Textured Knit Blankets

I showed a sneak preview of this last week and now it's finished!  The texture in this blanket comes from using different types and thicknesses of yarn - in fact, I think it's as much fun to shop for the different yarns as it is to knit it.  Before you pick out the yarns, decide if you want it to be a machine washable blanket or a handwashed blanket.  I didn't even think of that on the first one I made - I now have a lap blanket that needs to be handwashed.  That's good for strengthening arm muscles!

Materials:
*9 or 10 yarns in your chosen color scheme - mine for this blanket was turquoise and white.  I found this looks nicest using mainly worsted or sport weight yarns with a couple of thinner yarns and a novelty yarn that has some sparkle or other interesting feature
*size 10 1/2 needles - I like to use circular for this
*size G crochet hook

1.  Cast on 110 stitches.  Use one of the worsted weight yarns to begin and end with.

2.  Work in garter stitch - just knit stitches - for the whole blanket.  

This is a very free style blanket.  Knit as much as you want of each color.  It looks nice if you change up the amount you knit for each newly added yarn.  When you are done knitting with the first yarn, change yarns at an edge.  I try to change a yarn on the opposite side I started it on.

Another hint - weave in ends every so often.  If you wait to do them all until the end, it'll be very overwhelming!  Also, I know that knots are frowned upon in knitting and crochet, however I found that with the wear and tear blankets get it's a good idea to knot the two yarn ends you get when changing colors together before weaving the ends in.  I haven't had any blankets come apart when I've done this.

Additional hint - knit smaller amounts of the thinner yarns unless you want to have a very lacy blanket.  I don't generally knit more than an inch of the lace weight yarns and I intersperse them between the thicker yarns.  And I only knit three to five rows of the very thin white novelty yarn, adding it in for needed sparkle every so often.

3.  When you have the blanket as long as you want, cast off and weave in the tail.  This one is a baby blanket - I made it about 40 inches long.

4.  Using one of the worsted weight yarns, attach near a corner (but not in the corner) and evenly single crochet around the entire blanket, making three single crochets in each corner (on this row and on rows 2 and 3, also).  Join to the first single crochet with a slip stitch.  Chain one and single crochet around the entire blanket again, using one of the other colors of worsted weight.  Don't cut off the first color.  When the second row is done, cut off that yarn and complete a third row with the first color of yarn.  Fasten off and weave in any loose ends that are left.

Happy Creating!  Deborah