Chenille Knit Blanket
I finally finished the chenille knit blanket that I started back before Christmas. I now know why I don’t knit that many blankets or afghans – they take a lot of time to complete and after a while I get bored with the same project and the same yarn. That is probably why I had to quit working on this blanket for a while and do a few other projects in between. Well, anyhow, it is done, actually it has been finished for a few weeks and my husband (and cat) have been enjoying it.
This blanket is super easy to knit. I had this chenille yarn, from Lion brand yarn, for quite a while in my stash and decided it would be a nice warm blanket for our living room. The needle size I used for this yarn was a size US 11 circular with a very long 47 inch cable. The pattern for this blanket is a 4 row repeat and is below:
Cast on 72 stitches (multiple of 4)
Row 1: (Right Side) *K2, p2; repeat from * across
Row 2: *K2, p2; repeat from * across
Row 3: P2, k2; repeat from * across
Row 4: P2, k2; repeat from * across
Repeat the above 4 rows a total of 104 times or until desired length.
My finished blanket was approximately 42 inches wide and 65 inches long. A nice size for a couch afghan. I could have probably made it longer as I had another skein of yarn but the chenille yarn was getting super heavy to work with.
This stitch pattern is reversible, meaning it looks the same on both sides, which I think is nice for a blanket. I also knit a swatch with the pattern in acrylic #4 weight yarn holding 2 yarns together and thought that would also make a nice heavy blanket.
The above swatch is knit with 2 skeins of Hobby Lobby I Love this Yarn held together and using the 4 row pattern above and size US 11 needles. This swatch ended up being a little smaller in size than my chenille swatch. It was 4 inches wide by 4 inches long on 12 stitches over 16 rows in pattern. The chenille swatch was 6 inches wide by 5 inches long on 12 stitches over 20 rows in pattern. So, if you were to knit the pattern in 2 yarns of acrylic yarn you would probably want to increase your stitch count to at least 112 stitches so that the blanket will be wide enough. Just remember your stitch count needs to be a multiple of 4 whatever you increase it to.
Overall I am pleased with our new blanket. I also like the fact that it looks nice with the Vibrant V Stitch pillow I crocheted back in the fall. Of course photos are not complete without my black cat getting in the background.
I have also been knitting some dishcloths, which are good and easy spring projects and some sweaters. What have you been working on lately? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Have a great day!
-Kimberlee
beautiful! Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. xo