Shadow Stripe Baby Blanket

Don’t tell the socks and sweaters, but my favorite thing to knit (or crochet!) is blankets. I guess because my background is in painting, I have a real affinity for the blank canvas, a four-sided shape of pure potential. But what I love most about making blankets is that in the end you have… a blanket! A thing that comforts and warms, a thing that babies and children hold dear, a thing that brings happiness into everyday life.

If a blanket is a painting, then the Shadow Stripe Baby Blanket is high Minimalism, circa 1966. The bold geometry of horizontal stripes is intercepted by a shift in color halfway through every other stripe. The technique is simple, but the impact is totally satisfying!

And since we’re knitting for babies, I used Blue Sky’s super cuddly Worsted Cotton. Unlike most other cottons, this one invites companionship with its cushiony spring and surprising softness. I love this palette of crisp, nautical blues with its summertime freshness, or choose our natural colorway which assembles three misty neutrals for a more subtle statement.
Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!

Wielding your yarn the way a painter brandishes her brush, enjoy this fun knit, and end up with a beautiful blanket to boot! -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 #PurlSohoShadowStripeBabyBlanket. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- 7 skeins of Blue Sky’s Worsted Cotton, 100% cotton. Each skein is 150 yards/ 100 grams.
- Color A: 3 skeins; approximately 450 yards required.
- Color B: 2 skeins; approximately 300 yards required.
- Color C: 2 skeins; approximately 300 yards required.
Here are two of our favorite palettes…
BLUES, from top to bottom:
- Color C: 2 skeins of Indigo
- Color B: 2 skeins of Mediterranean Blue
- Color A: 3 skeins of Drift
NATURALS, from top to bottom:
- Color C: 2 skeins of Sleet
- Color B: 2 skeins of Drift and
- Color A: 3 skeins of Tulip
You’ll also need…
- US 7 (4.5 mm), 24 or 32-inch circular needles
Shop our wonderful collection of aran + worsted-weight yarn to find a suitable substitute for this project, and remember that it’s always a good idea to check your gauge before you cast on… Our All About Gauge Tutorial shows you how!
Gauge
18 stitches and 32 rows= 4 inches in garter stitch
Size
25 inches wide x 30½ inches long
Notes
Intarsia Tips (Changing Colors)
Our Four Corners Baby Blanket pattern employs this same intarsia technique and has photos to accompany these instructions. You can check them out right here.
CHANGING COLORS ON THE RIGHT SIDE
When switching from one color to the next on the right side of the work, bring the old color in front of the new so that it is “trapped” between the new working yarn and the knitted piece. Knit the first stitch of the new color normally.
CHANGING COLORS ON THE WRONG SIDE
When changing colors on the wrong side of the work (between purl stitches), “trap” the old color by bringing it behind the new working yarn. Purl the first stitch of the new color normally.
Pattern
With the Color A, cast on 112 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
*Slipping the first stitch of every row knitwise with the yarn in back (wyib), knit until piece measures 2½ inches (or 11 “ridges”, i.e. 22 rows).
Cut yarn.
NOTE: The next row will be a “right side” row. For the rest of the pattern make sure you always start stripes with the right side facing you.
Next Row (right side): With Color B, k56; with Color C, knit to end of row. (See Intarsia Tips above for how to properly switch colors.)
Next Row (wrong side): With Color C, slip 1 knitwise wyib, k54, p1; with Color B, p1, knit to end of row. (Again, the above Tips will help you change colors correctly.)
Next Row: With Color B, slip 1 knitwise wyib, k55; with Color C, knit to end of row.
Repeat the last two rows until the colored stripe measures 2⅛ inches (or 9 ridges, i.e. 18 rows), ending with a wrong side row.
Cut both yarns.
Join Color A and knit 1 row (without slipping the first stitch).
Repeat from * five more times.
With Color A, knit 1 row, then slipping the first stitch of every row knitwise wyib, knit for 2⅜ inches (or 10½ ridges, i.e. 21 rows)
Bind off loosely.
Weave in the ends and admire your work!
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
As always, your timing (and your sense of colour) is uncanny! I'm just finishing up Laura's cable-back sweater for my fashion-conscious best friend's birthday, and was just starting to search for a unique pattern for some soon-to-be parents…this will be an ideal gift. Thanks again for sharing your clean, striking designs!
