Dawlish Warren Stormy Beach Blanket
Click on a post at the bottom of the page for square patterns
11th April 2021
The beginning of project blanketscapes - a typical April day at the beach in the UK, dodging the showers. This is the kind of scene and textures I wanted to capture in my blanketscape.
I needed a project to both keep me occupied at home in the latter stages of lockdown 3.0, but to take advantage of restrictions being lifted a bit which allowed travel a little further afield.
I spent a happy few hours cycling along the Exe estuary cycle path, then wandering the beach looking around me and taking photos until my phone ran out of battery (note to self take spare camera / battery pack).
I then spent many more hours over the next weeks iterating between spreadsheet pattern designs, and knitting up test samples.
I wanted the designs to be simple, so I could sit and knit them in the front of the TV. They also needed to be repeat patterns horizontally and vertically so they could be made into a blanket of any size. I chose a square of 36 stitches by 48 rows as a base size because they are both very divisible numbers.
Much trial and error later and I had some designs I was happy with.
This is the final design, 7 rows x 5 columns of textured squares to match the patterns I saw on the beach.
The posts below will provide the 7 patterns for these squares in case anyone fancies making their own blanketscape.
I used 3.75 mm needles and Stylecraft Special DK colours listed below.. Each square uses 10-12 g of yarn.
I suggest you block each square individually before sewing them up, as some of the patterns have a tendency to go a bit scrunchy.
For the border, I used 3.25 mm needles, picking up 36 stitches per square with the right side facing - working each side of the blanket seperately. Once I had picked up the stitches, I worked 8 more knit rows, increasing one stitch at the end of each right side row. Cast off.
Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK
Colours:
Many Footprints: Stone
Few Footprints: Stone
Sand Waves: Mocha
Large Breaking Waves: Petrol
Rain: Denim
Lower Stormy Clouds: Midnight
Upper Stormy Clouds: Midnight
I have made the patterns available for free but they are © Blanketscapes, the patterns are not to be copied or resold. I'm happy for you to make and sell finished blankets using these patterns for charitable, non-commercial, purposes only. Please credit @blanketscapes on Instagram or Facebook for your final creations, I'd love to see what you make. If you enjoy making the free patterns, please consider buying the book to support the creative industry!
Happy knitting!
