Gentle Giant Blankets in New Colors
We are so taken with our new Gentle Giant colors that we want to recreate every project we’ve ever made in the new palette. Alas, we are dreamers but even more so, doers. So we’ve made choices and among them, our Granny Square Blanket in Gentle Giant and our Colorful Corner Blanket came out winners.
The original versions had a soft, vintage look, while this season’s blankets combine bright bursts of neon with warm outlier shades. Together, they bring out the best in each other, a bouquet of total happy!
Sometimes the gray days of winter beg for a playful touch, whether in one corner or at the center of a square. Injecting jolts of color into these big-stitch blankets give them a thoroughly modern feel and and a get-through-winter-with-a-smile power.
Our soft and cozy 100% merino Gentle Giant is pure pleasure and now comes in 21 colors! We’ve dipped into our six new colors to put together some new Gentle Giant Blanket Bundles: a new 12-color Bundle for the Granny Square Blanket, plus seven new 9-skein Bundles for either the Granny Square or Colorful Corner Blanket. The original collection of Bundles is still available, too, so lots of choices to make: Crochet or knit? Playful or serious? Lots of colors or a few? All of the above?
Colorful Corners Blanket
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoColorfulCornersBlanket, and #PurlSohoGentleGiant. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
For the Colorful Corners Blanket, we used…
- 9 skeins of Purl Soho’s Gentle Giant, 100% merino wool. Each skein is 48 yards/ 125 grams.
- Color A: 1 skein; approximately 45 yards required.
- Color B: 1 skein; approximately 45 yards required.
- Color C: 1 skein; approximately 45 yards required.
- Color D: 6 skeins; approximately 270 yards required.
- US 19 (15 mm), 40-inch circular needles
New Palettes
There are seven new 9-skein Gentle Giant Blanket Bundles to choose from, plus our original six. The new palettes are…
Top
- Fresh Fruit: Color A is Super Pink; Color B is Parakeet Yellow; Color C is Super Yellow; Color D is Heirloom White (shown above)
First Row
- Pink Clover: Color A is Purple Lupine; Color B is Rose Violet; Color C is Super Pink; Color D is Heirloom White
- Sweet Melon: Color A is Super Pink; Color B is Honey Amber; Color C is Cowrie Pink; Color D is Heirloom White
- Winter Cherry: Color A is Super Pink; Color B is Wolf Brown; Color C is Graphite Gray; Color D is Heirloom White
Second Row
- Wild Lily: Color A is Sugar Maple; Color B is Super Pink; Color C is Super Yellow; Color D is Heirloom White
- Key Lime: Color A is Mint Ice; Color B is Super Yellow; Color C is Parakeet Yellow; Color D is Heirloom White
- Lighthouse: Color A is Super Yellow; Color B is Mint Ice; Color C is Graphite Gray; Color D is Heirloom White
Gauge
6 stitches = 4 inches in garter stitch
Size
Finished Dimensions: 30 inches wide x 42 inches long
Pattern
For the free pattern, visit our original Colorful Corner Blanket story!
Granny Square Blanket in Gentle Giant
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoGrannySquareBlanket, and #PurlSohoGentleGiant. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
For our Granny Square Blanket in Gentle Giant, we used…
- 18 skeins of Purl Soho’s Gentle Giant, 100% merino wool. Each skein is 48 yards/ 125 grams.
- Contrast Colors: 12 skeins of Gentle Giant; approximately 10 yards required per color.
- Top Row: Orange Koi, Clay Pot, Cowrie Pink, Honey Amber, Parakeet Yellow, Super Yellow
- Middle Row: Sugar Maple, Super Pink, Rose Violet, Purple Lupine, Iceberg Blue, Mint Ice
- Main Color: 6 skeins of Gentle Giant in Heirloom White; approximately 270 yards required.
- Contrast Colors: 12 skeins of Gentle Giant; approximately 10 yards required per color.
You’ll also need…
Another Option
Our nine-skein Gentle Giant Blanket Bundles include enough yarn to make the same size blanket as the one you make with the Dozen Colors Bundle, but with only three Contrast Colors instead of twelve (see above). Each one includes…
- 9 skeins of Purl Soho’s Gentle Giant, 100% merino wool: 3 skeins of Contrast Colors and 6 skeins of Heirloom White.
You’ll also need…
Gauge
Each finished Granny Square should measure 10 x 10 inches. If yours is smaller, try a bigger hook; and if yours is bigger, try a smaller one!
