in 1 pound balls that you can get at places like Wal-mart. There is no dye-lot so you don’t need to worry if you run out and have to go back for more.
For this project learn to use a circular needle with a long cable (120cm). That way you can make a big blanket and have lots of room for your stitches.
Tassel ties – get a piece of cardboard the length you want your tassel. Wrap your yarn around the cardboard until the tassel is as thick as you want. Run a piece of yarn under the wrapping (between the wrapped yarn and the cardboard). Tie securely. If you want your tassel ends to be loops, just slide the card board out at this time and tie another piece of yarn around the whole bundle about 1/2 inch down from where the first tie is. If you want to get fancy, use a different colour yarn for this tie. If you want each piece of yarn to be separate, cut the yarn at the bottom.
Materials: bulky yarn
really big circular needle (size 13, 15, or 17 with at least a 36 inch cable between the needles)
Cast on 3 – 5 stitches
Row 1 Knit
Row 2 Knit 1, yarn over (wrap yarn around right needle) knit the rest of the row.
Repeat row 2 until the blanket is as wide as you want it to be.
Decrease row: Knit 1, knit 2 stitches together, knit the rest of the row.
repeat this row until there are the same number of stitches you cast on (3 – 5).
Knit one row.
Bind off all stitches, weave in the end.
All done!
Squares has the advantage of you can take them with you and/or work on small pieces at a time. You can also make a variety of colors, to liven it up a bit. Another option is to make strips and sew them together. For a thick wool yarn, I recommend Moda Dea Cache. You can get it at Michaels. I used it to make a cloak and it is really soft and warm. Hobby Lobby also has a good selection of yarn and their prices are good, too.
The easiest way to make a blanket is just to cast on as many stitches as you want it to be wide and then just knit every row (garter stitch) until it is the height that you want it to be. That way you wouldn’t have to fiddle with trying to sew squares together since you aren’t used to that yet.
You would need a circular needle to hold all the stitches at once. I would say 40 inch one or bigger in the size appropriate for the yarn you would be using. You would then just knit back and forth on the needles as you would on regular needles, jsut turning your work at the end of every row.
As for yarns, you need to pick out the kind that you like based on: ease of care (don’t want to make one out of regular wool if you want to toss it in the wash), then the color that you want. If you want to use something “bulky” so the knitting goes quicker, then you can buy bulky yarn or use two strands of regular yarn together, holding them together and knitting them as if they were a single strand. Then you need to consider the feel of the yarn (you wouldn’t want a scratchy blanket/afghan) and then the color or colors that you like.
As where to purchase the yarn, you can try a local store that carries yarn (a retailer like Wal-Mart, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, etc.) or a Local Yarn Store (LYS). If you know what yarn that you would like to use, you can always look it up online to see if you can get a better price. Just remember that you need to pay attention to the dye lot of the yarn as differnt dye lots can have variations between them.
A nice online shop that has inexpensive yarn from wool to cotton is http://www.knitpicks.com They also carries books, patterns and needles. If you order $45.00 worth of product, shipping is free. They are also having a sale on a few select yarns right now.
Here is a great site that teaches you different knitting techniques via video: http://www.knittinghelp.com
I hope this helps!
When I make afghans, I knit scarves and sew them together. I don’t really like knitting squares because by the time I really get into a good knitting rhythm it’s time to cast off. Scarves are good because on large needles and thick yarn I can make one about every 2 hours, and to sew them together you only have to do one long seam. I just use a crochet hook in a slip stitch to sew them together, by hooking a stitch in both scarves then slip stitching them together. http://www.nexstitch.com/v_slip.html
As for tassel ties, I think you might mean fringe. Here’s a fairly easy to follow page with instructions:
http://www.fiber-images.com/Free_Things/How_Tos/how-to_make_fringe.htm
If you really do mean tassels, here’s a page for those:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5885_make-tassel.html
When I buy yarn, I go to http://www.knitpicks.com . They have good quality yarn at very good prices.
Hope this helps!
I just undertook a similar project, and decided to knit a bunch of mitered squares and then knit them together. The squares are easy, and pretty mindless if you use a stitch marker to mark the decreases. There is a simple pattern here:
http://www.canknit.com/free/ns.html
Once you know how to do the squares though, you dont need a pattern.
Hi and friendly greetings from Brazil! If you already know how to knit , why not trying a log cabin.
Have a look here
http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/afghans/log-cabin-square.htm
The instructions are very easy to follow and you can create your own pattern. Knitting with circular knitting needles are very easy and perfect for big projects.
Grace
hey im making a blanket write now what im doing is knitting a bunch of green squars and then purling(you dont need to purl thats just me) a bunch of either purple or blue ones and making a checkered patern by sewing them together in a grid 7 squars by 7 squars. each square is about 80 cm in perimeter so 30 or stiches
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