Prism Blanket In Morning
A playful spirit and clever no-sew construction have made our original Prism Blanket knitting pattern a customer favorite… And now it’s shining in a whole new light! Pick up a Prism Blanket Bundle in Morning, our machine-washable cotton and yak yarn, and bring softness and a fresh spectrum of color to this radiant design.

The building block of this blanket is a bias-knit garter-stitch square, made with simple increases, then decreases, and relaxing knit stitches in between. Changing yarn colors halfway through each square gives you a bright spot to anticipate during your increases, and then each row just flies by faster and faster from there!

You’ll join each new square to its neighbor by picking up stitches as you knit, which means no interruptions and no pile of squares to sew together at the end! Picking up is easy, and our step-by-step tutorial makes it even easier.

Morning is an absolute delight to knit, a plush, round DK-weight yarn that gives garter stitch a beautifully soft, springy texture. This yarn’s unique blend of 75% organically grown cotton and 25% yak offers the perfect balance of coolness and coziness. Cotton provides strength, breathability, and structure, while yak lends extra softness and a bit of elasticity.

We created three beautiful Prism Blanket In Morning Bundles, including this sun-soaked Surfboard palette. Each one combines fresh Heirloom White with four of Morning’s cheery, up-with-the-sun colors… White light and the rainbow it reveals! You have your choice of Crib-size and Throw-size yarn bundles; the only difference in the pattern is how many squares you’ll knit.

Pick up a Prism Blanket Bundle and get carried along by the joy of the next color… And the next square… And the one after that!
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!

Designed for Purl Soho by Joelle Hoverson and Gaby Bush.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Want to print this pattern? On desktop, find the “print” icon in the right margin, and on mobile, scroll to the end of the pattern for it. Use the on-screen instructions to remove anything you don’t want to print!
Materials

Our Prism Blanket in Morning Bundle comes in Crib (Throw) sizes and includes…
- 8 (15) skeins of Purl Soho’s Morning, 75% organically grown cotton and 25% yak. Each skein of this light worsted/dk-weight yarn is 191 yards/ 100 grams.
- Main Color (MC): 4 (7) skeins; approximately 760 (1265) total yards required
- Contrast Color 1 (CC1): 1 (2) skein(s); approximately 185 (310) total yards required
- Contrast Color 2 (CC2): 1 (2) skein(s); approximately 185 (310) total yards required
- Contrast Color 3 (CC3): 1 (2) skein(s); approximately 185 (310) total yards required
- Contrast Color 4 (CC4): 1 (2) skein(s); approximately 185 (310) total yards required
You’ll also need…
- US 7 (4.5 mm), 24-inch circular knitting needles
Choose from 3 colorful palettes…
SURFBOARD (We used this bundle for our sample!): MC: Heirloom White; CC1: Araucana Blue; CC2: Cucumber Ice; CC3: Yellow Apple; CC4: Sweet Apricot
SWEET PEA: MC: Heirloom White; CC1: Mountain Purple; CC2: Blue Dungarees; CC3: Purple Allium; CC4: Pink Radish
MORNING DEW: MC: Heirloom White; CC1: Tender Green; CC2: Fresh Sky; CC3: Cucumber Ice; CC4: Araucana Blue
GAUGE
20 stitches and 40 rows (20 ridges) = 4 inches in garter stitch
SIZES
Crib (Throw)
Finished Dimensions: 30 inches wide x 40 inches long (40 inches wide x 50 inches long)
Finished Dimensions of Each Square: 10 inches square
SAMPLE: We knit the Crib size.
NOTES
CONSTRUCTION
You will work this blanket in one piece, beginning with the bottom left square. You will work in columns, one bias-knit square at a time. When necessary, you will pick up stitches from an adjacent square (or two!) in order to continue seamlessly. Don’t worry, it’s easy and we explain everything!
PLANNING CUSTOM COLORS
If you want to design your own color story, be sure to check out this handy coloring worksheet!
STITCH MULTIPLE
This pattern is worked over an odd number of stitches.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
K1 TBL (KNIT 1 THROUGH THE BACK LOOP)
In this pattern, every time you knit through the back loop, it will be into a yarn over from the previous row. To do it, just insert the right needle into the back leg of the yarn over and knit as usual.
For more help with this technique, visit our Knit Through The Back Loop Tutorial.
SLIP STITCHES
Slip all slipped stitches purlwise unless otherwise specified.
PICKING UP STITCHES
For the cleanest pick-up edge, insert the needle into the outer most bump of the garter ridge edge.
Visit our Picking Up Stitches Tutorial and scroll down to the “Along A Vertical Edge: Garter Stitch, Into the Ridge” section to see exactly how to pick up stitches for this project.
SCHEMATIC

