“Caoimhe” Celtic afghan or throw

This is a snuggly throw that will look lovely draped over a chair or sofa, and will be a warm friend on winter evenings! It is not as difficult as it looks, but challenging enough to hold your interest while knitting a large piece. Once you complete a few patterns, you will find that you need only refer occasionally to the written instructions.

There are two basic patterns in this throw, “Celtic Plait”, which forms 3 panels, and “Trellis with Moss”, used for 2 panels. The patterns are separated with a simple four-stitch cable and rib pattern, slightly different on the edges. Once you have done a few rows, you will probably not need to refer to the simple cable and rib pattern, but can just “read” your stitches and make the cable every four rows. I have coordinated the patterns so that they mesh, with a 24 row repeat.

You will need :12 stitch markers and a row counter.
Any worsted or slightly chunky yarn will work for this pattern; I wanted to use an acrylic yarn, so I could machine wash the throw.
I used 1950 yards (ten 195 yard skeins) of Big Twist Chunky weight yarn for a generous 44” by 56” throw. You may substitute worsted yarn for a slightly smaller throw.
For this yarn, I used size 10 needles, but I tend to knit loose, so you may want to go up a size. Use the size recommended for the yarn that you choose.