Eleventh Hour Blanket | Purl Soho

It’s not too late to wrap your favorite people in hand knit love! True, starting a knitted blanket now would normally be a recipe for big time holiday stress; but since we should all banish yuletide overdrive from our lives, I decided to design a blanket that, even if you worked at a leisurely pace, you could start now (or next week!) and be done in plenty of time for Christmas!

Of course, for this plan to work the blanket would have to be the kind of beautiful gift you love to give. And so for inspiration, I turned to a perennial Purl Bee favorite, the Eleventh Hour Scarf, and borrowing the concept, the yarn and the stitch pattern, the Eleventh Hour Blanket was born!

Eleventh Hour Blanket | Purl Soho

Doubling Cascade’s very soft and very bulky Magnum means not only a quick knit, but a deep and toasty blanket, perfect for cuddling and snoozing. It may not be the eleventh hour to the holiday season, but as far as knitting blankets goes, it is! -Whitney

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Whitney Van Nes.

Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, and #PurlSohoEleventhHourBlanket. We can’t wait to see what you make!

Materials

Eleventh Hour Blanket | Purl Soho

  • For the Main Color (Ecru): 7 skeins of Cascade’s Magnum, 100% Wool. Each skein is 123 yards/ 250 grams; approximately 861 yards required.
  • For the Contrast Color (Birch Heather): 1 skein of Cascade Magnum. Approximately 123 yards required.
  • A US 36 (19/20 mm), 40 inch circular needle.
  • Two US 17 (12 mm) double pointed needles.

Gauge

About 3½ stitches = 4 inches in seed stitch, with yarn doubled and using the larger needles

Finished Size

42 inches x 52 inches

Pattern

Begin

NOTES

  • For the Main Color, you will use the Magnum doubled. The best way to do this is to pull from two balls at once. For the seventh ball, just pull one strand from the inside of the ball and one strand from the outside. If you don’t have a swift and ball winder to wind a center-pull ball, never fear, you can do it by hand! Click here for a great video that shows you how!

With two strands of the Main Color and the circular needles, cast on 45 stitches.

Row 1: *K1, p1, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.

Repeat Row 1 until you have used all seven skeins, leaving enough yarn for the bind off row.

Bind off loosely in k1, p1 pattern.

I-Cord Edge

NOTES

  • For the I-Cord Edge you will no longer double the yarn. You’ll use just one strand of the Contrast Color, like normal!
  • I like to use a Provisional Cast On for this kind of edging so that, later, I can graft the two ends together. If you feel overwhelmed by a Provisional Cast On, then just cast on as usual and you can sew the ends together when you’re through.

With one strand of the Contrast Color and the double pointed needles, cast on 3 stitches.

Starting a few inches from a corner, make an Attached I-Cord around the entire blanket, picking up 1 stitch for every row or stitch.

At the Corners

When you get to a corner, knit 1 row of the I-cord without attaching it (in other words, just knit 3 stitches and slide them to the right end of the needle), then pick up a stitch at the corner (knit 2, slip 1, yarn over, pick up 1 stitch, pass the yarn over and slipped stitch over), make 1 more row without attaching, and then continue the Attached I-cord as usual.

Finishing

When you have knitted the Attached I-Cord all the way around, then use the Kitchener Stitch to graft the two ends together. (If you didn’t use a Provisional Cast On, then just sew the two ends together.)

Weave in the ends and enjoy your big, cozy blanket!