“Bobby’s Garden” Hexagon Blanket Tutorial

I am naming this pattern after my friend Bobby. He doesn’t have a garden, but I think he’d use a blanket like this for having pancake picnics and building forts.

ETA: The complete pattern can be found on my August 17th entry.

Materials:

Yarn: So much Noro Kureyon that you can barely breathe. Or pay next month’s rent.

Colors: I’ve discovered that Noro uses a lot of the same colors over and over again, combining them in different ways. Given that fact and the patchy-collaged nature of the blanket, it doesn’t really matter what color-ways you chose to use, just go with what looks right. My rules for selecting color-ways are:

1. No yellow or bright orange. If I like a color-way that has yellow or orange in it, I break off the yarn and tie it up to the next color that appears.
2. All skeins must have a shade of green in them. This usually also means that there will be purple or pink in the skeins, and it keeps things a little unified.

Needles: 1 set DPNS- I used US size 5, for a nice dense fabric. If you want to knit the gauge Noro recommends, I think you need US size 7′s.

Yarn needle.

1:

Remember that hexagons are made up of six sides. Easy right? Ok, good. Since this is a blanket, you can really go with whatever size hexagons you want. I try and limit each hexagon to having 1 or 2 colors- this keeps things neater and keeps the color changes from overwhelming the blanket pattern, or looking too much like targets. Do yourself a favor and swatch a full hexagon to see how many color changes you get, this way you can see what you like and go from there.

Absolutely Indispensable Rule: The total number of stitches you cast on for your hexagons must be divisible by 6. The number of stitches you chose for the sides must be EVEN as well. For instance, you can have 10 stitches per side, but not 11. Obvious, I know, but so important. Casting on anywhere from 20-12 stitches per side should get you a healthy sized, evenly colored hexagon. Again, SWATCH. Gauge is not an issue here, it’s a blanket! You just want to make sure too many colors aren’t appearing in each hexagon block.

2:

Cast on! For your first hexagon cast on the full number of stitches you’ve settled upon. This means 6 x 20, or 6 x 12, whatever. If you’re using DPNs, distribute the stitches over four needles so that needle 1 has the equivalent of 2 sides worth of stitches on it, needle 2 has one side of stitches, needle 3 has 2 sides of stitches, and needle 4 has 1 side of stitches. If you chose to use circulars, just keep in mind how many stitches per side.

For all other hexagons: From the second hexagon onward, you’ll need to cast on for the free standing sides, and you’ll need to pick up stitches along the sides of the pre-existing hexagons for the bits that are connected.

3:

Yeah, I know, that last bit wasn’t very clear. Hopefully this photo will straighten things up for you. Below my right hand, you can see the stitches cast on for the free standing sides. In my left hand, you can see the stitches that I’ve picked up for the beginning of the connected sides.

For hexagon #2, you’ll cast on for 5 sides, and pick up for 1. For hexagon #3, you’ll cast on for 4 sides, and pick up for 2. And so on, and so on.

4:

When you’ve finished casting on/picking up, your needles should look a bit like this. You can see that I have 5 needles here. This is because I’ve begun working round one.

To work the insides of your hexagons, you want to keep the number of stitches you’ve allotted per side in mind. For the sake of writing this pattern out I’m going to pretend we chose 10 as the number of stitches per side.

Round 1: K2tog, K 6, SSK, repeat until end of round (see, 10 stitches total?)

Round 2: K

Round 3: K2tog, K4, SSK, repeat until end of round

Round 4: K

Round 5: K2tog, K2, SSK, repeat until end of round

Round 6: K

Round 7: K2tog, SSK, repeat until end of round

Round 8: K2tog

Then break off the yarn from the ball with about a 3″ tail. Thread the tail through a yarn needle, and loop the yarn through your 6 remaining stitches. Tighten so the center closes. On the wrong side, knot the yarn. Weave in ends. Hexagon done.

No matter how many stitches you’ve chosen per side, the pattern will work this way, you’ll just have a few more of the beginning rounds to work. If you’re getting a nipple effect after you tie off your final 6 stitches, then eliminate the last K round.

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I am going to publish the final blanket pattern as a PDF. This probably won’t be until July. I have to finish my version first so that I can get all the yarn amounts, make a few charts, and write down all the color-ways. If this tutorial isn’t specific enough for you, or if you want to wait until I’m done to see how to treat the edgings, etc, then let me know and I’ll email you when the final pattern is written.

For those of you who are going to use this as a spring board for your own blankets- Good luck, and please let me know how it goes!

Copyright 2008 Dulle Griet. All rights reserved. Do not knit or otherwise reproduce this information for resale.