Lana Grossa Blanket Knitting Pattern

Lana Grossa Piuma Blanket

What is Being Made

The Lana Grossa Piuma Blanket is a large, decorative knitted throw designed for home use. This finished blanket measures approximately 150 cm long by 138 cm wide, making it a substantial piece suitable for draping over furniture or use as a bed throw. The design, identified as Design 32 from Filati Home 72, combines textural and visual interest through its construction method and stitch patterning.

Techniques Used

This blanket is worked using several key knitting techniques that contribute to its finished appearance and structure:

• Bottom-up construction: The blanket is knitted from the cast-on edge upward, beginning with 173 stitches and progressing through multiple stitch pattern sections before binding off.
• Seamless, worked flat: The entire blanket is created as a single flat piece using circular needles, eliminating the need for seaming. This method produces clean edges and a unified fabric without visible seams.
• Lace elements: The primary design feature incorporates a lace pattern, specifically a grid lace motif that creates openwork sections throughout the blanket. This lace patterning adds visual depth and a delicate aesthetic to the otherwise solid fabric.
• Blocking and finishing: After knitting is complete, the blanket is pinned to measurements and blocked to achieve proper dimensions and even fabric appearance.

Stitches Used

The blanket employs a limited but effective stitch vocabulary:

• Garter stitch: Used for the borders and edging sections. Garter stitch is created by knitting every row, producing a reversible, textured fabric with horizontal ridges. The blanket begins with 4 cm of garter stitch, followed by a transition to the main pattern, and concludes with another 4 cm of garter stitch before binding off. Additional garter stitch borders, each measuring 4 cm wide, are picked up and worked along both long side edges.
• Stockinette stitch: Worked as transition rows between the garter stitch borders and the main grid lace pattern. Stockinette stitch is created by knitting on right-side rows and purling on wrong-side rows, producing a smooth, classic knit fabric.
• Grid lace pattern: The primary design element, worked according to a charted pattern. This pattern repeats over a multiple of 16 stitches plus 2 additional stitches, plus 2 selvage stitches for edge definition. The grid pattern chart contains 16 rows that repeat throughout the 141 cm length of the main blanket body, creating a consistent geometric lace design with openwork elements.

Materials

The Lana Grossa Piuma Blanket requires 700 grams of yarn in the colorway Olive/Grey-Green/Black (color 3). The yarn used is Lana Grossa Piuma, a premium blend consisting of 75% pure wool, 15% alpaca, and 10% polyamide. This fiber composition provides warmth, softness, and durability. The yarn is supplied at 140 meters per 50-gram ball.

The blanket is worked on size 5.5 mm circular needles, specifically a 120 cm circular needle. The gauge for this project is 13.5 stitches and 21.5 rows over a 10 by 10 centimeter square when working the grid pattern on size 5.5 mm needles. This gauge is essential for achieving the correct finished dimensions and fabric drape.

Construction Overview

The blanket follows a structured construction sequence. After casting on 173 stitches, the knitter works 4 cm of garter stitch for a stable, textured edge. The pattern then transitions into stockinette stitch with a 7-stitch increase distributed evenly across the first row, bringing the stitch count to 180 stitches. The main grid lace pattern is then worked for 141 cm, following the charted design. After completing the lace section, the knitter works 2 rows of stockinette stitch while decreasing 7 stitches evenly to return to 173 stitches. The blanket concludes with 4 cm of garter stitch and a bind-off. Finally, borders are picked up along both long side edges and worked in garter stitch for 4 cm each, creating a finished frame around the lace center.