Rough & Tumble Baby Blankets Tutorial

Last year our cousins started having babies.  The first of which (shown above) just reach his first birthday a couple weeks ago.  I originally was going to tackle the challenge of the first baby shower I was ever invited to by making a sweater - possibly something like the Baby Sophisticate that I later made for my husband's cousin.

When I suggested this, I was overruled.  Babies grow out of sweaters, I was told, but blankies are forever.  One of the boy's aunts still has her baby blanket even now as a graduate student.  She insisted that every child needs one.  And I'm sure Linus agrees.

After the jump, I'll do a quick walk through of the Rough & Tumble Baby Blanket pattern I created for this first blanket.  It includes some information on how to customize it for your own preferences  like I did with the other blankets that followed in the next year.  This way you can continue to make unique baby blankets for all the new little ones in your life.

Rough & Tumble Baby Blanket

Materials: 
5 skeins, Classic Elite's Sprout from the Verde Collection (shown in Summer Cloud)
US#10 / 6mm needles
Cable needle

Abbreviations:
C6B - Cable 6 Back - move next 3 stitches onto cable needle, hold to back, knit following 3 stitches as normal from left needle, then knit remaining 3 stitches from cable needle.

Directions:
Do a test swatch.  Gauge should be about 3.5 stitches per inch.  Adjust needle size as necessary.

CO 105 stitches in order to create a blanket width of about 2.5 feet.

Begin blanket in K1 P1 ribbing.  Work ribbing for 7 rows.

From this point (until you finish the blanket with the final 7 rows of ribbing), work each edge in 5 garter stitches.  Follow the garter stitches with a cable.  I worked a C6B on each edge of this design.  It was a chunky cable, but feel free to make yours thicker or thinner per your preference. 

Work middle stitches in stockinette for 15 rows.

On RS, work a lateral braid between cables.  Work next row as a stockinette row - purl side.  On RS again, work another lateral braid.  (Please see the Note on Lateral Braids below.)

Continue the piece with garter stitches and cables at the edge and stockinette in the middle until you have about 1 skein left.

Work lateral braids again as above.

Work stockinette between cables for 15 rows.

Work K1 P1 ribbing for final 7 rows.  BO all 105 stitches.

Detail of the blanket

Note on Lateral Braids: These are a somewhat tricky technique that I learned from the free, gorgeous glove pattern "Treads" by Victoria Anne Baker at Of the Rain.  In the pattern she has a great set of instructions on this technique.  I originally planned to include more lateral braids throughout this piece, but when you are working 105 stitches, it can get to be too much.  You can opt not to include the braids if you would like.

Rough sketch that I followed as a pattern

Customization:  That's the beauty of blankets.  You can include and not include whatever you want texture-wise.

The next two baby blankets that I made in 2011 was based on this basic pattern:
- Use Classic Elite's Sprout in pretty colors
- CO 105 stitches
- Create a pattern at the edges to keep blanket from curling (I picked a couple from Harmony Guides: 101 Stitches to Knit)
- Work Stockinette in the middle
- Voila! Baby Blanket!