Fisherman Rib Checkerboard Baby Blanket
By Diana Sullivan
I wanted to design a pretty baby blanket to give to the local hospital for their new moms. My friend who works at the hospital told me that some of the moms have almost nothing for the new baby, so this will be their only knitted baby blanket.
These blankets need to be washable, so I used a 2/12 acrylic. This pattern has no holes or loops to catch tiny fingers, and it’s very soft with the tucked rib pattern giving it some thickness. Once you do one, it's very efficient to knit with almost no finishing.
This baby blanket is made on the 965i using the ribber; if you have a different machine, I've included a chart at the end of the pattern. It has a built-in border that’s English Rib and it has an English Rib checkerboard pattern in the center. This is all accomplished by programming the machine to put pattern only inside the border area of the blanket. Program the machine as follows: Set double height, double width, pattern selector 2, pattern #547, after pressing Step, there’s the diamond on the top and use the defaults, then on the picture of the sweater on the bottom center dot left 89, left dot left 89 (orange 89) the right dot is green 78, and then step through to ready, and put it on start.
The needle arrangement: Main bed end needles are L 199 and R188, and the ribber end needles are left 200 and r 189. The end needles need to be on the ribber to make a good edge on the blanket.
Begin with carriages on right and ribber arm attached. The ribber carriage is set to the tightest possible tension. Ribber carriage settings, reading from left to right: left lever N, slide button N, PR button on R, right PR button on N, and the right lever on N. Main bed is set for plain knitting, patterning device is off, there are no buttons pushed, tightest possible tension. Thread up and knit zigzag row.
Hang the long ribber comb and 5 of the large weights. Put a clothespin on the loose end of the yarn. Set the main bed to part left, set ribber carriage to part right. Ribber to 1.1, MB to 1.1, knit 2 rows.
Set the main bed carriage to plain knitting. Set the ribber carriage to plain knitting. Set the MB tension T5. Set the ribber carriage tension to T5. Knit 1 row from left to right.
Make sure that the weights drop. Set the right tuck button in on the main carriage only, leave all other settings the same. Knit 16 rows to make the bottom border of the blanket.
The pattern that was previously programmed isn't selecting yet - it is just sitting there with the 1 in the window. It will select as soon as you turn the carriage knob to KCII. Switch to KCII. Still have right tuck button in, everything else the same. K 1 row right to left, then set RC back to zero again, because you are going to do 320 rows in pattern. Knit this first row and then stop.
The first row selects the needles. On the second row and on every row to the right only the needles that are in B position, the non-selected needles, are going to tuck. What will happen is the two ends have a section of needles that are never selected which makes a nice built-in border. If everything is set correctly, and you've got a motor, you can let it go. Knit 320 rows. Keep an eye on it, since the weights will have to be moved up later, and for the first few rows, of course, make sure the weights are dropping properly.
Switch KCII to N, 1 MB tuck button in, and knit 16 rows for top border. Set both carriages for one very loose row, release tuck button, and knit the loose row from left to right if you’re right-handed. I go from right to left because I’m left-handed. Transfer all stitches to the main bed. Remove all the weights except 1 brass weight under where you’re working. Latch bind off, loop through a loop. Hide the ends. Steam the blanket very lightly – don’t stretch or flatten the blanket.
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