Blue Sky Fibers Eyelet Baby Blanket Knitting Pattern

Blue Sky Fibers Eyelet Baby Blanket

What Is Being Made

The Eyelet Baby Blanket is a knitted baby blanket designed by Leslie Scanlon, featuring an elegant eyelet pattern throughout. This finished blanket measures approximately 27 inches by 26 inches, making it an ideal size for a newborn or infant. The blanket combines a stockinette stitch body with decorative yarn over eyelets and incorporates a decorative ruffle edging worked separately and attached to all four sides of the completed blanket body.

Techniques Used

This pattern is worked using seamless, flat knitting techniques, meaning the blanket is knitted in one flat piece rather than in the round. The construction method involves two main stages: first, the blanket body is worked flat on straight needles, then the ruffle is picked up from the cast-on edge and knitted separately before being sewn to the blanket edges.

The ruffle finishing technique requires picking up stitches along the edges of the completed blanket body. The pattern recommends using a smaller needle size when picking up stitches to reduce stress on the yarn and ensure more even stitch pickup, particularly helpful for knitters still developing this skill. All four corners are sewn, and ends are woven in to complete the blanket.

The pattern includes blocking as a finishing step, using a light floating iron technique with a blocking cloth (such as a cotton or linen dish towel) to set the stitches without applying full weight to the delicate blanket.

Stitches Used

• Stockinette Stitch (St st): Forms the primary fabric of the blanket body, created by alternating knit rows on the right side and purl rows on the wrong side
• Yarn Overs (YO): Creates the decorative eyelet pattern throughout the blanket. The yarn overs are strategically placed and increased across multiple rows to form an expanding eyelet design
• Knit Two Together (k2tog): A right-leaning decrease used in the yarn over pattern rows to maintain stitch count while creating the eyelet motif
• Purl Stitches: Used in the ruffle pattern to create texture and definition in the edging

The blanket body begins with a 4-row stockinette stitch foundation, followed by the main eyelet pattern. The eyelet pattern expands progressively across rows, with yarn overs increasing in number and spacing to create a growing, decorative openwork effect. The ruffle edging combines knit and purl stitches in a repeating pattern, with yarn overs incorporated into the ruffle rows as well to maintain the eyelet theme.

Materials

This pattern calls for Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes yarn, a worsted-weight yarn in hand-dyed colorways. The project requires 7 hanks of this yarn, with each hank containing 100 grams and 100 yards of yardage, for a total of 700 yards. The photo example shown features Light Blue #2007.

Needles required include Size 11 (8 mm) needles for the main blanket body and ruffle, with a smaller needle size recommended specifically for picking up the ruffle stitches. The smaller needle reduces stress when picking up stitches and helps achieve more even stitch distribution along the blanket edges.

The pattern is suitable for Advanced Beginner to Intermediate level knitters, as it involves techniques such as yarn overs, decreases, and stitch pickup. The gauge for stockinette stitch is 3½ stitches and 4 rows per 1 inch, though the pattern notes that gauge is less critical for a blanket project since the finished size is the primary measurement rather than precise gauge matching.