Purple Blanket

Awhile ago (April 2008) I started a purple mitered square blanket using some acrylic yarn (Caron One Pound and Jo-Ann Sensations Rainbow Classic).

I made a bunch of squares when I was teaching a history of film music class at the middle school. We watched a lot of movie segments so I would knit on squares while the movie played. After school ended (or maybe even before) I got a bit tired of constantly making the same type of thing over and over. I was making them in fraternal twin sets with the striping reversed on each one but it was still getting old. So... I let the blanket marinate in a plastic bin. For over 3 years (wow, didn't realize it had been that long). With the collection for childrens blankets going on through the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project I decided to resurrect the purple blanket and see how much work needed to still be done on it. I started by finding all the squares (plus one square that had been started and was still on the needles) and gathering them all in one place.

Then I separated them into sets of twins.

I had 16 squares. My plan is to make 4x4 blocks using two sets of twin squares. Fraternal twins would face each other across the large square (all this will become clearer in the pictures below). First though, I needed to measure them to get a rough idea of how big the squares were and how many more I needed.

Each side measured roughly 6.5".

Then I began making the 4x4 squares. First, I placed fraternal twin pairs across from one another.

Then I placed another set of twins.

I continued until I had all the squares matched up.

Then, to make my life easier, I pinned the 4x4 blocks together with safety pins. The cat helped.

I ended up with 4 large 4x4 squares and one partially started square.

Then it was time to hit the drawing board. I need the blanket to be at least 50"x50" to make it a decent size. My plan is to make large 13" garter stitch mitered squares to go around the 4x4 squares. I needed to figure out how many of the 13' squares were needed. Note that in the pictures below the sizes are actually not correct. I was originally figuring that the squares would curl up to about 6" due to the stockinette. Now I plan on using the larger blocks to pull them out to their full 6.5".

From left to right we have the largest size to the smallest size blanket.

The largest size would produce a 65"x65" blanket. I would need 21 plain 13" squares to make this one.

 The middle size would make a 65"x52" blanket and take just 16 plain squares.

The smallest one would take 12 plain squares and measure 52"x52". While even the smallest one would produce a decent sized blanket I may try for the middle size. I like blankets that are a little longer than they are wide. I will probably frog the one square that is on the needles and not worry with it (if I finished that square I would have to finish at least 3 more to make a 4x4 square and then figure out how to work it into the overall design). So, now to knit 16-13" mitered squares in garter stitch and seam the whole thing together by the end of October. And did I mention that I didn't weave in any ends on the small squares yet...