Bo Peep Pure Botanical Garden Blanket KAL - Making Up in West Yorkshire Spinners - WYSKAL09M - Downloadable PDF

Bo Peep Pure Botanical Garden Blanket KAL – Part Nine: Making Up (Designed by Rosee Woodland for West Yorkshire Spinners)

This downloadable PDF is Part Nine of the Botanical Garden Colourwork Blanket Knit-Along (KAL), designed by Rosee Woodland for West Yorkshire Spinners. This instalment focuses specifically on the making up stage — the finishing and assembly of the completed blanket panels into a cohesive, polished finished object. It is rated as an intermediate skill level project and is available as a free downloadable PDF.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a stunning Botanical Garden Colourwork Blanket, a large, decorative knitted throw made up of individual panels that are assembled together. Once blocked, the blanket measures 85cm wide by 83cm tall, making it a generous lap or decorative blanket. Each individual panel measures 20cm wide by 19.5cm tall after blocking, and the finished edging adds a neat border of 2.5cm wide all around the assembled piece. An optional fabric backing using one metre of cotton jersey and matching polyester sewing thread can be added for extra warmth, durability, and a professional finish.

Techniques Used

• Stranded colourwork: A traditional knitting technique where two or more yarn colours are carried across the back of the work simultaneously, creating intricate, multi-coloured patterns. This method is used throughout the blanket panels.
• Strandtarsia colourwork: A hybrid technique combining elements of both stranded colourwork and intarsia. It allows for larger, more isolated blocks of colour to be worked without carrying yarn excessively across the back, while still maintaining some of the structural benefits of stranded knitting. This technique is also employed in the blanket panels.
• Circular knitting for edging: The blanket edging is worked using a long circular needle, allowing the knitter to pick up and work stitches around the entire perimeter of the assembled blanket smoothly and evenly.
• Blocking: Both the individual panels and the finished blanket are blocked to achieve the correct measurements. Blocking is an essential finishing step in colourwork knitting, helping to even out stitches, open up the fabric, and set the final dimensions.
• Making up and seaming: This instalment specifically covers the assembly of the individual knitted panels into the full blanket, a key skill for any multi-panel project.
• Optional backing application: Sewing a cotton jersey backing onto the finished blanket using polyester thread is offered as an optional finishing technique for those who wish to add a lining.

Stitches Used

• Stranded colourwork stitches: Worked in the round or flat, carrying multiple yarn colours to create the botanical motifs that give the blanket its name.
• Strandtarsia stitches: Used within the panels to handle larger or more isolated colour sections with greater efficiency and neatness on the reverse of the fabric.
• Edging stitches: Picked up around the perimeter of the assembled blanket using a circular needle, creating a neat, uniform border.

Tension

Achieving the correct tension is especially important in a multi-panel project like this, as all panels must match in size before assembly. The pattern specifies the following tension guidelines:

• Stranded colourwork tension (before blocking): 26 stitches and 26 rows to 10cm over stranded colourwork using 4mm needles.
• Stranded colourwork tension (after blocking): 24 stitches and 24 rows to 10cm over stranded colourwork using 4mm needles.
• Strandtarsia colourwork tension (before blocking): 26 stitches and 27 rows to 10cm over strandtarsia colourwork using 4mm needles.

Materials – Yarn

The blanket panels are knitted in West Yorkshire Spinners Bo Peep Pure DK yarn. Bo Pe