What a joy it is to discover those moments in knitting when something seemingly intricate turns out to be very easy!
Those are the moments that knitting legend Barbara Walker strove to find as she first learned how to knit. Finding color work’s bobbins and multiple strands of yarn cumbersome, she developed a slip-stitch technique she called “Mosaic Knitting,” a clever way to create elaborate, colorful patterns using only basic stitches (knit, slip and occasionally purl). Soon, she was staying up late into the night inventing hundreds of original mosaic motifs, guided solely by her imagination.
With a motif from Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, we created our Mosaic Blanket, made in Purl Soho’s incredibly soft Alpaca Pure in vibrant, almost glowing Super Pink, and anchored by the sturdy smoothness of Worsted Twist in creamy Heirloom White.
As Barbara Walker herself discovered, there is beauty in simplicity… Although you won’t have to tell anyone just how simple this Mosaic Blanket actually is to make! -Kristy
Update: New Color!
May 17, 2017
Our Mosaic Blanket has become one of our most popular patterns, which may surprise you, given how complicated it looks to make. But the real surprise is that even an advanced beginner can cast on for this knitting adventure! For this version of our Mosaic Blanket we used Worsted Twist in classic Heirloom White and Alpaca Pure in mysterious Trout Brown, an earthy neutral at heart with a shimmer of blue across its surface. For additional images, check out our new post!
Materials
- Color A: 4 (6, 7) skeins of Purl Soho’s Worsted Twist, 100% merino wool
- Color B: 6 (8, 10) skeins of Purl Soho’s Alpaca Pure, 100% super baby alpaca
- A US 8, 24 or 32-inch circular needle
Here are four palette ideas, including the one knit up here!
• Color A: Heirloom White
• Color B: Super Pink
• Color A: Heirloom White
• Color B: Artemisia
• Color A: Heirloom White
• Color B: Yellow Zest
• Color A: Heirloom White
• Color B: Dark Loam
Gauge
19 stitches x 38 rows = 4 inches in Mosaic Stitch, using Colors A and B
15 stitches x 32 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch, using Color A
Sizes
Baby (Crib, Throw)
- Finished Measurements: Approximately 26 x 35 (33 ½ x 40, 41 x 46 ½) inches
SAMPLE: Baby
Notes
On all right side rows slip all of the slipped stitches with yarn in back.
On all wrong side rows slip all of the slipped stitches with yarn in front.
You’ll see that we’ve explained this pattern in two ways: written out row-by-row and illustrated in chart form. Follow whichever pattern makes more sense to you!
To help keep track of the stitch pattern, you may want to place a stitch marker (or piece of scrap yarn) between each 12-stitch repeat.
If you want to change the sizing or use this stitch pattern for a different project, just cast on a multiple of 12 plus 3 stitches. For example, 12 x 4 = 48. 48 + 3 = 51 cast-on stitches.
To see how easy it is check out this Mosaic Blanket Techniques video tutorial!
Pattern
Written Out
With Color A, cast on 123 (159, 195) stitches.
Set-up Row: With Color A, knit.
Row 1 (right side): With Color B, k1, *slip 1, k11, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, slip 1, k1. [Please see Notes, above, for slipping instructions.]
Row 2 and all following wrong side rows: Knit the same stitches you knit on the previous row, with the same color; and slip all of the same slipped stitches, with the yarn in front.
Row 3: With Color A, k4, *[slip 1, k1] three times, slip 1, k5, repeat from * to last 11 stitches, [slip 1, k1] three times, slip 1, k4.
Row 5: With Color B, k3, *slip 1, k7, slip 1, k3, repeat from * to end of row.
Row 7: With Color A, k2, *slip 1, k3, slip 1, k1, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.
Row 9: With Color B, k5, *slip 1, k3, slip 1, k7, repeat from * to last 10 stitches, slip 1, k3, slip 1, k5.
Row 11: With Color A, k2, *slip 1, k1, slip 1, k5, [slip 1, k1] twice, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.
Row 13: With Color B, k7, *slip 1, k11, repeat from * to last 8 stitches, slip 1, k7.
Rows 15 and 16: With Color A, repeat Rows 11 and 12.
Rows 17 and 18: With Color B, repeat Rows 9 and 10.
Rows 19 and 20: With Color A, repeat Rows 7 and 8.
