Valley Yarns Harbor Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Harbor Knitted Blanket

What is Being Made

The Harbor design is a knitted blanket featuring a striking split diamond mosaic pattern available in two sizes: a baby stroller blanket measuring 38¼" x 39" or a larger adult throw blanket measuring 50¾" x 72". This project is designed by Julie Turjoman and showcases how mosaic knitting can create visually complex, graphic designs that are surprisingly simple to execute. The blanket is crafted with easy-care durability in mind, making it suitable as a baby shower gift in the smaller size or a welcoming house-warming gift in the larger throw size.

Techniques Used

This blanket employs several key knitting techniques that work together to create its distinctive appearance:

• Mosaic Knitting: The primary technique used throughout the blanket field, mosaic stitch creates the illusion of complexity while remaining accessible to intermediate-level knitters. The pattern features offset split diamonds that alternate between the main color and contrast color, producing a graphic visual effect.
• Bottom-Up Construction: The blanket is worked from the bottom edge upward, beginning with a cast-on edge and building the piece row by row toward the top.
• Seamless, Worked Flat: The blanket is constructed as a single flat piece using circular needles worked back and forth in rows, eliminating the need for seaming. This seamless approach creates a clean, continuous fabric.
• Stripe Integration: High-contrast yet neutral colors—white and navy—are woven throughout the mosaic pattern to create visual interest and definition.
• Garter Stitch Borders: Solid contrast color garter stitch borders frame the mosaic pattern, accentuating the texture of the central design. The borders are integrated into the knitting on the short ends, while side border stitches are picked up and worked during finishing on the long sides.

Stitches Used

The Harbor blanket utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined in strategic ways:

• Mosaic Stitch Pattern: The primary stitch pattern that forms the split diamond design. The mosaic pattern is worked over a 22-stitch repeat, with 6 repeats for the baby blanket size and 8 repeats for the throw size.
• Garter Stitch: Used for the borders that frame the mosaic field. Garter stitch is created by knitting every row, producing a textured, reversible fabric that provides visual contrast and definition to the central pattern.
• Knit Stitch: The basic knit stitch is used throughout, including the edge stitches worked at the beginning and end of each row to maintain clean selvage edges.

Materials and Tools

The Harbor blanket is worked in Valley Yarns Haydenville Bulky, a practical yarn blend combining 60% Superwash Merino wool with 40% Acrylic Microfiber. This fiber composition provides easy-care properties ideal for a blanket that will receive regular use and washing. Each skein contains 100 grams and yields 109 yards.

Yarn Requirements by Size:

• Baby blanket: 7 skeins in Color 01 White (main color) and 4 skeins in Color 08 Navy (contrast color)
• Adult throw blanket: 17 skeins in Color 01 White (main color) and 10 skeins in Color 08 Navy (contrast color)

Needles and Notions: US 10 (6mm) circular needles measuring 32" to 40" in length are required, worked at a gauge of 14 stitches and 20 rows equaling 4 inches in the mosaic stitch pattern when blocked. Additional materials include locking stitch markers to track the repeating pattern sections and a tapestry needle for weaving in yarn ends during finishing.

Construction Details

The blanket begins with a Cable cast-on of 134 stitches for the baby size or 178 stitches for the throw size, using the main color. A 12-row garter stitch border is worked first to establish a finished bottom edge. The blanket field then begins with the mosaic pattern, with stitch markers placed between each 22-stitch repeat to maintain pattern accuracy. The first and last stitches of each row are knitted to create clean edges. The mosaic pattern continues for approximately 38 inches on the baby blanket or 70½ inches on the throw, completing multiple pattern repeats. The intermediate skill