Double Up Yarn for Cozy Baby Blankets

I’m sharing how a baby blanket can help reduce a yarn excess. The first two baby blankets I knitted used 730 yards and 612 yards. However, that was with the DK weight yarn doubled up. I am even knitting one baby blanket of fingering yarn that is quadrupled up on 7mm needles. If using bulky yarn, you only need about 370 yards for a small baby blanket. But since this week is all about using up excess yarn that you have, here is the basic instructions for making a baby blanket using at least 700 yards of DK yarn.

This is not a pattern in that it is just what I did that worked for me. I have not tested all variations so trust your instincts as you are working on this. Modeled after my Blue Skies Baby Blanket.


Planning Your Pattern:
Observe your self-striping yarn and find the dominant striping color within the pattern. This is the color that you will want to coordinate with your solid-hued yarn. Hold a strand of the dominant self-striping section up  against the solid skein and if they are indiscernible they are right colors to pair.

What You Need:
• At least 370 yards, DK weight yarn in a varied or self-striping colorway
• At least 370 yards, DK weight yarn in a solid color that coordinates with major striping hue
• 6.5mm (10.5 US) knitting needles

What To Do:
Cast on at least 84 stitches on 6.5mm needles. You can choose the number of stitches to cast on based on how wide you want it. From my blanket experience, this combination will make the blanket about 20 inches square-ish.

For the first five rows and the final five rows of the blanket, use moss stitch. After the moss stitch rows, continue with stockinette stitch being certain to knit the first two and last two of every row so the final blanket rests flat and edges don’t curl. The stockinette (knit/purl) stitch continues until the entire row of stitches on your needle has the desired striping color alongside your chosen solid yarn.

At this point, do the opposite stitch than you would have done. So, if you are facing the smooth side of the stitches, purl the next row (with the first two and last two stitches knitted). If you are facing the bumpy side of the blanket, knit the next row. For the row after that, look at the row you just completed and if you knitted, purl the next row and if you purled, knit the next row. Continue this back and forth so that the otherwise smooth side of the blanket now has a ‘bumpy’ row where the colors meet. Once the self-striping of that color is done, resume stockinette.

Repeat this process throughout the rest of the blanket.

When you are nearing the end of the yarn supply, switch to the final five rows of moss stitch.

The entire blanket from start to finish took me over one month but I knitted the Blue Skies Baby Blanket when I’d only been knitting for about eight months so my skills were not what they are now. The final blanket was completely worth it though and I will do one again soon since it is a great stashbuster project.

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