When I designed this blanket I wanted something that combined simplicity, elegance, and just enough ornamentation to give it a slightly vintage feel. Construction-wise, my goal was a mindless-knitting-friendly pattern that still has enough variety and visual interest to keep from getting bored. This pattern alternates sections of plain garter with colorwork stripes and an easy-to-memorize diamond texture, while an optional picot edging adds a little spice. The copious use of garter stitch and the deeply textured diamond pattern, plus the stretchy picot edging, makes this blanket very satisfyingly squishy and drapey. While it is not 100% reversible, the reverse is not unattractive: the main difference on the back view is that the colored stripes are not crisp.

Skill level: Except for the picot edging, I would rate this one very easy. This would be a good pattern for a beginner who is wanting to branch out from plain knitting into simple stitch patterns, color changes, and eyelets. The picot edging is a bit more challenging, but can be replaced with a plain cast-on and bind-off instead. If you do so, you could add a fringe or crocheted edging if desired to achieve something of the same effect.

Blanket size: Roughly 2 by 3 feet, but will vary with gauge and yarn choice. The pictured blanket is 27 by 34 inches at a blocked gauge of 5 stitches and 8 rows per inch in garter. It may knit up a little different if your yarn is not blockable. This pattern can be enlarged very easily:
To make blanket longer: add extra central garter rows or additional repeats of any other sections as desired.
To make blanket wider: cast on additional stitches using a total stitch count of “multiples of 6 plus 5”.
You can also reduce the size similarly.

Yarn: This pattern uses two colors of yarn – these will be referred to as “main color” and “contrast color”. In the pictured example, the main color is sage and the contrast color is blue. The pictured blanket was made in Yarn Bee Bamboo-tiful, a DK-weight rayon-cotton mix yarn that gave the finished blanket a lovely drape (but, fair warning, was an absolute bear to weave in the ends of). It used roughly 1.5 balls of the contrast color and not quite 2 balls of the main color, at 257 yards per ball. Your picot points will be crisper if you use a yarn that is at least somewhat blockable.

Needles: You will want a 24 inch circular needle to hold all the stitches in the size written. Use the recommended needle size for your yarn, or whatever needle size gives you the most satisfying fabric “squish” in garter stitch.