Knit Basketweave Blanket

I finished my latest project on Monday. This is my first knit blanket, and I had so much fun making it. Kris gave me this yarn a few years ago for my birthday, but I just could never find a blanket pattern that I liked enough to start a project with it. This last fall, I finally decided to try my hand at knitting a blanket instead of crochet.

I finally settled on a simple basketweave pattern. I thought it would look nice, since I only had the one color of yarn, and it would add texture and pattern to the blanket. It took me a day to figure out the specifics of the pattern. I had a couple patterns that I was working from, but the amount of yarn I had differed, and I wanted to tweak the patterns a bit too. This was my first time kind of creating my own knitting pattern (not entirely, I was still basically following the other patterns) and I think it helped grow my understanding of knitting even more. I had decide on stitch and row counts for each row of blocks and also the border, all based on the amount of yarn I had so that the blanket's dimensions would work. It was kind of fun, going out on my own a bit and not relying fully on a pattern.

I actually started the blanket last fall, but then the holidays hit and we got busy. I didn't have much time for knitting, so day after day the above section sat in the basket by our couch, calling my name, but not getting any attention. I even took it with us to Idaho, thinking I'd have some time to work on it for Christmas. I had so much fun with my family, and was busy playing with them that I only worked on it one evening, and even then only got a few rows done. 

Once we got back from Christmas and got settled back into our normal routine, I started finding more time to work on it. Slowly row by row, the pattern started to take shape. I loved how it was turning out, and I loved being able to knit in the evenings while we watched a movie together. Seriously guys, knitting is so fun! If you every want to learn, I'd be happy to teach you.

I feel like my understanding of knitting is so much better after making this blanket. Sure, I knew how to do the basic stitches, but I found myself catching dropped stitches more quickly, and by the end I found that I understood how to unravel a single stitch a few rows back and then re-knit or pearl as needed to fix my mistake. It's like one day I didn't quite get the interaction of the different stitches and the next day I did. It was so cool.

So here are a few pictures of the finished project.

This was my first time doing seed stitch (alternating knit and pearl stitches), and I have absolutely fallen in love with the seed stitch border. I can't wait to make something else in seed stitch.

 

The basketweave pattern turned out even better than I hoped, and I love the way the blocks look like strips woven together.

It looks so nice on our couch and match the red accent walls in our apartment. Brian loves it, so I might have to fight him for when we watch a movie. ;)