We had two blankets in the shop last week that were just amazing. Elf Roberta brought in her Sock Yarn Blanket, made up of leftover sock yarn bits and bobs. It looks way more planned and organized than bits and bobs, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be fun using a combination of multi’s and solids from our Lorna’s Laces Mini Skein kits, with some leftover yarns thrown in there as well?
Roberta made the pattern up and is happy to share it.
Cast on 8 stitches on size 3 needles. (Here’s an easy way to do it: Emily Ocker’s Circular Cast On). Re-arrange so you have 2 stitches on each of 4 needles.
1. Knit one round even, joining into a circle and being careful not to twist stitches.
2. [K1, YO, PM, K 1, PM, YO] x 4
3. Knit
4. Knit to marker then [YO, SM, K1, SM, YO], knit to the next marker then [YO, SM, K1, SM, YO], and so on for the whole round.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 until blanket is the desired size, changing yarn colors as often as you’d like. Bind off loosely. Enjoy!
(K = Knit, PM = Put Marker, SM = Slip Marker, YO = Yarn Over)
Here’s another beautiful afghan. We’ve all been watching Sheryl make progress on this at Thursday Night Knit Night, and it’s finally done! This is the Girasole pattern done in Dream in Color’s Cashmere Blend Worsted (9 skeins of Emerald Darkness). We did a Girasole KAL a few summers ago. You can see some of the finished Girasoles here in our Loopy Gallery. I made one that summer out of Cascade Eco Alpaca and this was 
really the first true lace project that I had done. (Which will tell you how easy this pattern really is. It looks impressive – no doubt about it. But row by row, it’s amazingly easy to knit up.)
It also looks beautiful folded in half and wrapped around you like a shawl, doesn’t it? If you did it in a fingering or lace weight, it would probably be a perfect wrap size. That makes this pattern do-able in any weight.
Sheri stilltoomuchonmyToDoListforthistimeofday.
Really,I’dliketojustknit.Doesthateverhappentoyou?
All the time, sister.
It’s amazing how a to do list can put a damper on the knitting thing!
Roberta’s really doesn’t look like bits & pieces – very nice. My daily to do list includes at least 2″ of knitting on my 2nd qtr sweater …..
Roberta’s blanket is lovely. However, it does not look like it was knit from left over yarn or even from those tiny skeins. It is too organized. How about if she shares with us how she managed to have her blanket look so well planned and executed??!! I would like to try that myself.
Oh how I wish I could have seen Sheryl’s Girasole in person., it is beautiful and green is one of my favorite colors.I saw Roberta’s and am planning on using up those Lorna Laces packets! I decided not to knit the “hexipuffs”! Roberta, Thank you for sharing the pattern. Your blanket is just gorgeous! Sheri- everything it way to tempting!
Hmmm… Perhaps I shall select some of my bazillion skeins of shock yarn and do one of those….
And yes, I do that “rather be knitting” thing all the time.
Hi, Hannah. Roberta here; thanks for the compliment! It really was made from leftover sock yarns, 50 different colors total. Here is how I organized the colorways:
If you look closely, you will see that it looks like a rainbow from the outside in. So I sorted my colors in reverse – all the violets first; then, blues, greens etc. and just started knitting with the darkest purple I had. I just knit until I ran out of one color, moved on the to next, and so on until I ran out of yarn! Easy peasy, and I probably have enough leftovers again for another one (is that good or bad?) 😉
So much talent! I have the pleasure of knitting on Thursday with both of these ladies.
Roberta always has on a new pair of socks and I think she has enough sock yarn left over to make 20 more.
Sheryl’s afghan is beautiful and I am very happy to see it finished. I remember it was only yester day when she started with that skein of green.
Great Job!
“Really,I’dliketojustknit.Doesthateverhappentoyou?”
YES. Every waking minute of every day.
My DH is over my shoulder pointing out that I like showers, eating, and reading too.
I have a blanket that is still in the sewing up stage. Maybe I’ll pull it out my next vacation day and start crocheting it all together!
Thank you, Roberta, for all that good advice. I will take it and make one too!!
I have done all the pieces for “American Brilliant”. It is for my Mom who gets cold a lot, and loves cut glass dishes. I have a few small projects to get done, then will put the blanket together. Probably just in time for the hot weather!!
An entire Girasole wrap/afghan beautifully done in DIC Cashmere blend? If I had one of those, you could have it when you could pry it out of my hand in my casket! Now THAT would really be worth rolling around in.
And it’s clear Roberta is no slouch in the blankie department either. Although the very thought of knitting an acre of sock yarn gives me pause.
Roberta, Thank you for sharing your pattern and the details of how you arranged your colors. I was wondering how much your finished blanket weighs. I don’t have many leftovers, but I do have lots of full skeins to use. I just don’t know how far one skein would go. I want to use the prettiest skeins and leave the ugliest ones out. If you could share the approx. weight I feel I could proceed with more confidence in my plan. Thanks a million!
Those are both beautiful! Especially like the use of color in the sock yarn blanket.
I have my knitting done on my Girasole, I just have to find a big enough spot to block it in where my kitties won’t lay all over it.
I made a lovely Girasole as a gift for someone very special… I’ve wanted to make one for myself ever since!
Don’t know where my evil little brain is today but I kept reading “bits and bobs” as “bits and ….” well, add an extra o to “bobs!” LOL!!! Beautiful blankets!
Hi, Liz. My blanket weighs 808 grams or about 28.5 ounces. Very lightweight for its size – perfect for car trips. At 3.5 ounces per skein you would probably need about 8 skeins of fingering weight yarn. Hope this helps!
Hi Roberta. Thank you so much! I am heading to the stash right now! Planning is half the fun for me. And it may sound silly(it does to me, anyway) but I think that if I start it soon, I may be able to get a lot done before it gets too hot here in Florida. Then it can go into time out(not a problem) until it gets colder, and I’ll have a built in “warmer” as I continue to knit on it in the winter! Thank you so much for your help!
You’re welcome. Have fun! 🙂
When you are knitting Roberta’s Sock Yarn Blanket, at some point aren’t there too many stitches for double-pointed needles? Do you have to switch to circular needles?? How do you do this I am confused!!!
Hi Ali – definitely. You’ll want to switch to a circular needles as it grows! You can probably keep them on DPN’s until you need to switch over to 24″ or 32″ circs. Eventually as your circle of stitches grows, you’ll need to go up to longer cable lengths like a 47″ or even a 60″. OR, you can use two 32″ circular needles as well.
This question is very embarrassing please forgive me.
If you knit this blanket in the round how it become square then?
(sock yarn blanket)