Anita
Paris, Ontario
As always, your timing (and your sense of colour) is uncanny! I'm just finishing up Laura's cable-back sweater for my fashion-conscious best friend's birthday, and was just starting to search for a unique pattern for some soon-to-be parents…this will be an ideal gift. Thanks again for sharing your clean, striking designs!
Anita
Paris, Ontario
Love seeing the color palette for this blanket. It is nice to see an alternative color choice from the traditional pastels and this graphic approach is striking.
We must be cut from the same cloth, I love kniting blankets as well. This is another great one.
Hermoso trabajo! Felicitaciones.
The blanket is beautiful! I'm looking forward to trying this pattern so that I can learn more about color work.
How would you make this into an adult blanket, like for a twin size bed? Thanks 🙂
Great blanket to make for my next project
Hi Purl Bee!
Another great pattern! I'd like to make this into more of a throw/lap blanket for my son. If I want to double both dimensions (to around 50"x60") do I need to double or quadruple the amount of yarn?
Thanks!
Hi Kelsea,
You should cast on the width of the blanket times the gauge. For example, if you'd like a 40-inch wide blanket, you'd cast on 40 x 4.5 (the gauge) = 180 stitches. Change colors half way across the blanket. You'll also have to plan how wide and how many stripes you'll want, depending on the length of the blanket.
Please let us know if you have any more questions and thanks for this one!
Whitney
Hi JenWG-
Yes, you're right- you'll need to quadruple the amount of yarn.
Thanks!
Molly
I just finished this blanket for a dear friend who is expecting her first baby it April. It turned out beautifully, and was so much fun to make.
Just wanted to let you know how much I love your patterns and how pretty your yarn is! Your patterns are so modern and beautiful. I have a small knitting business and was wondering how often you have yarn on clearance.
Thanks!
This design is lovely and graphic! I am planning to make this with worsted twist and I would like to double the yarn for a slightly larger blanket – I have 6 skeins of heirloom white that I got for a project I never did. So I am going to choose 2 more colours and get 4 skeins of each. How do you think this will work? Are there any standard calculations I can use for gauge and choosing needle size when doubling up? Are you able to estimate finished size? The yarn you used gas similar gauge to worsted twist 🙂
And for my last question: do the purl stitches on the colour change play a structural role or are they merely decorative?
Thank you so much for the advice and for your beautiful designs!
Hello Prose!
In order to calculate this larger version, I would take a hint from our pattern, The Chevron Baby Blanket, to get the gauge and needle recommendation since that pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight held together. The gauge recommended is: 3 stitches = 1 inch in garter stitch with yarn doubled and the needles are: US #11, 24 or 32 inch circular needle. With that gauge in mind, the blanket will be about 37″ wide still casting on 112 stitches. You can make it as tall as you’d like!
Regarding the purl stitches in the color changes, they do offer a structural service, since they make the juncture in between each color look more seamless. Hope this helps and happy knitting!
-Alyson
Is there a photo of the blanket in the “natural” color ways? I’m having a hard deciding and a photo would really help.
Thanks!
Hi Cheri,
Thank you for writing us today! Unfortunately we only knit a sample in the color-way shown in the photo. I looked up the pattern on ravelry and it doesn’t look like anyone has made it in our natural color-way however if you’d like to view the other options people have done you can do so here; http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shadow-stripe-baby-blanket/people
I’m sorry I can’t be of more assistance but I hope this helps a little in your color decisions!
Good Luck!
Jake
A friend of mine is having twins, and I’m planning on making two blankets. With that said, I’d like to make this in a thicker yarn (super soft merino) so that it will knit up more quickly.
How many skeins would I need per blanket?
Is there a trick I can use to determine how many stitches to cast on?
Thanks!
Hi Rena,
Sounds beautiful (and very generous!).
Using the Super Soft Merino, for each blanket I’d get…
Color A: 4-5 skeins
Color B: 2-3 skeins
Color C: 2-3 skeins
I’m guessing because the gauge will change, and so it’s hard to know exactly, but it’s informative to note that our Super Easy Crib Blanket in Super Soft Merino uses a total of seven skeins.
To figure out how many to cast on, first determine your gauge, then multiply it by the width you want your blanket to be, and make sure it’s an even number. If, for example, you get 3 stitches to the inch and you want your blanket the same size as this one, you would multiply 3 x 25 (inches) = 75, and so you would cast on 74 or 76 stitches (so that it’s an even number).