Rows 21 and 22: With Color B, repeat Rows 5 and 6.
Rows 23 and 24: With Color A, repeat Rows 3 and 4.
Repeat Rows 1-24 thirteen (seventeen, twenty) more times.
Repeat Rows 1-14 once more.
With Color A: Knit 1 row.
With Color A, bind off all stitches knitwise.
Weave in the ends, block as desired and you’re done!
Pattern
Chart
Instead of following the written text above, you may find it easier to follow this chart instead. A few notes on how to follow mosaic charts …
The chart begins at the lower right corner on Row 1. Each horizontal row represents two rows of knitting. The rows going from right to left are on the right side, and the rows going from left to right are on the wrong side.
On every row that begins and ends with a gray square (Color B, in the case of this blanket), all Color B stitches are knitted and all Color A stitches are slipped. On every row that begins and ends with a white square (Color A, in the case of this blanket), all Color A stitches are knitted, and all Color B stitches slipped.
With Color A, cast on 123 (159, 195) stitches.
Set-up Row: With Color A, knit.
Following the chart, work Rows 1-24 fourteen (eighteen, twenty-one) times.
Repeat Rows 1-14 once more.
With Color A: Knit 1 row.
With Color A, bind off all stitches knitwise.
Weave in the ends, block as desired and enjoy!
PRINT
Help! I dropped a stitch all the way to a slipped stitch three or four rows down. I can’t figure out how to repair it. Any advice?
Thanks,
Sarah
Hello Sara,
Thanks for writing us. I’m so sorry this happened! In all honesty if I would just rip back to where you were. You could also try dropping down and using the other patterned sections as a guide as you pick your stitch.
I hope this helps and please let me know if I can clarify anything!
Happy knitting!
-Marilla
Hi, I don’t see Row 4 written down I see the video but it doesn’t show row 4 please help ! I’m still fairly new to knitting but love new easy challenges
Hi Corina,
Thanks for writing in! I think that I can help! For row 4 and all following wrong side rows, you will follow the directions for row 2!
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Hi! I love this blanket! I am assuming you used the long tail cast on method. Would a cable cast on work here? When I do the long tail cast on, the end of my knitted piece tends to bunch up and feel tight. Appreciate your help and hope you have a great holiday!
Hello Rabah,
Thank you for reaching out! You are correct- we did use the long tail cast on. The key to the long tail cast on is to not cast on to tightly, though you can use whichever cast on you would like for this blanket.
I hope this helps and happy knitting!
Warmly,
Marilla
Thanks for making this pretty pattern available! I’m all loaded up on yarn and excited to get started.
Hi,
Just wondering how much I would need to cast on if I was to make a blanket for a pram?
Also I would like to make it in a thinner yarn, would this still work ok?
Thank you!
Hi Ellie,
Thanks for writing in! Blankets for prams can vary pretty widely in size depending on what you are hoping for. I have seen widths of anywhere from 22-34 inches. In this case, the smallest size blanket we have here could work well at a width of 26 inches!
Happy knitting!
Cassy
Hi! I love this pattern and would like to make it in a bigger size, maybe 50×70. My son is too big for a baby blanket but too small for a twin sized blanket and I would like it to grow with him. I’m horrible at math though and have no idea what to do to figure out how many skeins of each color I need to purchase. Plus, I’m relatively new to knitting so if there’s a trick to figuring it out, I don’t know it…yet! Could you help me out? Thanks!
Hi Madeline,
Thanks for reaching out! We are happy to help! For a blanket of approximately 50 x 70 inches, you will need 13 skeins of Worsted Twist and 20 skeins of Alpaca Pure. Additionally, for this size, you will want to cast on 231 stitches!
I hope that this helps and happy knitting!
Cassy
Hi! I love this pattern and have just gotten up to row 5. Everything makes sense so far but I’m getting a big open looking “v” stitch in the places where I’ve slipped a stitch for two rows. It doesn’t look like the photos and I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong! I watched the video and I think I’m doing it correctly but it’s not quite like the photos. Do you have any ideas? Thanks!
