Valley Yarns Five College Blanket Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Five College Blanket: Knitted Textured Throw

What is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Five College Blanket is a celebratory knitted throw blanket designed by Kirsten Hipsky that measures 47 inches wide by 52 inches long. This blanket honors the five colleges in the Northampton and Amherst area through five distinct traditional textured gansey panels that run across the width of the blanket. The finished piece combines multiple stitch patterns in a coordinated arrangement, creating visual interest and texture throughout the throw.

Techniques and Construction Method

This blanket is worked bottom-up and flat on straight needles, making it an accessible project for knitters new to blanket construction. The design is seamless, meaning all pieces are knitted as one continuous fabric rather than assembled from separate components. The blanket begins with a cast-on of 141 stitches and incorporates cable and textured stitch techniques through its five distinct gansey panel patterns. The construction starts with a Moss Stitch border, continues through the main patterned section, and finishes with another Moss Stitch border before binding off.

Stitches Used

The Five College Blanket employs five primary stitch patterns arranged in a repeating sequence:

• Moss Stitch: Used for the top and bottom borders, this fundamental textured stitch alternates knit and purl stitches to create a bumpy, reversible fabric. The pattern is worked over four rows and uses an odd number of stitches.
• Beaded Band: An eight-stitch panel that combines knit and purl stitches to create a beaded appearance, alternating between stockinette sections and reverse stockinette framing.
• Furrows: An eight-stitch panel featuring alternating rows of stockinette and garter stitch, creating distinct horizontal lines or furrows across the blanket.
• Seed Diamond: A nine-stitch panel that creates a diamond shape through strategic placement of knit and purl stitches, combining stockinette and seed stitch elements.
• Seed Chevron: The most complex pattern at seventeen stitches, this panel creates a chevron or zigzag visual effect through a combination of knit, purl, and seed stitch techniques worked over eight rows.

All patterns are worked in stockinette stitch as the base, with purl stitches creating contrast and texture. The stitch charts provided in the pattern guide knitters through each row of the repeating sequences.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Valley Yarns Five College Blanket requires 12 skeins of Valley Yarns Superwash Bulky yarn in the Blue Mist colorway. This yarn is composed of 100% Extrafine Merino Superwash, providing softness, durability, and easy care through machine washing. Each skein contains 100 grams of fiber and yields approximately 109 yards, giving a total yardage of roughly 1,308 yards for the completed blanket.

Knitters should use US size 10.5 (6.50mm) needles, or whatever needle size is needed to achieve the specified gauge. The pattern calls for needles long enough to accommodate 141 stitches comfortably while working flat. The gauge is approximately 3 stitches per 1 inch in stockinette stitch, which is typical for bulky-weight yarn and contributes to the blanket's quick completion time.

Difficulty Level

This project is rated as beginner-friendly, making it an excellent choice for knitters new to blanket projects or those building their stitch pattern skills. While the blanket incorporates multiple textured stitch patterns, each pattern is clearly charted and uses only basic knit and purl stitches. The seamless, flat construction eliminates the complexity of seaming or managing multiple pieces, and the straightforward bottom-up approach allows knitters to monitor their progress easily and adjust length as needed.