Busy buzzy bumble bee is a baby blanket featuring a friendly bumble bee flying through the air.

At 36 in × 28 in (90 cm × 70 cm), this blanket is the perfect size for a baby’s first blanket, to be used in a car seat, moses basket, crib or cot. The bright, high contrast colours used in the blanket are selected to appeal to babies.

The blanket is knitted in one piece with the bee being incorporated using the intarsia technique. The flight path can either be knitted as you go or stitched at the end using duplicate stitch. A moss stitch border is knitted while you work the rest of the blanket, resulting in minimal finishing being required.

The bee and flight trail are worked from clear, numbered charts. If you wish, the motifs can be extracted and used to decorate jumpers, as wash cloths, or to hang on bedroom walls.

Busy buzzy bumble bee is knitted using King Cole Big Value Chunky, making the blanket hard-wearing and easy for new parents to care for. If you cannot find chunky weight yarn in the right colours, or are wishing to use up stash, DK weight yarn held double can be used instead, but note that if you are doing this you will need to double the yardages listed.

This blanket contains large blocks of intarsia, making it suitable for someone new to colourwork. Being knitted in chunky weight yarn makes it a really speedy knit.

Size: 36 in × 28 in (90 cm × 70 cm)

Other crafts required: Swiss darning/duplicate st, optional

Tools:
6 mm (US 10) circular needle, or size needed to obtain gauge (14 sts and 19 rows = 4 inches (10 cm) in stocking stitch), 80–100 cm (31–39 in) in length; the blanket is worked flat and can be knitted on straight needles if you prefer, but it is easier to see what you’re doing if you can spread the stitches out on your needles.
Tapestry needle
Bobbins for holding the different yarn colours during intarsia knitting
Stitch markers (x 6)
Chart row marker (optional)

Materials:
King Cole Big Value Chunky (100% acrylic, 152 m/167 yds per 100 g ball):
4 balls in MC, 883 Green (550 m/600 yds)
1 ball each in:
CC1, 828 Yellow (35 m/35 yds)
CC2, 554 Black (45 m/45 yds)
CC3, 822 White (5 m/5 yds)
CC4, 624 Sky (30 m/30 yds)
Alternatively, any chunky weight yarn can be used.

Difficulty: Intermediate (knit, purl, simple intarsia)

Pattern Style: Blanket pattern is written out in full, the picture sections are charted.