Thick, warm, soft and cosy, this reversible cot blanket is double-knitted in one piece in 4 ply wool. The pattern of vertical and horizontal stripes creates a basket-weave effect and you could fill the nine central squares with any image you can think of (it need not be the hearts and flowers I’ve used here).

I’ve called it a cot blanket because it is of the perfect size and cuteness for that purpose, but we’re planning to use it as a TV blanket!

The blanket is 95 cm wide and 104.5 cm long (37.4 x 41.1 inches).

I made the sample using Shepherd Baby Wool Merino 4 ply in Lime (2936) and Hot Pink (2939), but you could use instead the more readily available Patons Merino Extrafine in Pink (37) and Lime (75) or any 4 ply yarn you like and of course any colours you like (although I suggest either two colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel or two clearly contrasting shades of the same colour; and if you use a different yarn or different-sized needles, I recommend doing a sample to see how much yarn you’re likely to need). According to the label, each 50 g skein of Shepherd Baby Wool Merino 4 ply contains 165 m (180 yd) yarn.

Having said that, the Shepherd skeins mustn’t all be exactly the same length, because this took exactly 8 x 50 g (1.75 oz) balls of the Lime but I needed to start the 9th ball of the Hot Pink. If you want to crochet an edge around the blanket when you’ve finished, you’ll probably be safest with 9 x 50 g balls of each.

This is knitted back and forth on a 3.25 mm (US 3) circular (at least 60 cm/24 inches long). Because it is double-knitted in 4 ply, this is not a quick-turnaround project, so don’t consider it if you need to make a baby a present in a tearing hurry!

The pattern includes comprehensive written instructions for the double-knitting technique.