Here (finally) is the pattern I made up for the Diagonal Eyelet Baby Blanket I did for the compassionate KAL. Sorry for the length, if you PM me I can send you a copy in a more printer-friendly Word document.
Diagonal Eyelet and Garter Baby Blanket
This is an elegant yet simple blanket pattern. Knit from corner to corner, it can be made whatever size and with whatever yarn you desire.
Materials: Yarn, appropriately sized Knitting Needles, Tapestry Needle.
I used worsted weight yarn and size 9 needles. A single skein of Plymouth Encore yielded about a 15-16 inch square blanket. For anything bigger than this I suggest circular needles because of the large number of stitches you will have in the middle of the blanket.
Directions:
Beginning section: Cast on 4 stitches
Row 1: K1, Kfb, K2
Row 2: K2, Kfb, K2
Row 3: K3, YO, K3
Row 4: K3, YO, K4
Row 5: K3, YO, P2, K3
Row 6 & 7: K3, YO, K to end
Increase Repeat:
Row 1, 3, 5, 7 & 8: K3, YO, K to end
Row 2: K3, YO, P to last 3 sts, K3
Row 4: K3, YO, P1 YO, P2tog repeat between * to last 3 sts, K3
Note: if you have an extra stitch at the end of the repeat section just purl it without a preceding YO
Row 6: K3, YO, P to last 3 sts, K3
Continue working the Increase Repeat until the blanket is half of the desired size. End on Row 7.
Center Row: K3, turn, K3, turn, K across, turn, K3, turn, K3. (This uses short rows to add extra edging so it will fit around the corners)
Decrease Repeat:
Row 1, 3, 5, 7 & 8: K2, K2tog, YO, K2 tog, K to end
Row 2: K2, K2tog, YO, P2tog, P to last 3 sts, K3
Row 4: K2, K2tog, YO, P2tog, YO, P2tog repeat between * to last 3 sts, K3
Note: if you have an extra stitch at the end of the repeat section just purl it without a preceding YO
Row 6: K2, K2tog, YO, P2tog, P to last 3 sts, K3
Finishing section: (work when you have completed as many decrease repeats as increase repeats and you are back to approximately the same number of sts as at the end of the beginning section)
Continue to repeat rows 1 and 2 of the decrease section until you work a row that goes: K2, K2tog, YO, K2tog, K2
Next row: K2, K2tog, K2
Final row: K2, K2tog, K1
Bind off remaining 4 sts and weave in all ends. Block blanket into a square (it tends to turn out a bit slanted).
Variations:
- The blanket center can be placed on an eyelet row instead of a garter row if desired. Simply end the increase section on row 3, work the short rows with row 4 (eyelet row) and begin the decrease section on row 5.
- Stripes can be added by changing colors as the beginning of each section (or two for wider stripes).
- A hood can easily be added to the blanket by simply returning to the increase repeat once you are finished decreasing. I turned around without working the finishing section, but you could go all the way down to 4 stitches before increasing again if you want more of a pointed corner. Once the hood is the desired length, bind off and sew the edges of the hood to the blanket. The edge of the hood I mad wanted to roll up, so good hard blocking was needed to convince it to lie flat. You might also want to put a garter, rib or seed stitch border on the hood section to discourage rolling.
