Here’s the next square for my vintage sampler blanket. It is made in Debbie Bliss cashmerino dk using 4 mm needles. For a 6″ square I cast on 33 stitches and knit 44 rows. It’s the first lace pattern I’ve done for this project, and I’m not yet sure if it will work with the sturdier fabrics. I might make a contrasting stocking stitch square with which to line it.

I’ve now completed the first four squares of this blanket, and I’m starting to think a bit more about colours and about how to join them all together. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

I’m thinking of some sort of contrast binding between the squares, maybe along these lines:

This is a section of my first, and probably last(!), quilt. I like how the binding is different to, but complements, all the other fabrics. I also like the lines running diagonally.

I’m wondering too about colours for my blanket. I’m trying to get an effect of once-vibrant colours that have faded gracefully with time. The difficulty with this is avoiding it looking like brand-new baby-soft pastels. These are the colours that I have collected for this project:

So far I’ve used the cream and the pale pink in the middle foreground. I tried the green just behind the cream, but that was definitely baby-pastel territory. It might be that I just end up using the pink and cream for all the squares, and use one of the pale blues to bind them all together. Don’t know yet.

Here are the instructions for the latest square. It requires a number of stitches divisible by 10, plus 3 stitches.

1st row: K1, k2tog, *yo, k3, yo, k into front and back of next st, yo, k3, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso; rep from * to end, ending the last rep, sl 1, k1, psso, k1.

2nd and all alternate rows: K1, p to last st, k1.

3rd row: K1, k2tog, *yo, k3tog, yo, k2tog, yo, sl 1, k1, psso, yo, sl 2, k1, pass slipped sts over, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso; rep from * to end, ending the last rep sl 1, k1, psso, k1.

5th row: K4, *k2tog, yo, k1, yo, sl 1, k1, psso, k5; rep from * to end, ending last rep k4.

7th row: K3, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, sl 1 k1, psso, k3; rep from * to end.

9th row: K1, k3tog, *yo, k1, yo, k3, yo, k1, yo, sl 2, k1, pass slipped sts over, slip the st back on to the left hand needle, pass the 1st and 2nd sts on left hand needle over, slip the st back on to the right hand needle; rep from * to end.

11th row: K2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k1, yo, sl 1, k1, psso, k1; rep from * to last st, k1.