Bobble Car Seat Blanket

A sampler style pattern of several different stitches designed to be easy to use with baby's car seat.  The slits allow you to clip in with the buckle on the outside, and little darling cannot kick it off during the journey!

Using DK wool (I like Sirdar Snuggly as washes and drys well and is super soft) and 4mm needles, make four of each square...

Slip Stitch Honeycomb [H]
Cast on 25
row 1 & 3 - knit
row 2 - K1, * sl1p wyib, K1 - repeat from *
row 4 - K2, * sl1p wyib, K1 - repeat from *
repeat rows 1-4 eight more times, or until it forms a square, cast off on row 37

Scale [S]
Cast on 24
row 1 - YO, K3, pass YO over the K3, wyib sl3p - repeat to end
row 2 - knit
row 3 - YO, K3, pass the YOP over the K3, P3 - repeat to end
row 4 - K1, use RH needle to lift thread from YO in row 1, knit it with the next stitch, K4 - repeat to end
row 5 - wyib sl3p, YO, K3, pass the YO over the K3 - repeat to end
row 6 - knit
row 7 -  P3, YO, K3, pass YO over the K3, - repeat to end
row 8 - K4, use RH needle to lift thread from YO in row 5, knit it with the next stitch, K1 - repeat to end
repeat rows 1-8 three more times, or until it forms a square, cast off purl wise on row 33

(American) Double Moss [M]
Cast on 20
row 1&4 - K2, P2, repeat to end
row 2&3 - P2, K2, repeat to end
repeat rows 1-4 six and a half more times, until it forms a square, casting off on row 31

Bobble [B]
MB - [K1, P1, K1] in stitch, turn and P3, turn and K3, turn and P3, turn and K3TOG

Cast on 20
row 1 - knit
row 2 and all evens - purl
row 3 - K7, [MB, K5] repeat, end K6
row 5 - knit
row 7 - K4, [MB, K5] repeat, end K3
row 8 purl
repeat rows 1-8 two more times, until it forms a square, casting off on row 25

Joining
Using the long tails, crochet down the left hand side and along the bottom of most squares, ordered as below:

M  S  B  H

S  B  H  M

B  H  M  S

H  M  S  B

So you start with the Moss, adding a Scale both to the right side and to the bottom, then move onto that right Scale and add a Bobble to the right.

However, the Scale and Bobble on the top row DO NOT want to join to the Bobble and Honeycomb in the second row, neither do those two want to join to the Honeycombe and Moss in the third row - these two 'holes' are designed for putting the car seat buckle/clip through.  (unless you choose not to have that feature!)

Edging
SR8 - short row 8... K8, turn and K6, turn and K4, turn and K3, turn and  K2, turn and K5

Choosing your main colour, pick up stitches from one side of the blanket. The exact number is not important; aim for 40 but if its 30 or 60 the only thing that affects is how ruffly it is.

row 1 - KFB, knit to last stitch, KFB
row 2 - YO, K2TOG
row 3 - KFB, knit to last stitch, KFB
(now count how many stitches you have, divide by 8, minus 2 then divide the remainder by 2 and make this '#' below)
row 4 - KFB, K# [K8, SR8] to last stitch, K#, KFB
row 5 - knit and cast off

Repeat for each edge, and matress stitch the angled corners.

Colours
I really really wanted to make this beautiful colours and had in mind unisex greens and purples, but the mother I was knitting this for requested white or cream. So, as mothers know best, I did it so. I was keen to make it slightly 'textured' in terms of a contrast for the checker effect, so picked a white and a cream.  The honeycomb and scale are in shade 0303 and moss and bobble in shade 0344.  There are so many different colour ways you could do, or keep it simple.  Would love to see all the variations.