Welcome back to “Free Pattern Friday”, a fresh new free pattern every week! You’ll find today’s pattern at the very bottom of this page. These patterns are available FREE to use on your tablet or smart phone, or print from this location; they are not, at the moment, downloadable. Please see the FAQ tab above if you have trouble printing.
Today’s offering: the Fair Haven Picnic Blanket! What better way to celebrate a long weekend than with a picnic? And what better way to picnic than to spread this simple, bright, pretty blanket under the trees? This little blanket could also be used to snuggle under the stars, to wrap up baby or throw over your favorite outdoor chair against an evening chill. It’s so much fun to knit, I didn’t want to stop at 20 squares! It’s really compelling to see the squares develop from the center outward while you work in the round. The squares are joined using a 3-needle bind off which means no sewing (yay!) and the entire blanket is edged with applied I-cord. It’s a quick knit using DK weight yarn and working square by square, makes an excellent car, camping or cottage project. The hardest part is choosing from the many gorgeous colors of Cotlin yarn, KnitPicks’ cotton/linen blend.
Here’s mine in progress:
And today, in honor of Canada Day and Independence Day, here’s a little something extra to take on your picnic…the Picnic Socks! So sweet for your feet at any time of year, Picnic Socks are perfect for your summer knitting bag! Worked from the top down, they begin with a pretty picot cast on that resembles a little row of strawberries. Then you’ll work a tiny garden of eyelets and continue with dropped stitch stripes. Another eyelet garden completes the toe. This is an easy to memorize pattern that knits along gently while you watch the happy Meadow Stripes unfold before your eyes.
To celebrate our holiday, choose a free sock pattern from my Ravelry shop when you purchase the Picnic Socks pattern. Use the coupon code PICNIC42 at checkout. AND you can wrap it all up in one of my brand new Walker Sock Totes for 20% off this weekend! The same coupon code will apply using lowercase letters, picnic42. Want to make your Picnic Socks look just like mine? CLICK HERE for “Meadow Stripes” from YarnCanada.ca
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And now…here’s your pattern for this holiday weekend. Happy Knitting everyone!
Fair Haven Picnic Blanket
A pieced blanket for the intermediate knitter.
You'll Need
YARN:
Knit Picks Cotlin DK (70% Tanguis Cotton, 30% Linen) 50g/123 yds. Yarn requirements that follow are for a 20-square blanket. Each skein makes 3 squares. Each square requires 11g of the background color.
- A “Planetarium (Dark Blue) 1 skein,
- B “Surf” (Teal) 1 skein
- C “Sagebrush” (Aqua) 1 skein
- D “Moroccan Red” (Red) 1 skein
- E “Cerise” (Bright Pink) 1 skein
- F “Lichen” (Yellow Green) 2 skeins
- G “Raindrop” (Denim Blue) 2 skeins
- H “Swan” (Off White) 7 skeins for borders and edging
FINISHED DIMENSIONS:
Each square measures 9″ x 9″. The yarn requirements above are for a 20-square blanket which measures 36″ x 45″
NEEDLES:
- 3.50mm circular needle with min. 40” cable for Magic Loop
- Set of five 3.50mm dpn’s
- Three 4.00mm dpn’s for 3-needle bind off and I-cord edging
- One 4.50mm dpn for binding off squares
TOOLS/NOTIONS:
- Removable stitch markers, one distinctive for BOR, tapestry needle for weaving in ends
GAUGE: 24 sts & 32 rows = 4” in Stockinette St
CONSTRUCTION:
- Squares are worked in the round from the center outward. Instructions are written for Magic Loop, however long dpns would work just as well and the pattern is easily adapted for this use.
- Squares are joined using a three-needle bind-off
- Applied I-cord finishes all edges.
Instructions
SQUARE:
Begin at the center of the square and, knitting in the round, work outwards as follows:
- Using smallest needles, CO 4 sts
- Work 2 rows I-cord
- Next Rnd: KFB in each st (8 sts) (I find it’s easiest to keep the sts on 2 dpn’s at this point)
- Next Rnd: KFB in each st (16 sts), distributing the sts evenly over 4 dpn’s. (4 sts per needle).
- Next Rnd: Knit, placing a distinctive stitch marker in the center of Needle 1.
Increases:
Set-Up: *K1, yo, k2, yo, k1* repeat for each needle/quadrant.
Work the following increase rnd, then work 1 rnd even until there are 34 sts in each quadrant, ending with an increase rnd:
**(I find it easiest to transfer sts to a 40″ circular needle once there are 20 sts in each quadrant, then continue to work in Magic Loop. Place removable markers to mark the needle breaks.)
Inc Rnd: *K1, yo, k to 1 st before end of quadrant, yo, k1* repeat for each quadrant. (8 sts inc.)
Border:
With Color H (border color), Knit 1 rnd even, then purl 1 rnd even, then work the following increase rnd:
- Inc Rnd: *K1, M1L, k to 1 st before end of quadrant, M1R, K1* repeat for each quadrant. (8 sts inc.)
- Next Rnd: Purl 1 rnd even
Work last 2 rnds 3 times in total until there are 40 sts in each quadrant. Using 4.50mm needle, BO knit-wise.
Weave in ends and block squares before joining.
JOINING THE SQUARES:
With 4.00mm needle, pick up from each of the 2 squares to be joined. Using Color H, k2tog. Pick up the next bound off st from each of the squares and k2tog. Pass first st over, binding off 1 st. Continue until the first two squares have been joined along one edge. Pick up the next square to be joined, placing it along the second adjacent side of the first square so that you are joining the new square “around the corner” of the first square thus, working in a diagonal, zig zag fashion:
APPLIED I-CORD EDGING:
Using 4.00mm needles, CO 4 sts, then pick up from the edge of the blanket. (You can begin anywhere but it’s best not to begin at a corner.) Slide the sts to the other end of the needle and drawing the working yarn snugly across the back of the work, k3, k2tog.
Continue thus:
- *Pick up 1 st from edge of blanket, slide sts to other end of needle, k3, k2tog* repeat until you reach the first corner, stopping 2 bound off sts before corner.
To work the corner:
- *Without picking up the next st, k4 drawing the working yarn snugly across the back of the work, pick up the next bound off st, k3, k2tog*. Work in this manner 4 times in total until you’ve worked 2 sts beyond the corner, then continue to work applied I-cord edging to next corner.
FINISHING
When I-cord edging has been applied all around, bind off remaining sts and break yarn leaving a 12″ tail. Stitch I-cord ends together and weave in ends. (For a cleaner finish, you may opt to pick up the original 4 I-cord sts and join them to the live I-cord sts that remain on the needle using the Kitchener St.)
Weave in all remaining ends, wet block to dimensions.
Notes
CLICK HERE for Standard Abbreviations
**Please direct pattern and knitting questions to for fastest results. Please do not post knitting questions in the blog comments. Thanks!