My First Big Knit

Hey guys!

Here's a post explaining how I knitted my first big project, a patchwork blanket. Now, this is not technically an isolation project since I completed it in January, but I feel like it’s worth a post since a couple of people asked me how to make one and it’s really easy to explain.

This blanket is a really really simple project that doesn’t require much skill or any knowledge of pattern reading or different stitching, which makes it perfect for beginners who don’t just want to make a scarf.

The only things I would keep in mind when starting this project is that it takes A LOT of yarn and A LOT of time to complete.

I wish I could say that I free-styled this completely but I did take inspiration from this wool and gang youtube video.

Materials : What do I need and where can I get it ?

• 10 mm knitting needles

I used 10mm needles for this project. You can buy all sizes of knitting needle pretty easily on amazon. I recommend these ones because they’re cheap and feel decently nice to hold and knit with.

• Super bulky yarn

In total for this project I used 8 different colours of super bulky yarn.

All the yarn I bought was from my local yarn shop but since leaving the house is not really a possibility right now I would recommend ordering from Wool Warehouse, who are the most reasonably priced site I’ve found so far. I like the Cynget Seriously Chunky yarn, it’s good quality and very cheap, which is necessary when you’re a beginner and buying so much.

I bought 3 balls of each of the 8 colours, which adds up to 24 balls in total. This creates a 5 x 8 squares blanket, you can half this for a blanket of half the size. This also left me with a bit of extra yarn for attaching squares and adding tassels.

Yarn weights (how thick the yarn is) are a little bit complicated to understand if you have no experience. Generally, if you use a thicker yarn you will need to use larger needles to get a decently matched stitch size that isn’t too difficult to knit.

I found that 10mm needles with a ‘super bulky’ yarn were a good match for a blanket that is thick enough to feel warm and heavy but not so thick that it feels too hot or bulky. See below for a couple of pictures that explain yarn weights and needle sizes better. You could also probably go for a bulky yarn and 8mm needles if you want a slightly thinner blanket.

• Scissors

You’ll need scissors to chop the ends of your yarn after finishing each square.

Step 1 : Planning

I used Excel to plan out how large my blanket was going to be and which colours need to go where. This helps if you’re going to buy ALL your yarn in one order, so you’ll know how much you need. I originally planned a 4 colour blanket, but ended up going with an 8 colour one which looked a little more ‘patchwork’. You can use whichever colours you like. If I remember correctly, I think one 100g ball of yarn knitted about 2 squares, sometimes 3 depending on how tightly I was knitting.

Here's an example of an early design plan that I had, you can see from the pic about that I ended up going for something a bit different.

Step 2 : Starting the knit

All you need to learn for this project is how to ‘cast on’, do a basic ‘knit stitch’ and then ‘cast off’.

First you’ll need to cast on 21 stitches. I’m really not good enough at knitting to try and explain how to knit in words without drawing up some diagrams. Honestly I found that the best way to learn was to watch youtube videos. Here and here are the best ones I found for casting on.

Then, you’ll need to knit 21 rows, which means 21 lines of knitting. Here, here and here are some great videos about knit stitch.

Finally, after 21 rows, you'll need to cast off to finish your square. Here is a great video about casting off.

Step 3 : Knitting up all your squares

Once, you’ve completed a single square, the next step is to simply keep going until you’ve knitted up all 40 squares (or however many you want for your blanket).

This is BY FAR the longest and most tedious step, but I found that once you get into it, you can settle down in front of the TV or in the garden and knit away without too much focus or concentration.

Step 4 : Placing the squares

After all your squares are knitted up you can place them in the order you want them for your blanket. I just used a big space on my floor to lay out all my squares. Feel free to rearrange them as you like, even if it doesn’t quite match your original plan.

Step 5 : Attaching your squares

Now that you’ve planned your blanket it’s time to attach your squares! I found that the easiest way to do this was with a large needle. All you have to do is sew up the sides of each square to attach them to each other, it is explained quite well at 9:24 in this video.

I used extra yarn left over from the original balls to match with one of the squares I was sewing, eg: if I was sewing a pink and blue square together I would use pink or blue yarn. This step is also fairly long but REALLY satisfying when you start to see your blanket coming together.

Step 6 : Adding extras

Hell yea! Your blanket is finished!

OR you could do what I did and add some extra tassels on to two edges to make it look a little fancier. This video explains the kind of tassels that I added. I just used extra bits of yarn that I had floating around, but you can chose to use matching colours from your blanket if you think it looks better that way.