Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket Pattern – Soft, Light and Cuddly

Do you love those knitted projects that come at you out of nowhere? The ones that you haven’t planned for but then you see this perfect yarn and you just know – I have to knit something with this beauty! This is how the Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket was born.

The Inspiration

There are so many ways you can get an inspiration for a knitted project. A gloomy weather and a sound of the ocean waves in the distance, or maybe something you saw in a magazine or on a TV.

An inspiration can come from another project you are working on or even from the new set of knitting needles you got. And sometimes (ok, ALL the time) the inspiration comes from the yarn.

That is exactly what happened with Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket Pattern. I wasn’t actually planning to make this blanket.

I was at the Michael’s craft store looking for an extra few balls of yarn for another project I was finishing up when I saw this Gorgeous Yarn, just laying there on the neighboring shelf, looking all pretty and calling my name.

I still can’t believe that I haven’t noticed it before. It’s such a soft amazing yarn and the color reminded me of the sand on the beaches of Central California – that warm mocha brown, that reminds you of the sunny days by the beach, burying your toes and watching the waves roll up on the coast.

Once I saw that yarn, I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave the store without getting it. I bought what they had in stock and ordered the rest online. I began working on swatches as soon as I got home.

The Stitch

Just like with all of my designs, I wanted Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket to be beginner-friendly, so I chose the classic knit and purl stitches to make it. I knew that even though they are basic stitches, I could combine them in a way that would create a pretty, timeless look.

I used the stitches in two major ways to create the look of this knitted throw: a seed stitch and a stockinette stitch.

A seed stitch is made when you knit one, purl one and then in the following row, you knit into every purl and purl into every knit creating a look reminiscent of tiny bricks laid out into a pattern.

A stockinette stitch, an all-time classic made of row of knit stitches followed by the row of purl stitches, then again by knit row and then a purl row.

Combination of stockinette stitch for the main body of the blanket, combined with seed stitch for the border is embellished by repeating rows of knit and purl flipped in the opposite order to create horizontal lines going across the blanket and creating a visual interest.

The Yarn

The yarn that I used for this blanket comes from Lion Brand, company whose other yarns I used in many of my blankets. This particular yarn is new to me and, as I mentioned, I accidentally stumbled into it in the yarn isle of Michael’s.

The Heartland yarn by Lion Brand is a very soft, very light and cozy yarn. It’s a weight 4 (Worsted) but because it’s so soft, for some it can feel like it’s bordering on weight 3. In any case, I treated it as a Worsted weight yarn and use an appropriate size needles.

The yarn is made out of 100% acrylic and comes in 251-yard (230-meter) balls. I used the color Grand Canyon, but this yarn comes in 17 other colors. I used 12 balls to make the Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket.

The Needles

When it comes to making blankets (and honestly, all my knitted projects) I turn to circular needles. To me, they are easier to work with, easier to carry, they don’t weigh on my wrists when I work with heavy projects and they don’t poke those sitting next to me.

For this project, I used 6mm ChiaoGoo Red Lace Circular 40-inch needles. Having a 40-inch cord was nice, since I was working on a large blanket, but I think 36-inch needles will do just fine if not better.

The yarn label calls for 5.5mm needles, but I chose to go with the size 6mm. I generally go with a larger size needles (and hooks) for my designs because I want them to be soft and fluffy and a large size needles gives that result.

The Design

When I was working on design for this knit blanket, I knew that I wanted to be relaxing to make and relaxing to use. As much as I love to use things like braids and other involved stitches, for this blanket, I wanted a design to be such that you can work on it while watching your favorite show.

I wanted the design to be chic and timeless, clean lines and easy to work with any style you have in your home. I also wanted it to be relaxing to knit, just working on the row after row without having check the counts and stitches all the time.

The Pattern

The pattern for Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket is designed to give you a twin-sized blanket, but it also gives you tips on how to make a bigger or smaller blanket if you wanted.

It gives you step by step instructions, detailed photos, everything you need to make your own soft and cuddly blanket that can be used in summer or in winter – it’s light and not bulky, but warm and cozy at the same time.

Want to make your own?

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

Etsy Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket pattern

Ravelry Sandy Shores Knitted Blanket pattern

LoveCrafts Sandy 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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