When I was little I used to love playing with my Mum’s stash of buttons, now I’m an adult with children of my own I have a pretty extensive stash of buttons, and my love of buttons inspired this design. Granny’s Button Jar features rainbow-coloured intarsia buttons in a bright-pastel palette on a neutral background.

The blanket is 97 cm × 95 cm (38.25 in × 37.5 in) with the central panel surrounded by a moss stitch border that is knitted at the same time as the rest of the blanket. The main body of the blanket is knitted in stocking stitch and features buttons incorporated using the intarsia technique. Instructions for the intarsia portion of the blanket are included as both a chart and as written instructions. The pattern features a diagram to indicate which order the coloured buttons should be knitted in.

This blanket is knitted in a soft machine washable aran weight yarn, and colour substitutions can easily be made to fit your preferences; the blanket features seven different colours of button.

Tension
18 sts and 24 rows = 10 cm (4 in) in stocking stitch worked flat on a 5 mm (US 8) circular needle after steam blocking, or size needed to obtain correct tension.

Sizing
One size: 97 cm × 95 cm (38.25 in × 37.5 in)

Yarn
Aran weight yarn (ideally a plied acrylic, wool or wool/acrylic blend) in each of the following colours:

• MC (White): 720 m (785 yds)
• CCA (Strawberry): 100 m (110 yds)
• CCB (Light pink): 75 m (85 yds)
• CCC (Light yellow): 100 m (110 yds)
• CCD (Lime): 100 m (110 yds)
• CCE (Aqua): 100 m (110 yds)
• CCF (Lavender): 75 m (85 yds)
• CCG (Light grape): 75 m (85 yds)

Needles
5 mm (US 8) circular needle at least 80 cm (32 in) in length

Notions

• Stitch markers × 12
• Bobbins for holding the different yarn colours during colourwork
• Chart row marker

Pattern notes
The sample is knitted in Red Heart Soft Baby Steps 100% acrylic: 164 m (179 yds) to 100 g in MC: White, 00001; CCA: Strawberry, 00004; CCB: Light pink, 00003; CCC: Light yellow, 00002; CCD: Lime, 09630; CCE: Aqua, 00006; CCF: Lavender, 00010; CCG: Light grape, 00009.
This blanket is knitted flat on a long circular needle to accommodate the large number of sts required.

Granny’s Button Jar is knitted using the intarsia technique. If you are new to this technique, some helpful hints on colour changes can be found in the Resources section.

This blanket will have a lot of ends that need to be woven in. I recommend weaving the ends in as you go, either at the end of each repeat, or at the end of each knitting session.

If you wish to work each button in a different colour, you will require 25 m/30 yds of CC per button.

This pattern was edited by Madeleine Windsor.

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