Beautyberry blanket

This chunky beauty is for my niece, age 13. Whenever she visits the house, she heads straight for the couch and my hand-knit Montauk blanket. She's been asking for a blanket of her own for months now, and the minute I saw Purl Soho's Beautyberry Blanket pattern, I knew it was the one for her. 

I really wanted to use the Gentle Giant that the pattern called for, but at $418 for the throw size, it was just a teeny bit out of my budget. After a little research, I decided on Knit Picks Tuff Puff, a lovely super bulky alternative that worked out to a very reasonable $71. 

The Tuff Puff yarn is super soft and a delight to knit with—it almost reminds me of sturdy roving. I originally started out pairing the White (color A) with the Marina (color B), a beautiful peacock green/blue. However, after knitting a few rows, I decided to swap it out with Silver—partly because I'm a neutrals kind-of-gal, but also because teenage girls' tastes quickly change and I wanted to knit something that would transition with her well I nto adulthood. (The Marina has now been set aside for this gorgeous cowl.) 

The pattern is pretty spectacular... The front side has a beautiful honeycomb effect, the creamy white stitches framing the silver yarn in tidy, geometric outlines. The stitch pattern combined with the large gauge of the yarn resulted in a warm, lofty knit that's perfect for midday nap sessions.  

Things got a little tricky when it came to picking up and knitting stitches for the attached i-cord border. I wish I had used a lighter hand when knitting the i-cord, as the edges of the blanket curled in a little bit once the ends were grafted. After a bit of gentle hand blocking, this seemed to resolve itself. 

Even though I calculated 13 skeins of white and 9 skeins of silver for yardage, I only ended up using 10 and 6 skeins, respectively. When joining new balls, I did a simple wet felt join, which eliminated the need to weave in all of those pesky ends. The yarn does develop a soft halo after extensive handling, but I think that just adds to the charm of the finished knit. 

Overall, this is a showstopper of a piece and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

Full project details on Ravelry.