A few years ago I knit a block blanket. Over the next few weeks, when we’re all spending most of our time in our homes, I thought I’d share some details about the process that you can try out to make your own block blanket.

The blocks came from a variety of sources - some were dishcloth patterns, others lace motifs or repeats worked into a block.

Three dishcloth patterns I used as source material for the blocks are available for free on Ravelry:

A Dozen Hearts by Melissa Hahn. I made some mods to adjust the finished size to match the other blocks, so mine are 8 hearts per block - like the yellow one in the photo. Who doesn’t love some hearts?

September Lace Flowers by Izzy Knits. The light blue block is knit from this pattern (again with minor mods to adjust size).

Spring Tulip Dishcloth from Lily Sugar ‘n Cream. This was one of Cupcake’s favorite motifs, so I included a few in the blanket. You can see it in yellow, peach, and lavender above.

I’ll post a “recipe” for making the blocks the same(ish) size as well as closeups of some of the finished blocks and instructions for making the simple eyelet block shown in the pink and orange squares.

I knit all my blocks in worsted weight yarn; each took about 45-50 yards. Here are some general guides to start thinking about for sizing and yardage requirements:

…knit 12 blocks in worsted and seam together in a 4 high x 3 wide layout for an infant or a stroller/carseat cozy cover. You’ll need about 700 yards of yarn in total, including the yardage needed for seaming.

…knit 16 blocks in worsted and seam in a 4x4 layout for a toddler snuggle size blankie they’ll drag with them anywhere. For this, you need about 950 yards.

…knit 36 blocks (!!) in worsted and seam in a 6x6 grid for the twin-ish size blanket shown in the photo. This takes about 2100 yards. (and a lot of sewing time…)

If you are using DK weight yarn you will need knit and seam together more blocks to get a blanket of similar size to the worsted ideas I’ve listed.

Next in the series I’ll write about making the blocks the same size and how I modified some of the patterns I listed to achieve this.

Happy knitting!

Spring