I’m making this blanket for my newly arrived grand nephew that hopefully one day might also serve as a headscarf. I’m calling it “Zoom” because it was mostly worked on while staring at Zoom screens. I’m using helical knitting as separation between the stripes, and have created an applied border in seed stitch to finish the whole thing. I’m pretty happy with the results.

Recipe tips:

• My increase method here has been knitting first through the front and then through the back of the first and last stitches of each quadrant on alternate rounds. I add a stitch marker before the increased stitch knit through the back (8 total in the round) such that I can keep track of my increases as well as row count without losing my mind wondering if I remembered to increase at all eight points or not. When I get to the second knit round after the tenth stitch has been added I know I’ve added 20 rounds and I start over.

• Toward the end of the round before starting the next stripe I introduce the new color as if I’m doing stranded color work and alternate between knitting and catching the float as an alternative to weaving in ends later.

• For the final stripe, I am planning to do half the amount of rounds, and then a 11-stitch moss stitch applied border to work the binding off. Applied edge knit on 3.25mm needles.

• For binding off, I turn the corner with the German short rows, leave one stitch on the left hand needle, and I pick up 9 more stitches from the cast-on edge of the applied border. Now there are 10 stitches on each needle. Working from the reverse side, I do a 3-needle bind-off, knitting the first stitch and purling the second.