Bullfinch Blanket CKAL - Whirl blanket - knitting - part 1

Ten years ago, the Scheepjes yarn factory announced the very first community crochet project. For this year's anniversary, they have prepared special projects that will delight both knitting and crochet enthusiasts! The community crochet projects (also known as Crochet-A-Long (CAL)) and community knitting projects (also known as Knit-A-Long (KAL)) are inspired by wonderful and truly colorful songbirds.

In this blog post, we will start the knitted Bullfinch blanket together and help you navigate the pattern reading.

You can find the introduction and basic information about the Bullfinch blanket in this blog post:
Bullfinch Blanket - informations

You can find the introduction and basic information about the crocheted Bullfinch blanket in this blog post:
Bullfinch Blanket - Crochet part 1

You can download the crochet pattern from the official Scheepjes website, according to the language and terminology you are accustomed to working with.

Scheepjes Bullfinch Blanket - Crochet / Knitting patterns

How to start such a big knitting project?

My suggestion is to collect detailed information, take some time to watch the videos, read through the pattern, make a swatch, and try out different knitting needles. For this blanket, it is crucial to choose the right needle size and to determine whether you crochet tightly or loosely. If your small squares, from which you will assemble the blanket, are too large, you will run out of yarn...

1. Tip - Find a small leftover piece of Whirl yarn and start knitting a square based on the video using a 3.25mm needle. The designer suggests not to check the correct gauge with a tape measure, but to weigh the first completed square with a kitchen scale accurate to one gram. (According to the pattern, one square should weigh approximately 4.2 grams). If you don't have leftover yarn, you can start with Whirl, and if the square turns out too small or too large, you can unravel it.

2. Tip - First, watch the beginning of the video, even if you don't fully understand everything, because we learn more easily by visual cues, and the description will be easier to interpret!

3. Tip - Use stitch markers - firstly to mark the central stitch, and secondly to mark the right side of the work. (RS - Right Side)

Can I knit the blanket with a different yarn?

Of course, you can make it with another Whirl yarn, even with multiple colors, or by combining it with Whirlette yarn. It's entirely up to you, and only your imagination sets the limit. Just make sure to get 3 skeins of Scheepjes Whirl, or an equivalent amount of Whirl + Whirlette combination, which is 3000 meters of yarn.
Scheepjes Whirl yarns >>>
Scheepjes Whirlette yarns >>>