Moss-stitch blanket square

Moss stitch — also called seed stitch — alternates knit and purl along a row, and then offsets that alternation on the next row so each stitch sits on top of its opposite. Worked on an even number of stitches you have to remember to start alternate rows with a purl, and one forgotten row puts the whole square out of pattern.

On an odd number the offset happens by itself. A row of k1, p1 repeated that begins and ends on a knit necessarily starts the next row above a knit, and so every single row is worked exactly the same way. There is nothing to remember and nothing to lose your place in, which for a stitch pattern that punishes inattention is worth one extra stitch.

What this was knitted at:

Gauge

22 sts and 40 rows to 10cm in moss stitch, on 4mm needles

Finished size

15cm square

Cast on

33 stitches — odd, deliberately

For a blanket

48 squares gives about 90 × 120cm, allowing for seams

1. 1

   Step 1: Cast on 33 stitches

   Any odd number works; 33 gives 15cm at this gauge. Keep every square in the blanket to the same count and the same needle, or they will not seam flat.

2. 2

   Step 2: Every row: k1, then *p1, k1* to the end

   Knit one, then purl one and knit one alternately for the remaining 32 stitches, finishing on a knit. Move the yarn between the needles before each stitch — forward to purl, back to knit — and take care not to carry it over the needle, which adds a stitch.

   You will know it worked when: A dense, bumpy, reversible fabric with no directional grain.

3. 3

   Step 3: Work 60 rows, or to 15cm

   Moss stitch is row-hungry: 40 rows to 10cm against garter’s 32 at a heavier gauge. It will feel slower than it is.

4. 4

   Step 4: Check the square is square

   Measure both directions flat. Moss stitch does not curl, so what you measure is what you get, and a square that is 15 by 13 will fight its neighbours in the seam.

5. 5

   Step 5: Cast off in pattern, and leave a long tail

   Leave about 50cm rather than the usual 15. That tail seams this square to the next one, and a seam sewn with the working yarn is invisible where one sewn with a contrast is not.

   You will know it worked when: A finished square with its own sewing thread attached.

Lay the squares out and settle the arrangement before sewing anything — colour placement is much harder to change once two rows are joined. Join into strips first, then join the strips, which keeps the growing piece manageable on a lap.

Mattress stitch through the edge stitches gives a flat seam with no ridge. Six squares across by eight down comes to about 90 by 120cm, which is a lap blanket; ten by twelve is a single bed.