Hi ET,
Thanks for writing in! The slipped stitches will look a bit like elongated Vs. I think that you can best see this in the swatch of the white and yellow combination. I would also suggest that you check to be sure that you are getting gauge as if you are knitting a bit too tight, it may make the pattern look a touch different (although still quite nice). If you still have your gauge swatch, you can also try blocking it and letting it dry. Blocking lets your stitches relax and can tend to let things fill in a touch and fall into place. If you blocked swatch looks good, you can carry on knowing that blocking the whole blanket will minimize a look that you may not be a fan of.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Hello,
I’m absolutely loving making this blanket! However, I’m having trouble with row 11. I let 11 just be funky and moved on but am now having trouble again with 15, which is a repeat of 11. I don’t want my whole blanket to be ruined by continual hiccups!
I don’t have enough stitches left over at the end of 11 to finish the pattern and k1. I’m short three stitches (s1, k1 then k1). I’ve gone back over all my stitches and cannot find any problems, so am wondering if I’m misunderstanding the pattern.
The whole pattern seems straightforward. When it says “[slip 1, k1] twice,” I s1k1 twice within the pattern, correct? So the pattern is: s1, k1, s1, k5, s1, k1, s1, k1. Or is there something else I’m not understanding?
Thanks for any help!
Hi Adriel,
Thanks for writing in! I am not sure what should be happening! Every row of this pattern should have the same number of stitches. If you do not have enough stitches in row 11, it may be that the mistake is occurring in row 10 or row 9. Given that you continued on, you should be able to see in the patterning on the subsequent rows where the pattern is a little off. We would be happy to look at pictures if you would like to send some in (customerservice@purlsoho.com).
I do think that you are reading row 11 correctly! The repeat section reads “slip 1, k1, slip 1, k5, [slip 1, k1] twice”. Written out more completely, it would read “slip 1, k1, slip 1, k5, slip 1, k1, slip 1, k1”.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
If I were to cast on 267 stitches and do the pattern 22 times based on comments above to get a larger blanket, would I need longer circular needles or would 32 inch ones work?
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks for reaching out! With a cast on 267 stitches, you will get a blanket that is 56 inches wide. I think that a 40-47 inch long needle will be a bit easier for a blanket this wide than the 32 inch needle where your stitches will be quite bunched up!
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Hi Cassy,
Thanks for the advice. Just to confirm before I order that I would need 9 skeins of the Worsted Twist and 13 skeins of the Alpaca Pure to make a blanket of this size?
Kirsten
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks for writing back! For a blanket that would be 56 x 49 inches, I think that you will need a little under one and half times the amount of yarn for the largest blanket. This would mean that you would need 10-11 skeins of Worsted Twist and 15 skeins of Alpaca Pure.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Hi there. Can I flip the yarn choices and make Alpaca Pure the color A, and Worsted Twist color B? I have 7 skeins of Alpaca Pure in my stash (in discontinued Sea Salt, an exquisite pale beige), and I’d love to use it for this project. While I see the wisdom of the original yarn choice, would Alpaca Pure work as yarn A … or do you think it just won’t provide the right background texture. Thanks!
Hello Claudia,
Thank you for reaching out! This should not be an issue- you will still get a dynamic and beautiful result.
I say go for it!
Happy knitting,
Marilla
I LOVE this pattern, but I would like to make it into a wrap instead of a blanket. Any advice on how I could do that?
Thanks!
Marcie
Hello Marcie,
Thank you for reaching out! This should be pretty straight forward- the first thing you will want to do is decide on the desired width of your wrap. Once you have this number you will simply just cast on a multiple of 12 plus 3 stitches. For example, 12 x 4 = 48. 48 + 3 = 51 cast-on stitches.
I hope this helps and happy knitting!
-Marilla
hi, I just wondered if you had done this pattern in one colour only. It looks amazing in the two colours, however thought that one colour would maybe give it a shadowy look?
Thank you for your time
Kind regards
Norma
Hi Norma,
Thanks for writing in! Although we haven’t tried this pattern in a solid color, if you take a look at our sample swatch in Artemisia and Heirloom White, you can see that when worked in two colors that have a similar value, the white diamonds are already becoming very subtle and beginning to disappear into the background. I think if you work in the same color that while the fabric will have an interesting texture, you will lose the diamonds completely. I encourage you to try a swatch before deciding though! The pattern will work on any multiple of 12 plus 3 stitches, so you can try out your monotone mosaic idea on the small scale to see how it turns out!
I hope that helps and good luck!
Julianna