This is a child’s blanket built around a single large butterfly at the centre, with smaller butterflies and dragonflies worked around the border. At 47 x 55 inches (119.5 x 139.5 cm) it is generous enough to use on a bed rather than being outgrown in a season.
Yarn and needles
Worsted weight yarn throughout. Patons Canadiana is the yarn the pattern was written for, but any worsted weight will substitute cleanly as long as you check your gauge – at this size, a small gauge difference compounds into several inches across the finished blanket.
You will need a 4.5mm (US 7) circular needle and 4.5mm (US 7) double-pointed needles. The circular needle is for length, not for working in the round; a blanket this wide will not fit comfortably on straight needles.
Choosing colours
The butterflies need to read clearly against the background, which means real contrast in value rather than just in colour. A useful test: photograph your yarn choices in black and white. If the butterfly and background look similar in greyscale, the design will disappear no matter how different the colours look to your eye.
Practical notes
For a child’s blanket, choose a machine-washable yarn. This is a large project and it will be used hard; a blanket that has to be hand-washed will end up in a cupboard.
Work a generous swatch before starting. On a piece this size, being half a stitch per inch off gauge will change the finished width by several inches and will change how much yarn you need. Buy all your yarn at once in the same dye lot.
Block the finished blanket properly. It evens out the stitchwork and makes the butterfly outlines noticeably crisper.
