julia makes stuff: Baby Brainiac Blankie

Materials:

Plenty of TIME
Size 8 circular needle at least 24 in. long (for weight distribution and knitting comfort only, you will NOT be knitting in the round)
Worsted weight yarn (for the smaller, two-color version shown finished here in black & white - for the larger version I sugges double the amounts of both colors to be on the safe side)

Color A: 650-700 yards
Color B: 450-500 yards

Note: Whenever you bind off and also when you turn the block to pick up your next batch of stitches always keep the “right side” of your work facing you. Your blanket will have a definite front and back, and you will see all the color joins on the back side. The front side will be clean & neat rectangles!
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Block #1:
With one strand of A cast on 10 stitches using long tail method, leaving 4-6” tail. Turn work and knit back and forth until you have 11 garter ridges (ending on right side). Measure without stretching: block should be pretty much square (I got 3.25”x3.25”). Bind off loosely and cut yarn (A) leaving 4-6” tail.

Block #2:

Turn block one quarter-turn clockwise. With Color B pick up and knit 11 stitches along the side of Block #1 Turn your work and knit back and forth, ending on a front-side row when you have 10 garter ridges. Bind off loosely. Turn work quarter-turn clockwise (with the “right side: facing you).

Block #3:

Continuing with Color B pick up and knit 11 stitches along the side of Block #2 and 11 stitches along the edge of Block #1. You should now have a total of 22 stitches on your needle. Turn your work and knit back and forth, ending on a right side row when you have 10 garter ridges. Bind off loosely and turn work one quarter-turn clockwise.

Block #4:

Continuing with Color B pick up 11 stitches along Block #3 and then 11 more along Block #1. Turn work and knit back and forth, ending on the right side when you have 10 garter ridges, then bind off loosely. Turn clock-wise one quarter turn as with previous blocks.

Block #5:

Here’s where it gets slightly more complicated… Pick up 10 stitches along the edge of Block #4 with Color B then pick up 20 more stitches along the edge of Blocks 1 & 2 with Color A (I twist the Color B around Color A once to prevent a gap). You should now have 30 total stitches on your needle. Turn work and knit back and forth until you have 10 garter ridges (ending with right side facing you), working the Color B stitches with Color B and the Color A stitches with Color A. Make sure that you cross the two strands of yarn when changing from one color to the next to avoid gaps between the colors (guess what, you’re doing Intarsia!). Bind off loosely and rotate one quarter-turn clockwise as with previous blocks. You will only be knitting with the Color A now for a while, so you can go ahead and cut Color B leaving a 4-6” tail.

Block #6

Continuing with Color A only, pick up 10 stitches along the edge of Block #5 , then 20 stitches along Blocks 2 & 3 (30 total stitches). Turn work and knit back and forth until you have 10 garter ridges (ending with right side facing you). Bind off loosely and turn work to the right one quarter-turn.

Block #7:

Continuing with Color A only, pick up 10 stitches along the edge of Block #6, 20 stitches along the edge of Block #3, and 10 stitches along Block #4 (40 total stitches). Knit back and forth ending on a right side row when you have 10 complete garter ridges. Bind off loosely and turn work one quarter-turn clockwise.

Block #8:
Still using Color A pick up 10 stitches along the edge of Block #7 you just finished, then 20 stitches along Block #3, and 10 along Block #4 (40 total stitches on needle). Knit back and forth ending on a right side row when you have 10 complete garter ridges. Bind off loosely and turn work one quarter-turn clockwise.

Block #9:

In this block we return to two-color knitting (intarsia!) similar to what we did in Block #5. Still using Color A pick up 10 stitches along the edge of Block #8, then with Color B pick up 30 stitches along Block #5, and 10 stitches along Block #6 (total of 50 stitches on needle now). Turn work and knit back and forth until you have 10 garter ridges (ending with right side facing you), knitting with like colors together as in Block #5. Bind off loosely and turn work one quarter-turn clockwise. You will now only be knitting with Color B for a while, so you can go ahead and cut Color A leaving a 4-6” tail.

Block #10:

Using Color B pick up 10 stitches along the edge of the block you just finished, then 30 stitches along Block #6, and 10 along Block #7 (50 total stitches on needle). Knit back and forth ending on a right side row when you have 10 complete garter ridges. Bind off loosely and turn work one quarter-turn clockwise.

Continue in this fashion, with the number of garter ridges and/or bind-off stitches determining the number of stitches you pick up when starting each new block. As you can see in the numbered chart on page 3 (smaller version), the only blocks which involve knitting with both of your colors are #5, #9, #13, and #17.

To match version of the pattern shown finished here you’ll be knitting a total of 24 blocks. For blocks 21-24 I knit 15 garter ridges, instead of 10. This will give you a slightly wider block and makes the border look more noticeably like, well, a border. Then bind off, weave in all your MANY ends, and enjoy (or wrap it up nicely and give it to a loved one!

I considered making the blanket larger and the last 4 border blocks in a third color (Red would have been interesting, for instance, with the black and white spiral inside). So I’m showing you both charts I created. So far the only one I have knit is the smaller, two-color version.

For a larger blanket just continue in the manner of previous rounds instead of starting your border, continuing the spiral as before. To end the spiral make sure you knit with only Color A for your next block (in this case #21, but it could be block 25, or 29, or 33, depending on how much you really enjoy knitting just garter stitch. Just make sure you end the spiral before starting your border). I think this spiral pattern would look great with bright solids like Caron Simply Soft Brites, or even with neutral colors, like Lion Fisherman’s Wool, especially in the new colors they’ve added this year.

As with all my patterns, feel free to use this pattern to make items for yourself, gifts for others, or to donate to a charity, but not for sale and/or profit. If you want to mention the pattern on your website or blog, please do not repost the pattern but instead link to my blog.

Most importanly... just have fun!