Easy Knitting Patterns

My favorite baby knitting pattern is from Vanna White’s book entitled Vanna’s Choice Heartfelt Gifts to Knit and Crochet. She calls it Saw Tooth Edge Afghan (page 22). It’s definitely an easy knitting pattern because it’s almost all knitting. The hardest part of the body is remembering to change colors every two rows. The only thing you need to know besides the knit stitch is how to knit-two-together for the little Prairie Point-like triangles all around the edge. These Prairie Points take a long time to make, but they are what takes this quilt from boring to super-special.

Vanna’s original design calls for a boyish color scheme of Vanna’s Choice Colonial (dark) Blue and Beige stripes, with triangles in Olive, Brick, Mustard, and Rust. I was making my first attempt for a girl, so I used Vanna’s Choice Baby Lullaby Pink and Angel White for the stripes, with triangles in Little Boy Blue, Goldfish (orange), Mint (green), and Duckie (yellow). Once I made one of these, I felt compelled to make more since I had so much of the triangle colors left over. So I made one in Mint and White, with triangles of Pink, Goldfish, Blue, and Duckie. I had enough Pink leftover from the first blanket to do the triangles on the second. Since then, I’ve done one in Little Boy Blue and White, and one in Kelly Green and White. I still have Goldfish and Duckie leftover from the first purchase, after making four blankets.

After dropping a stitch and having to rip out a couple of rows on my first blanket, I started using the little stitch counter rings every ten stitches. (There are 100 stitches per row.) That made it really easy to check my stitch count and avoid any more nasty surprises. On the second blanket, I was trying to count rows while listing to a speaker, and I finished the blanket 10 rows too short. I have avoided making that mistake again by marking every ten rows with a piece of yarn so it is easy to count how many rows I have finished.

The finished size on this blanket is 27” x 32” but you can easily make it bigger as long as you increase the size 10 stitches and 10 rows at a time. By increasing the size in both dimensions, you will keep the number of triangles in a multiple of four, so the color pattern around the border will still work out.

So next time you need an extra-special baby gift, try this mom-pleasing baby knitting pattern in a color scheme of your own design.

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