As if a chisel has carved slivers through its soft surface, our Woodcut Blanket is a study in positive and negative shapes… all created with the simple tool of knits and purls!

Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho

We love the tactility and visual play of our Woodcut Blanket: nubbly paralleograms puzzling into smooth ones, alternate shapes coming in and falling out of focus, endlessly interesting.

Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho

The key to this design is stitch definition. Just like a printmaker wouldn’t carve their block with a dull chisel, here we use the yarn with the crispest definition we know, our brand new Campo.

Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho

Fifty percent organically grown cotton and 50% wool, Campo is a classic worsted weight yarn whose many thin plies are spun into a nice, smooth finish, perfect for articulating the language of stitches.

Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho

On top of all that, Campo is very soft, wonderfully cushy, machine washable, and spectacularly beautiful, too. Milled in Italy, its fifteen-color palette seems scorched by the Mediterranean sun, stirring up images of a Tuscan field, a provincial palazzo, or a frescoed chapel… Bellisima!

Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho
Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Jake Canton. Click here to see even more of Jake’s designs!

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

Materials

Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho
  • 9 (11) skeins of Purl Soho’s Campo, 50% wool and 50% organically grown cotton. Each skein is 120 yards; approximately 1,080 (1,320) yards required. We used the color Rosa Rose for the Crib size and Corsica Yellow for the Throw size.
  • US 8 (5 mm), 32- or 40-inch circular needles

Gauge

15 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

NOTE: For the Throw size, we used just about all 11 skeins, so if you want to be sure you have enough, consider ordering an extra skein. If you don’t end up needing it, you can return unwound yarn for a refund within 30 days of purchase, or within 6 months, for store credit. Our Return Policy has all the details!

Sizes

Crib (Throw)

Finished Dimensions: 37 inches wide x 45 inches long (43 inches wide x 51 inches long)

Samples: Rosa Rose blanket is Crib size and Corsica Yellow is Throw size.

Note

Slip Stitches

Slip all slipped stitches purlwise, with yarn in front (wyif).

Pattern

UPDATE April 26, 2022: A previous version of this pattern used stitch markers in place of stitch counts to work across each row, but more than a couple customers found they were losing track of where their markers should be. We heard you, and have re-written this pattern to use stitch counts for clarity. If you would like a copy of the previous version, please contact us at customerservice@purlsoho.com.

NOTE: The Crib and Throw size blankets have different patterns with different size parallelograms. (The pink blanket shown here is the Crib size and the yellow one is the Throw size.) Both start with the same cast on and set-up row instructions, but then be sure to choose the pattern for the blanket you’re making!

Cast on 130 (162) stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.

Set-Up Row (wrong side): Slip 1 (see Notes), knit to end of row.

CRIB SIZE ONLY

Row 1 (right side): Slip 1, knit to end of row.

Row 2 (wrong side): Slip 1, p8, [k30, p30] 2 times, k1.

Row 3: Slip 1, p1, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 4: Slip 1, p6, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 5: Slip 1, p3, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 6: Slip 1, p4, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 7: Slip 1, p5, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 8: Slip 1, p2, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 9: Slip 1, p7, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 10: Slip 1, [k30, p30] 2 times, knit to end of row.

Row 11: Slip 1, knit to end of row.

Row 12: Slip 1, [p30, k30] 2 times, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 13: Slip 1, k7, [p30, k30] 2 times, p1, k1.

Row 14: Slip 1, k2, [p30, k30] 2 times, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 15: Slip 1, k5 [p30, k30] 2 times, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 16: Slip 1, k4, [p30, k30] 2 times, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 17: Slip 1, k3 [p30, k30] 2 times, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 18: Slip 1, k6, [p30, k30] 2 times, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 19: Slip 1, k1, [p30, k30] 2 times, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 20: Slip 1, k8, [p30, k30] 2 times, k1.

Repeat Rows 1-20 twelve more times. [240 rows]

Repeat Rows 1-10 one more time.

Next 2 Rows: Slip 1, knit to end of row.

With the right side facing you, bind off knitwise.

Weave in the ends and block!

THROW SIZE ONLY

Row 1 (right side): Slip 1, knit to end of row

Row 2 (wrong side): Slip 1, k16, p48, k48, p48, k1.

Row 3: Slip 1, p1, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 4: Slip 1, k14, p48, k48, p48, , knit to end of row.

Row 5: Slip 1, p3, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 6: Slip 1, k12, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 7: Slip 1, p5, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 8: Slip 1, k10, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 9: Slip 1, p7, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 10: Slip 1, k8, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 11: Slip 1, p9, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 12: Slip 1, k6, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 13: Slip 1, p11, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 14: Slip 1, k4, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 15: Slip 1, p13, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 16: Slip 1, k2, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 17: Slip 1, p15, k48, p48, k48, p1, k1.

Row 18: Slip 1, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 19: Slip 1, knit to end of row.

Row 20: Slip 1, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 21: Slip 1, k15, p48 k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 22: Slip 1, p2, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 23: Slip 1, k13, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 24: Slip 1, p4, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 25: Slip 1, k11, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 26: Slip 1, p6, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 27: Slip 1, k9, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 28: Slip 1, p8, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 29: Slip 1, k7, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 30: Slip 1, p10, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 31: Slip 1, k5, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 32: Slip 1, p12, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 33: Slip 1, k3, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 34: Slip 1, p14, k48, p48, k48, purl to last stitch, k1.

Row 35: Slip 1, k1, p48, k48, p48, knit to end of row.

Row 36: Slip 1, p16, k48, p48, k48, k1.

Repeat Rows 1-36 seven more times. [252 rows]

Repeat Rows 1-18 one more time.

Next 2 Rows: Slip 1, knit to end of row.

With the right side facing you, bind off knitwise.

Weave in the ends and block!

Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho
Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho
Woodcut Blanket | Purl Soho