Southwest Knit Blanket

This is a simple baby blanket done in straight knitting - garter stitch.  Well, the knitting is simple, but the weaving in of all the ends is pretty time consuming!  I wove ends as I finished each color section so I didn't have quite as huge of a job at the very end.

Materials:
*Yarn - I used Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash
     Base color - gray
     Thin striping - A Rust
                             B Cream
                             C Blue
     Color Group 1 - 4 shades of purple:  dark, medium dark, medium light, light
     Color Group 2 - 4 shades of orange:  dark, medium dark, medium light, light
     Edging - the medium light shade of purple
* Size 10 1/2 circular knitting needles
* Size E crochet hook

Directions:
1.  Cast on 125 stitches with base color.

2.  Knit 43 rows with base color.

3. Knit 2 rows each of the thin striping colors, going from A to C.

4.  Knit 4 rows each of Color Group 1, going from dark to light.

5.  Knit 2 rows thin striping color B, 4 rows base color, and 2 rows thin striping B.

6.  Knit 4 rows each of Color Group 2, going from light to dark.

7.  Knit 2 rows each of thin striping colors, going from C to A.

8.  Knit 28 rows with base color.

9.  Repeat steps 3 through 8.

10.  Repeat steps 3 through 2.

11.  Knit 43 rows with base color.

12.  Bind off.

13.  Join on edging color and crochet a single crochet stitch in each knit stitch across the top and bottom and evenly along the two sides, making 3 single crochets in each corner.

14.  Join to first single crochet, chain one and single crochet in each stitch from the previous round, making 3 single crochets in each corner.

15.  Repeat step 14.  Finish off.

The new little guy this blanket was knit for is almost ready to make his appearance - I hope he enjoys snuggling up in it as much as I did while working on it!

Happy Creating!  Deborah