knit the gorgeous zoe baby blanket

The Zoe baby blanket is the perfect thoughtful present to welcome a new baby into this world, made of softness and joyful colours.

Diy versus store-bought

A few years ago, some sort of baby boom hit my “office family”, with an average of 2 babies brought into the world every year from my female colleagues. When the first one was about to be due, I found myself in Denmark on holidays, walking on the beach with the kids, when I suddenly thought to myself: Well, this time, I’m going to do something special! I won’t simply buy something from the wishlist for the new baby, but make something specially dedicated for the baby itself. That day on the beach of Ebeltoft, what would become a neverending series of baby blankets was born. Little did I know that once I’d started this “tradition”, I’d have to knit an average of two blankets a year. And let me tell you, blankets take a loooong time to make!

I had made one many years ago for one of my friends, a chevron blanket that afterwards was passed on among my friends until it was worn threadbare. Which is, in my opinion, the best thing that can happen. Knowing that you’ve made a present that is useful and brings joy, is the best feeling you can get. And since usually, when people have their first child, family and friends are only too keen to buy everything that’s on the list of the soon-to-be-parents, I guess that if you have certain crafting talents, you should definitely put them to good use and make something special!

Which is my new basic rule: If you can think of a handmade present that will give more joy than anything you can think of buying, just so you have a present for a certain occasion, then make it yourself! And second basic rule: only put the effort and time into it if you know that the recipient of the present will truly enjoy and cherish it. Not everyone like handmade things, which is perfectly ok.

So for little Jacob (the first baby in that baby boom season), I went with the Chevron Baby blanket from Purl soho, one of my go-to patterns which I absolutely adore. I used a double strand of a simple, machine washable cotton blend, and since I was on holidays, knitting it up was a breeze. Soon after, the next baby was due, little Julie… so I quickly whipped up another one. But by now, the chevron pattern was getting a bit boring, and also, I almost had a bad conscience at not doing something personal for little Julie. (By the way, Julie is quite happy with her blanket and finds it very comforting to stick her fingers between the knits and purls …)

Luckily, there were a few months until the next baby was due, so I could actually start sitting down and thinking a bit about making a dedicated pattern this time around. I fiddled around with rainbow patterns (but let me tell you, trying to transpose a rainbow onto a blanket is NOT an easy task – to make it short, I failed!). The end result of a lot of trial and errors was the Victoria blanket, an intarsia pattern with diamonds in rainbow colors.

Who is afraid of intarsia?

Since I had put so much work into drafting the Victoria Baby blanket, I guessed I could just as well put it online for others to use. And although I thought that the intarsia part of it would put most knitters off the task, it has been downloaded more than 5.000 times in less than a year! Which means, there are a lot of really crazy knitters out there ready to take up the challenge! It was also free at that time, so I guess that explains in big part the interest as well. 

Soon after that one was done, you’ll guess it, another baby was about to pop out, little Zoe. And since I’d started this crazy tradition, off I went for another blanket.

And since I am the kind of gal that quickly looses interest in doing the same thing more than once, I knew I had to come up with something a little different to make it work in time and still be satisfied with the result.

On the other hand, the rainbow theme is one that I really really like as you can see … there’s just something about these gorgeous colors that makes my heart skip a beat and think of sunshine, spring, and all good things wrapped up in one simple blanket. Also, I feel that as new parents, you need something to brighten up your daily life when sleep and me-time are a distant memory and will be for a long time to come (experience talking here, since I myself did not have the pleasure of producing any babies that slept through their nights…). Keeping with the Baby cashmerino yarn, which is just the right kind of soft you want for a newborn AND is still machine washable (!), I started testing and trying out a few design ideas, and stuck with the heart theme. It took a while to get the curves just right, and the perfect spacing between them in both directions, but the result was definitely worth the sweat!

The finished blanket measures 90 x 100 (35.5 x 40″) and is composed of 7 rows of hearts, and a seed stitch edging.

Ready to take up the crazy intarsia challenge once again? I’d love to see your progress! Share your work using the hashtag #zoeblanket !

Download your copy of the Zoe Blanket in English, French, German or Danish and subscribe to my newsletter if you want to be the first to know when a new Baby blanket – or other pattern – is out! (spoiler alert : there is another one in the making… I told you: baby boom in the office family…)

 

Happy knitting!

16 Responses

    1. I wanted to download the zoe heart free pattern but the only option there is to buy the pattern

      1. Hi, yes you have to put it in your cart, and it will show that the price is 0€.

  1. This is a lovely blanket, congratulations. That is a nice story. I try as well to not buy stuff anymore and give gifts I make or my mom.
    I have a question, if I make one using your patter can I sell it? I am new to knitting so I do not know the rules of patterns property in this new digital world. I have been looking for a heart pattern as I sell a lot of what my mom knits, that is the reason I found your pattern. Thank you in advance!

    1. Hi, thank you for your Feedback on my blog post, it’s nice to Know that someone read thems 🙂
      That is a very good question and I appreciate you asking before simply going along with selling the items made. This is a free pattern for private use, so I’d appreciate if you don’t sell the items made with it. But of course, if it is something you do on a very small, local level, I wouldn’t mind. I hope this helps!

  2. I just finished knitting this blanket and I’m working on weaving in all the ends on the back (very time-consuming!) and I really love it, but….the pattern says it should measure 90 cm X 100 cm and mine is about 20 cm short! I checked the gauge and it looks fine. But the blanket is very square rather than rectangular. I expected it to be longer. Did I do something wrong? can you tell me roughly how tall each heart should be? Mine looks like the picture, so I’m very puzzled. Thanks for any help!

  3. hi i am trying to download the zoe blanket. It says it is free but when I go to shop/cart it has a price of 3.5 euro. Is there a coupon code i should input for it to be free?

  4. I put it in my cart and it is still charging me. Is there a code I need to get the pattern free? Thank you.

  5. Hi, I love the Zoe blanket. I cannot get it to be a ‘free pattern’ I would like to give it a try. Thank you.

  6. Hello, my name is marina and i’m from malaysia. I’m looking for heart blanket pattern for my newborn niece. Is this still free pattern?

    1. Dear Marina,
      Thank you for your interest in this baby blanket pattern. Unfortunately, it isn’t offered as a free pattern anymore.

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