I am quite pleased with how well this blanket turned out. Despite a slow start and some panicked text messages to my friend Steph in Japan (who kindly talked me off the crafty ledge), it ended up being an easy, fun and fast pattern. You can find the pattern on Ravelry here, but I definitely recommend skipping the chart and investing in a stitch counter that won’t self destruct as soon as it comes out of the package. 
- Cast on 161 stitches, and slipping the first stitch of each row (for the entire blanket) knit 8 rows
- Row 1: (K5 – border) P1, K4, P5 repeated until the end with another K5 for the border at the end
- Row 2: (K5 – border) K1, P4, K5 repeated until the end…..K5 border
- Rows 3,5,7,11,13,15: (K5) P1, K4 (K5 border at end)
- Rows 4,6,8,12,14,16: (K6) P4, K1 (K5 border at end)
- Row 9: (K5) P6, K4 …(K5)
- Row 10: (K6) P4, K6 …(K5)
Basically, when you are knitting the right side, your first stitch after the border will be a purl, and the wrong side is a knit the ensure the variations in weave. And don’t panic that the pattern looks terrible until you hit row 11 or 12 – the little cross hatches will finally start to pull it all together. 
Work to the desired length, then knit 8 rows and bind off. Hooray! This is the last of the baby blankets as gifts for a bit (thank you all for finding a new hobby for the moment), but begins my state fair entry making. I plan to double this pattern and make a couch sized blanket as an entry this year….because clearly I am insane. 
annie.crafty.pants 