tips for a knitted baby blanket?

[howsmyenglish]

So my daughter is expecting a baby and has asked me to knit a baby blanket.
I'm thinking - not wool. We want the thing to be soft, easily machine washable and quickly drying.
Any advice/suggestions? Patterns? Yarn weight? Unexpected things I cannot even think of?
Help highly appreciated! It's my first grandbaby :)

Comments

[smallhobbit]

My go to is always Lovecrafts

[howsmyenglish]

Thank you!

[angelofthenorth]

Acrylic yarn works well

[howsmyenglish]

Thank you!

[fauxklore]

You can actually use certain types of wool. Specifically, superwash merino is soft, easy on the hands, and machine washable. My favorite brands are Lamb's Pride and Cascade 220.

Acrylic is, however, less expensive.

Go for a lighter weight, like baby weight or fingering yarn.

Are you on ravelry? They have lots of free patterns. I tend to be more of a texture knitter than a color knitter, so tend to just pick some simple stitch, like a basket weave. But really a Quick Look at a stitch dictionary should be fine.

[howsmyenglish]

Thank you! Acrylic is also much easier to come by over here. Good to know that it works!
Thanks a lot for all the recs!

[hamsterwoman]

L is knitting (well, crochet/kryuchkom) a baby blanket for my brother's baby and did a bunch of research on this beforehand -- I will ask her to share what she found.

Is the baby a boy or a girl, or do you/they not know yet? L picked out a super cute pattern with flowers, but I think she did save a bunch more that are more neutral.

[howsmyenglish]

It's a girl! But I'm not going for complexity, I'm a very basic knitter X)
Thanks!!

[hamsterwoman]

OK, L yarn passdown: she wanted natural fiber (that seems to be the parents' preference based on their baby registry) so went with organic DK cotton. She did say an even lighter/finer yarn may have been even better, for overall weight of the blanket, but would've been more work.

Not sure about shipping to your location, but L used yarn from Hobbii, a Danish company. She's used them for other projects and likes their yarn a lot.

also, mazel tov on the grandbaby!

[howsmyenglish]

Thanks!! :)

Yeah - shipping... not so much right now :/ I'll make do with local shops. That's also easier in terms of calculating how much yarn I need.

[altamira16]

I liked the Berroco Comfort DK yarns.

[howsmyenglish]

Thanks!

[heartonsnow]

way to announce you are to be a nan! How very exciting, muzel tov and all that!

Cotton yarn is a good choice, man made fibres do not breathe so I would not suggest them.

[howsmyenglish]

way to announce you are to be a nan!
Haha, you're so right XD And thanks!

[flikkeren]

Oooh congratulations on your grandbaby!!!

I am very new to knitting, I just taught myself how to do it in July, so I don't have any good suggestions for patterns or yarn weight really (I think both big chunky yarns and more fine yarns could both be nice, aesthetically I kind of like the look of bigger yarns for cozy blankets but smaller yarns for everyday ones).

I personally like cotton for babies. All my favorite shirts are cotton, my favorite blankets and sheets are cotton. It's soft and natural and just feels good.

[howsmyenglish]

Thanks!:)

[halfshellvenus]

The pattern doesn't show very well, but chenille is lovely. Assuming it doesn't shed bits.

I would avoid cashmere and the other kinds of wool. There are some soft acrylics, but I don't know what types exactly. Cotton yarn seems to be rather stiff, so I don't know that I would recommend that.

Mainly, CONGRATULATIONS on the upcoming baby!

[howsmyenglish]

Thanks! :)
I'm not familiar with chenille - that's helpful!