You will start at the bottom left corner and work your way up the left-hand column to the top left corner. You will then work each subsequent column from the bottom to the top, joining to its neighboring column as you go!

Want to see it bigger? Download this Schematic as a PDF!
PATTERN
COLUMN 1
SQUARE A
INCREASE
Using a Long Tail Cast On and Contrast Color 1 (CC1), cast on 3 stitches.
Set-Up Row (wrong side): Knit to end of row.
Row 1 (right side): K1, yarn over (yo), knit to last stitch, yo, k1. [2 stitches increased]
Row 2 (wrong side): K1, k1 through back loop (tbl; see Notes), knit to last 2 stitches, k1 tbl, k1.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until there are 71 stitches, ending with Row 2.
Cut CC1.
DECREASE
With right side facing you, join Main Color (MC).
Rows 1–3: Knit to end of row.
Row 4 (wrong side): K1, slip slip knit (ssk), knit to last 3 stitches, knit 2 together (k2tog), k1. [2 stitches decreased]
Row 5 (right side): Knit to end of row.
Repeat Rows 4 and 5 until 5 stitches remain, ending with Row 5.
Next Row (wrong side): Ssk, k1, k2tog. [3 stitches remain]
Next Row (right side): Slip 1 knitwise, k2tog, pass slipped stitch over (psso). [1 stitch remains]
Cut MC and pull through remaining stitch.
SQUARE B
NOTE: To see Square B in action, check out our Join As You Knit Tutorial.
INCREASE
Using a Long Tail Cast On and CC2, cast on 3 stitches.
With Square A oriented so right side is facing you and cast on point is at bottom right corner…
Row 1 (right side): Knit to last stitch of Square B, slip last stitch (see Notes), pick up and knit 1 stitch (see Notes) from last CC garter ridge at top right corner of Square A, psso to join Square B to Square A, turn work.
Row 2 (wrong side): Knit to end of row.
Row 3 (right side): K1, yo, k1, yo, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from first MC garter ridge at top right corner of Square A, psso to join Square B to Square A, turn work. [5 stitches]
Row 4 (wrong side): K1, k1 tbl, knit to last 2 stitches, k1 tbl, k1.
Row 5 (right side): K1, yo, knit to last stitch, yo, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from next MC garter ridge of Square A, psso to join Square B to Square A, turn work. [2 stitches increased]
Repeat Rows 4 and 5 until 1 garter ridge remains from Square A.
Repeat Row 4 one more time. [71 stitches]
Cut CC2.
DECREASE
With right side facing you, join MC.
Row 1 (right side): Knit to last stitch, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from last MC1 garter ridge of Square A, psso, turn work.
Rows 2 and 3: Knit to end of row.
Row 4 (wrong side): K1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1. [2 stitches decreased]
Row 5 (right side): Knit to end of row.
Repeat Rows 4 and 5 until 5 stitches remain, ending with Row 5.
Next Row (wrong side): Ssk, k1, k2tog. [3 stitches remain]
Next Row (right side): Slip 1 knitwise, k2tog, psso. [1 stitch remains]
Cut MC and pull through remaining stitch.
CONTINUE
Using the same logic as Square B and referring to the Schematic (see Notes) for color placement, continue to work and attach squares until you have 4 (5) total squares in Column 1.
COLUMN 2
SQUARE C
INCREASE
With CC4, work Increase section of Square A.
DECREASE
With right side facing you, join MC.
Row 1 (right side): Knit to last stitch, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from cast-on point of Square A, psso to join Square C to Square A, turn work.
Row 2 (wrong side): Knit to end of row.
Row 3: Knit to last stitch, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from next garter ridge of Square A, psso, turn work.
Row 4: K1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1. [2 stitches decreased]
Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until 5 stitches remain, then repeat Row 3 one more time.
Next Row (wrong side): Ssk, k1, k2tog. [3 stitches remain]
Next Row (right side): Ssk, slip 1, pick up and knit 1 stitch from last CC garter ridge of Square A, pass previous 2 stitches over. [1 stitch remains]
Cut MC and draw through remaining stitch.
SQUARE D
INCREASE
With CC3 and right side facing you, begin at top right corner of Square C and work Increase section of Square B.
DECREASE
With right side facing you, join MC.
Row 1 (right side): Knit to last stitch, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from last MC garter ridge of Square C, psso to join Square D to Square C, turn work.
Row 2 (wrong side): Knit to end of row.
Row 3: Knit to last stitch, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from first garter ridge of Square B, psso, turn work.
Row 4: K1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1. [2 stitches decreased]
Row 5: Knit to last stitch, slip last stitch, pick up and knit 1 stitch from next garter ridge of Square B, psso, turn work.
Repeat Rows 4 and 5 until 5 stitches remain, ending with Row 5.
Next Row (wrong side): Ssk, k1, k2tog. [3 stitches remain]
Next Row (right side): Ssk, slip 1, pick up and knit 1 stitch from last CC garter ridge of Square B, pass previous 2 stitches over. [1 stitch remains]
Cut MC and draw through remaining stitch.
CONTINUE
Using the same logic as Square D and referring to the Schematic for color placement, continue to work and attach the remaining squares until you have 4 (5) squares total in Column 2.
WORK REMAINING COLUMNS
Referring to the Schematic for color placement, work as for Column 2 one (2) more time(s), until you have 3 (4) total Columns.
FINISHING
Weave in ends, closing holes between squares with tails or scrap yarn. Wet block to finished dimensions and enjoy!