Size
Finished Dimensions: 30 inches wide x 40 inches long
Pattern
For the free pattern, visit our original Granny Square Blanket in Gentle Giant story! The layout for the Bright palette is…
I love your color’s beautiful.
Hi Marie,
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Best,
Cassy
It`s such an easy and basic pattern. But the luxurios wool and the choice and combination of colours make it so special and a true (crochet) design classic!
Hi! I would like to make this into a baby blanket, but would prefer a washable yarn that can handle some wear. Do you have any suggestions. Thanks!
Hi Megan,
Thanks for writing in! Although we don’t have any super bulky machine washable yarns, I would suggest trying Blue Sky Worsted Cotton held double as a substitute! It is one of our favorites for hard wearing baby items and it washes and dries very well. It will be a bit thinner than our Gentle Giant even held double, so I would definitely recommend knitting a gauge swatch to see if you are happy with the knitted fabric on US 19s. If not, you could go down to US 17s and work a few extra increase rows in the first section of the blanket to match the size of our original blanket.
I hope that helps!
Julianna
What size needle do you use to whip stitch the Granny squares together. My yarn has just shipped, I have my crochet hook but I am nonplussed about the size of the needle needed to handle this yarn! Thanks!
Hi Maddie,
Great question! I have used a Jumbo Bent Tip Tapestry Needle with Gentle Giant without any issues – the eye of this tapestry needle is quite generous!
Best,
Julianna
Hi. Would Spud and Chloe Outer work for the Gentle Giant Granny Square blanket. I like it for it’s washability. Thanks. Great website, BTW
Hello Filomena,
Thank you for reaching out! This yarn has a smaller gauge than Gentle Giant, so you wouldn’t be able to follow these patterns without making adjustments.
Happy knitting!
-Marilla
Thanks!
Will you be restocking Honey Amber in Gentle Giant?
If so, am I able to place a rain check?
Hi Christina,
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately the Honey Amber color has been discontinued – I’m so sorry about that! However, our new palette of Gentle Giant should be arriving shortly, just in time for the holiday season, so I encourage you to sign up for our newsletter if you haven’t already. Hopefully one of the new colors will be to your liking!
Best,
Julianna
I purchased nine skeins of gentle giant for the granny square blanket. I have 3 squares done and am already on the 4 th skein of the white! What am I doing wrong? Also the yarn sheds horribly, will this stop with a gentle hand wash after the blanket is complete?
Thanks
Beth
Hi Beth,
Thanks for reaching out! I am happy to help – are you working from a specific pattern?
Since Gentle Giant is a very loosely spun single ply yarn it is normal to experience some shedding, blocking your finished blanket should help out with that!
Warmly,
Gianna
Hi! I was hoping to make this out of a yarn that is machine washable and dryable but also chunky. I came across Lovebird. Can you recommend number of skeins I would need to make an equivalent sized blanket? Or do you have another yarn recommendation? Many thanks!
Hi Alissa,
Thanks for reaching out! Lovebird would be a perfect (and machine washable!) option for this blanket! It is a bit thinner than Gentle Giant so I would suggest starting off by working a gauge swatch with an appropriately sized needle, from there you can adjust your cast on. For these blankets, we used approximately 432 yards (9 skeins of Gentle Giant) so for Lovebird you will need approximately 6 skeins!
I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any more questions!
Gianna
What colors does Lovebird come in – I would prefer a washable yarn for this blanket. Would I still use a Q hook?
Thank you,
Eileen Ward
Hi Eileen,
Thanks for writing in. Lovebird comes in a wide range of exciting colors! You can view all the colors right here. Lovebird is thinner than Gentle Giant, so you’ll probably want to use a smaller hook. I’d recommend trying out a few sizes and deciding which one creates your favorite fabric density!
All the best,
Lili
How many skeins of the colors and how many of the cream would I need?
Hi Eileen,
To make the Colorful Corner Blanket in Lovebird, you will need one skein of each of the three corner stripe colors (Colors A-C), and 4 skeins of Color D (Heirloom White). If you would like to make the Granny Square Blanket in Lovebird, you would need one skein of each color you’d like for the inner part of each square, and 4 skeins of the main color (Heirloom White) for this blanket as well.
This is a rough estimate assuming you are reaching gauge, so if your gauge with Lovebird is different than the gauge listed here, you may need an extra skein or two, especially for the main color!
All the best,
Margaret