Hello ?here is my latest project – Hearts and Stripes Blanket. This pattern is based on the heart motif I created last year. For this project I wanted to produce a solid version of the heart square. To make a heavy duty lap blanket quickly! I used super chunky yarn and a 9mm hook. With this yarn I can easily make one of these blankets in a week or two.
Here is the finished blanket worked up in red white and blue yarn. You can use the blocks to make a blanket of any size. If you use a lighter weight yarn you will probably want to put in more blocks. I went for a seven by five block layout as that worked best for the quantity of yarn I had. The finished blanket measures about 34 inches by 48 inches or 85cm by 125cm in metric.
This pattern would also work very well as a stash-buster project. The yarn required for each area of colour is quite small. I salvage quite a lot of yarn and often end up with a large number of smaller balls of yarn. You can read my top tips for yarn salvage here.
The pattern took four 100g balls of the navy and 3 of each of the red and white.
The blanket pattern is made up of striped squares and full heart blocks. The pattern for the heart block in both UK and US terms are available here
The instructions for the striped block are here again in both UK and US terms.
Joining the Blocks to make the blanket
The blanket is made up of these two blocks worked in a seven by five alternating pattern. The join I used for this blanket is one that has minimal finishing off. The technique makes a feature of the joining thread.
Line up two squares edge to edge with the right side of the work facing up.
Place the yarn you are using for the join behind the work. Always keep the joining yarn behind the squares. Pick up stitches from the back of each of the two edges, as shown below.
Wrap the yarn round the hook working from behind. You need to keep the yarn behind the work at all times.
Pull the yarn through the two stitches you picked up to give you two loops on the hook.
Finally pull the yarn through the loop on the hook to form a slip stitch. From the picture above this means pulling the first loop nearest the end of the hook through the second loop on the hook. The result should look like the picture below.
Design choice – pick a highlight colour for the join and make it a feature. Or use the same colour as the borders of the squares. Using the same colour would make the join less visible.
Hearts and Stripes Blanket – Border
The border for this blanket is very simple and echos the stripes in the squares.
UK terms
First round – Join in yarn in the colour you used to join the blocks and work one round of DC working 1DC, 2CH, 1DC into each corner. For the design shown here yarn colour white.
Second round – Join in yarn A (red for the design shown here) and work a round of HTR working 1HTR, 2CH, 1HTR into each corner.
Third round – Join in the first yarn again (white) and repeat the first round.
Fourth round – for the final round use the border colour (Navy) and again repeat the first round above.
US terms
First round – Join in yarn in the colour you used to join the blocks and work one round of SC working 1SC, 2CH, 1SC into each corner. For the design shown here yarn colour white.
Second round – Join in yarn A (red for the design shown here) and work a round of HDC working 1HDC, 2CH, 1HDC into each corner.
Third round – Join in the first yarn again (white) and repeat the first round.
Fourth round – for the final round use the border colour (Navy) and again repeat the first round above.
Finish off your ends and there you have it – one Hearts and Stripes Blanket. Hope you like it!
Annie 🙂