LEARN ABOUT MORNING + ALL OUR BEAUTIFUL YARNS
75% organically grown cotton and 25% yak, Morning adds something very special to this project! The cotton lends strength and a cool touch, while the yak is super soft and pliant. Together, this light worsted/DK-weight yarn has a satisfying weight, a very soft feel, and an incredibly lovely hand. In 14 up-with-the-sun colors, Morning is an absolute pleasure to knit!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our vast collection of (mostly free!) Morning knitting patterns and cast on!
More Light Worsted/DK-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of light worsted/DK-weight yarns (What does DK-weight yarn mean, really? Our guide to DK yarn will answer your questions and demystify.)
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial!
More Yarns With Similar Fibers
- Shop cotton yarn (What helps cotton keep its cool? Learn all about this soft, natural fiber in our guide to cotton yarn!)
- Shop yak yarn
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 45 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 1000’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
This prism blanket is just so beautiful! If I can figure out how to re-orientate some of the squares, I could see a traditional quilt blanket pattern:)
Hi, my name is Stephanie.
My question is, I wish to make this blanket, but wish the squares to be 7″ x 7″. Do I knit til the piece measures 7″ then start my decrease?
I’m sorry, I’m one of those knitters that need total instructions.
Thank you,
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you for writing in! To make your squares 7″x7″, you will want to knit until your edges both measure 7″. From there you will want to make a note of your stitch count so that you can work the rest of your squares to the same size exactly.
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
Thank you so much