Del Mar Braided Knitted Blanket Pattern

Knitted blankets are relaxing projects all around. They are relaxing and often easy mindless projects when you are knitting them and later, when they are finished, they are so wonderful to relax under. Del Mar Braided Knitted Blanket is that kind of relaxing knit project to make.

The Inspiration

For a while now, I’ve been in love with chainette yarn. I first discovered it when I came across Red Heart Amore yarn. I loved the idea of the yarn that doesn’t split when you work with it. I wanted to make a project with a chainette yarn, but I couldn’t find the color that I wanted.

Then, the angels sang and Lion Brand came out with Feels Like Butta yarn! Oh My… This yarn was just what I was looking for. The softness, the colors and of course, it was a perfect chainette yarn.

When I found the shelf with Feels Like Butta in my local yarn store, I got to hold it and feel how soft and buttery and cozy it was. Right there and then I knew I had to make a blanket out of this pretty yarn. They had the yarn in the color Seafoam and I just knew it was a match made in heaven since any yarn in beachy colors with name like Seafoam is my kind of yarn!

My best friend been encouraging me to try knitted braids and cables in my designs for a while and, with a load of Feels Like Butta yarn in my arms, I decided to give braids a go in this new knit blanket.

I made a few samples with this soft and comfy yarn and the idea for Del Mar Braided Knitted Blanket was born!

The Stitch

I wanted this blanket to be just as relaxing to make as it was to use and so I decided to go with classic knit and purl stitches as the main stitches throughout the blanket. Then I added the braid as the star of this knitted design.

I went with the easy to learn, beginner-friendly braid stitch C4B, also known as a Cable 4 Back. Made of 4 stitches, it uses the cable needle to cross 2 of those stitches over the other 2 creating a pretty braid that will take you only a few repeats to master.

Del Mar Braided Knitted Blanket uses stockinette stitch as the main body of the blanket, creating a clean uncluttered canvass on which the braid can be shown in all its beauty.

Vertical rows of purl stitches used between the braids to give a variety to the design and create a visual interest.

The Yarn

The yarn that I used for this blanket is Feels Like Butta from Lion Brand. I have used yarns from Lion Brand in a lot of my blankets, especially in my chunky crochet and knitted blankets, and in my recent design, Sandy Beaches Knitted Blanket.

Feels Like Butta yarn was new to me but I was totally excited to use it because it felt heavenly and the swatches I made with it were a joy to make.

I used the Seafoam color for this blanket, but Feels Like Butta comes in a lot of other colors and another gorgeous beachy color you can try is called Ice. Feels Like Butta is very soft, squishy, velvety yarn made with a chainette technology. Chainette yarn is knitted into a very thin tube rather than twisted from separate strands. Because of that, it doesn’t split, it holds its structure very well and creates solid smooth fabric that is very cozy to touch.

This yarn is a weight 4 (Worsted) and is perfect for all kinds of projects. I used it for the Del Mar Knitted Blanket, but I also used it for the Stepping Stone Cowl and it was so cozy to wear.

The yarn is perfect to be used single-stranded, but for this blanket I used it double-stranded, or 2 strands of yarn held together for the blanket to be extra thick and heavy.

The yarn is made out of 100% polyester and comes in 218-yard (199-meter) balls. When I first got it, it came in huge skeins that had 590 yards of yarn each, it was amazing! I used the color Seafoam, but this yarn comes in 17 other colors (Ice is another color I recommend). I used 6 skeins (590 yrds each) to make the Del Mar Braided Knitted Blanket.

The Needles

For this knitted project, I used my favorite to circular needles. I find that they are easier to work with, especially for my wrists. When working on large projects like blankets, I can’t even imagine using straight needs. Circular needles are so easy when you want to take your project on a go or use when the space around you is limited. No one likes to be poked with your knitting needles!

For this project, I used 6mm circular needles by Loops & Threads (from Michaels Store).

If you don’t have Michaels Stores in your neighborhood, ChiaoGoo Red Lace Circular 40-inch needles a great pair of needles that I use all the time as well. Having a 40-inch cord was nice especially for this larger project. If you have a shorter cord needles like 36-inch, those would do the work.

Even though the yarn label usually calls for 5.5mm needles for work with a worsted yarn, I usually like working with the size that is just a bit bigger. I went the size 6mm to make the knitted fabric to be looser, fluffier and softer.

The Design

For the design of the Del Mar Blanket, I wanted, just like with my other blankets for it to be relaxing to follow and make. Most of the blanket is made using the stockinette stitch – simple, clean, timeless.

But, this design is not boring. The right side of the blanket is embellished with braids (or cables if you more familiar with that term). Braids run vertically across the blanket, adding a sophisticated detail that makes the blanket look harder to make than it is (everyone will be asking!)

To add another detail to this clean design, I have added vertical stripes made of purl stitches running on the right side of blanket, taking turns with the braids. These stripes add another visual interest to the blanket (and let you use the cable needle less since not every column in braided!).

This blanket comes out looking chic and timeless, great being layered on the back of the couch, or thrown over your duvet.

The Pattern

The pattern for Del Mar Braided Knitted Blanket is designed to give you a throw-sized blanket, but it also gives you tips on how to make the blanket longer or wider if you want.

The pattern comes with a number of detailed, close-up photos, links to helpful videos, everything you need to make your own cozy and chic blanket that will be a great gift or one to be kept for yourself.

Want to make your own?

You can get a step by step pattern with color photos here:

Etsy Del Mar Knitted Blanket pattern

Ravelry Del Mar Shores Knitted Blanket pattern

LoveCrafts Del Mar Shores Knitted Blanket pattern

For more knit blanket patterns, check out the Knitted Pattern category on the Kind Of Knit blog or hop over to my Etsy or Ravelry Shop.

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