Weston-super-Mare
Whirl Beach Blanketscape
Scroll down for the instructions - click on a post at the bottom of the page for square patterns
***NOTE: This page, Many Footprints, Lower Stormy Clouds and Upper Stormy Clouds square patterns were updated on 08/03/2024 to match the version in the book. For the old version please go here.***
Unlike the other blankets, this blanket starts with the wool, and the place follows…
Back in July 2021, one of my work friends was talking to their neighbour, who turned out to be Dedri Uys! She very kindly gave me a ball of Scheepjes Whirl in very suitable colours for my blanket project. It is called Mid-Morning Mocha’roo.
I decided to try knitting up a blanket in one piece and leave it to luck where the colour transitions fall on the square patterns, I thought it would be fun to see how it turns out.
Having knitted up a test swatch to calculate how big to make it, I decided there was only one beach that can match these muddy brown colours - the lovely Weston Super-Mare!
Ah Weston-Super-Mare, a place I have a great fondness for… I lived in Bristol for a while, so had many happy days spent on this beach. I’ve also done the Christmas Cracker 10k a few times, it can be pretty bleak, but I love it nonetheless.
I drove up to my folks for Christmas and stopped off for a photo opportunity on the way.
It was suitably brown and bleak - perfect for the next blanket!
Instructions:
***NOTE: This page, Many Footprints, Lower Stormy Clouds and Upper Stormy Clouds square patterns were updated on 08/03/2024 to match the version in the book. For the old version please go here. The square patterns were modified very slightly to simplify the instructions for this blanket - this new version of the blanket pattern is more straightforward than the old version.***
This blanket is knitted in one piece rather than in separate squares as the other blankets.
After making and weighing a test square, I decided to go for a width of 5 squares and 6 rows of textured square patterns. Click the links at the end of the page for the charts for each square pattern.
Size: 84 x 70 cm.
Needles: 3mm 80cm circular needle
Yarn: Scheepjes Whirl 4-ply, 220g balls
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1 ball of Mid-Morning Mocha’roo
Method
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Cast on 190 sts and work 8 rows of garter st.
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Knit 5 sts, place marker, work pattern Row 1 of Many Footprints five times, placing a marker at the end of each repeat, knit 5 sts.
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Continue the above pattern to work the remaining rows of the Many Footprints pattern, slipping the markers as you go.
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Work the remaining square repeats in the same way, following the patterns shown in the table.
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Work 8 rows of garter st.
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Cast (bind) off.
We took the finished Weston-super-Mare beach blanketscape to the place itself - the weather was fairly kind to us, though we had to take shelter to eat our fish and chips to avoid eating a large amount of sand too!
As always thanks to Emilie for the company and the photography skills - the last photo is a lovely one of hers!
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!
