Some designs come more easily than others. For weeks, I had the image of a lattice created with elongated diamonds with each diamond surrounded by a vibrant contrasting color, but I couldn’t decide how to make it. Fair Isle would be too heavy. Intarsia would have too many bobbins to fiddle with (which would make for an incredibly unpleasant knit)!

What I finally created was a solid stockinette fabric with just the mere impression of the elongated diamonds. The individual cells are created with increases and decreases and surrounded with twisted stitches. The adjacent twisted stitches create a deliberate ladder between the cells. When the base fabric is complete it is firmly blocked and then embellished with the contrasting color using surface crochet. As I worked the embellishing I realized my elongated diamonds felt very floral–very “chrystanthemummy”.

This design uses my Chrysanthemum fabric to create a comfy round throw. It’s made using Knit Picks Biggo–a lush, bulky, merino and nylon blend. The pattern has two sizes–one for tucking in the baby and one for cuddling up on the couch with a good book.

Techniques Used: Knitting in the round, directional increases and decreases, twisted stitches, I-cord bind off, surface crochet, slip stitch. Directions given in both written and charted formats.

Yarn Requirements and sizes: 53 inch baby blanket: 770 yards main color and 330 yards contrast color); 75 inch throw: 1540 yards main color and 550 yards contrast color.

If you like this fabric, you may also like my Chrysanthemum Shawl which uses fingering weight yarn.