Please let us know if you have any questions about any of this and good luck to you and your friend!
Whitney
I’m a bit confused about slipping only the first stitch knitwise (wyib), and not slipping the last stitch pearl wise to get the usual nice finished edge that is normally used. Is this an error? Will only slipping this first stitch ( wyib) create a nice finished edge? Thank you, Maria
When med blue meets dark blue, the raised stitch on my work comes out raised on the DARK blue and is not as pronounced. How can I fix this so the med blue section is raised.? Please respond ASAP as I’m in a time crunch.
Many thanks…. Christiane
Hello Christiane!
I’m so sorry its taken this long to respond. Actually on our original sample, both the medium and dark blues are raised at the color change section. Have you taken a look at our intarsia tutorial? Its available here: https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2008/06/30/intarsia/
Please let us know how it turned out and if there’s anything else we can do to help you! -Alyson
Hi!
I’m making this blanket for my friend’s upcoming newborn 🙂 and having trouble with the repeats. I did color A and color B/C and finished the repeat of color A. I have 11 ridges but ended up on the wrong side of the work instead of the right side. What should I do this fix this? I was thinking maybe to sort’ve work backwards and do row 1 row 2 and repeat until 9 ridges.
nm, I answered my own question! thank you anyway. 🙂
Hi, Brenda!
Thank you for writing in! We are glad that you figured it out! Please let us know if you have further questions!
Best wishes,
Kumeko
When changing colors at the start of a right side row, is the first stitch a simple knit or a slip stitch knit wise yarn in back?
Hi Katherine,
Thanks for writing in! You can slip the first stitch knitwise when changing colors or knit that first stitch with the new color. Both are acceptable!
-Adam
I’d love to make this but with alternating the colored stripes (rather than all one color on each side). Any tips on how to adjust the pattern to accomplish this?
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for writing in! If you would simply like a striped blanket, you can omit the intarsia instructions and work stripes of any width and color arrangement you would like! We alternated 11 garter ridges of our main color with 9 garter ridges of our contrast colors.
Best of luck and happy knitting!
Julianna
I am struggling with the color change, on many intarsia examples and in your picture instructions the color seam on the front is smooth but on the shadow stripe blanket it looks to be raised up, almost a different kind of stitch how is that accomplished? I am having trouble getting that first color to change to trap the yarn and have a raised look as yours does on the blanket.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for writing in! In the Shadow Stripe Blanket, that ridge is achieved by working a two stitch column of stockinette stitch right at the intarsia transition – on the right side rows, all the stitches are knitted and the yarns are twisted together in the back of the work, and on the wrong side rows, the final stitch of the first color is purled, the yarns are twisted together in the front of the work, the first stitch of the second color is purled, and the rest of the row is knitted. This creates a wrong side and a right side to the blanket, but does keep all the twists on the wrong side and creates that attractive ridge and neat transition on the right side!
I hope that helps!
Julianna
Hi! I am having trouble with the initial joining of the two colors when beginning a stripe row. When I changed to color C, it did not stay connected to the stitches before. For example, if I continue knitting, I would have two separate panels rather than stripes of two colors. Is there an intarsia-specific way of joining color C? Thank you!
Hi Emily,
Thanks for reaching out! It is normal and unavoidable for the two colors to be unattached on the first row. Starting with the next row, you will use the Intarsia method to join the two colorblocks together so the blanket will be one solid piece, although you will still have a hole right where you first joined the second color – which is, again, totally normal! After the blanket is complete, you can close up this small hole when you weave in your yarn tail.
Happy knitting!
Julianna
Hello,
Could you please suggest colors in Morning in the indigo, blue, and drift palette?
Hi Pam,
Thanks for writing in! Morning has a more pastel color palette than the original yarns, but I would suggest the following to best match the original colors:
Color A: Heirloom White
Color B: Fresh Sky
Color C: Dungarees Blue
Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Hi Lily, I’m reconsidering my yarn options. If I’m looking for a washable worsted, would Serif work in Creek Blue and Quiet Lake with cream? I think the yardage will be close to the Blue Sky original yarn for the pattern.
Thanks,
Hi Pam,
Serif is actually a DK weight yarn, so it’s thinner than a worsted weight yarn. For a machine washable worsted weight yarn, I’d recommend using either Sunshower Cotton or Daily Wool!
All the best,
Lili