Purl Soho Kits: Super Easy Baby Blankets are Back, Plus 5 New Color Palettes!

Back in mid-October we announced the arrival of our Super Easy Baby Blanket Kits, and they were a smashing success; we just love thinking about all of those blankets wrapping newborn babies in joyful hand knit color this season!  So we're very pleased to tell you that our kits are back in stock, plus we've introduced 5 new color palettes!  You'll still find your old favorites among our selection of Super Easy Baby Blanket kits, such as Ocean, Rugby, Dahlia and River Rocks, and hopefully you'll enjoy our new additions just as much.  The 9 colors pictured below are (left to right, top to bottom)

• Spice, Rugby, Dahlia
• Citrus, Ocean, Lake Side
• Geode, River Rocks, Zinnia

The original Super Easy Baby Blanket was created more than 2 years ago by our very own Whitney of Whit's Knits right here on The Purl Bee. The Super Easy Baby Blanket is made with Alchemy Yarn's Temple, a 100% Merino wool that is super soft, incredibly colorful and machine washable. The blanket's simple beauty and practicality quickly turned this project into one of our most popular projects.  Over the years we've had countless requests for help with picking out colors from Alchemy Yarn's incredible spectrum of color and so finally our Super Easy Baby Blanket Kits were born. 

 Each kit includes:

• Seven skeins of Alchemy's Temple, 100% superfine merino, hand dyed especially for this kit, and, yes!, machine washable.
• A high quality, full color, printed version of the Super Easy Baby Blanket pattern.
• A Shout Color Catcher (use it the first time you wash your blanket, and it will safely prevent the hand dyed colors from running into each other).
• All this arrives in an attractive, sturdy box that makes the kit itself a great gift!

You will also need a 24 or 32 inch long US size #7 circular knitting needle, or size required by you to achieve the correct gauge (5 stitches per inch).

 

• You can shop for our Super Easy Baby Blankets Kits right here.  
• And you can view the free original pattern (with a few minor updates) right here.

Happy Blanket Knitting! --from all of us at Purl Soho

P.S. We're very curious which of our 9 current color palettes is your favorite and why, please let us know by leaving us a comment below. One lucky reader will receive a Super Easy Baby Blanket kit as a gift from us for taking the time to share her (or his!) thoughts. (Please be sure to leave your email address in the email field so we can get in touch with you if you're the lucky reader, and don't worry, your email address will be kept private).  You must leave your comment before midnight EST on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 to be eligible for the gift!

Update on December 15, 2010 by purl bee

Super Easy Baby Blanket Kit Winners!

Thank you so much to all who participated in our impromptu color poll.  It was such a treat to read the very personal associations and feelings you all have with color!  Once we read through all of the amazingly enthusiastic comments we simply couldn't limit ourselves to gifting just one, so please join us in congratulating these two lucky readers who are both receiving a Super Easy Baby Blanket Kit!

Congratulations to Jane M. of NYC and Molly M. of Oneonta who BOTH won our Super Easy Baby Blanket Kit Giveaway!

Jane M. is receiving the Dahlia Super Easy Baby Blanket Kit.    When she learned that she won she couldn't believe it! Here is Jane's comment on her favorite baby blanket color palette:

My favorite is Dahlia. The colors are reminiscent of the paintings by Pierre Bonnard. That's why these blankets keep drawing my eye back to them...they look like a painter's palette in yarn. - and I'm a pregnant, currently not painting, painter!

Molly M. almost missed our email that she won!  But we finally got through to her and she was very excited. Here is Molly's comment on her favorite palette:

All of the colorways are gorgeous, but River Rocks takes the cake for me ~ the colors are warm and soothing, like the water-worn boulders I love to sit on in stream beds in the spring, summer, and early fall. How could these comforting colors not be perfect for a little one!

Comments

[Katy]

Hands down Ocean is my fav. I love those colors and the combination of them and the progression through the blanket. I would LOVE to have the yarn to make this blanket. I think its gorgeous! Ill be spending a day in NYC later this month... I hope to stop by Purl Soho!

[Laura]

Loving the Lake Side option! The blues with the green and brown make me think of summe - which is nice when it's so cold out!

[Mark Allen]

While ALL the palettes are fantastic, I'd have to say that the "Citrus" colors are my favorite. I immediately thought of Spring and Fall, my two favorite seasons because of the pumpkin orange, sunshine yellow and of course, two beautiful greens!

[Bianca]

I love the spice combination. It is so warm and inviting and I could see it used for either a boy or a girl

[sarah]

i love them all! I especially like that there are so many great boy-ish options, that is so rare! Nonetheless I love Dahlia the most. Perhaps because my 19 month old;s fave colors are oranges, reds, yellows, and pinks (to my blue and green loving chagrin). But also because I like my boy's stuff to sometimes have a teensy bit of pink in it while not being too over the top girly and still being boy-ish enough. Pink is just a color after all, and a beautiful one, that I want my son to be able to appreciate. So I like to make sure he sees it often in his home and in his room. I'm sure he'll go through a phase of hating it eventually but I like men who are secure enough with themselves that they can wear a pink shirt :)

[Julie]

I love "ocean", because it exactly mirrors the colors of the Pacific NW coast, my favorite place of all!

[Vickie]

Citrus is my favorite because it's so bright and cheery and could be used for either a boy or a girl.

[Angela]

Ocean and Geode are my favorites. I am a traditionalist when it comes to baby things. Pink for girls, blue for boys. And I love garter stitch for a baby blanket . . . it is so soft and squishy.

[Amanda]

I love River Rocks, Zinnia and Lake Side. Can't choose between them.

[Audra]

Love the River Rocks color - would be perfect for my co-teacher who is having a baby boy in April...

[Rachel]

I love lake side. I think it is the blend of blues and neutrals with that pretty mossy green that does it for me!!

[Stine]

I'm in LOVE! I wish I could feel how soft these are...they sound wonderful. My favorite two are "Ocean" and "Dahlia". I have never knit a blanket before...I'm inspired!

[Kate is greedy]

Well, my favourite is Rugby. This is because as a mother of two boys I have to sneak in acceptable coral colours when I can (I consider them to be the manly pink and is good training for them to become familiar and desensitise them to pinky pinks). The colours in Rugby sing together and is perfect for the mother who will never have daughters (not that I mind - I just don't want to have to narrow down my love of colours to fit in with the amount of testosterone in my house). Love Kate xxooxx.

[Laurie]

Ocean. No, Dahlia. No, Ocean, because it's so calming, and that's what we want our baby blankets to be. But Dahlia - bright, happy, cheerful - what we want our babies to be. Oh, how to choose? I know, find a set of twins that need blankets, and knit both!

[aja]

Ocean is definitely my favorite. I would love to knit it up for my baby boy arriving in April! His nursery will be greys and blues, so this would be perfect!

[Hannahbelle]

I love the Lake Side and Spice options! These kits are so cool!

[Alissa]

I love Lakeside :) it reminds me of the mountains with the brown, the hills with the green, and lakes with the blues. All those things remind me of hiking with my dad, who passed away last summer. This colours of the Lakeside blanket would be so comforting to me :)

[vera b]

the Zinnia palette (top one). the colours are so pretty and not overly girly.
they are all lovely though.

[Erica]

I was drawn to the River Rocks palette immediately. I love the way the blue-greys and browns work with each other; they make me think of a cloudy day at the river.

[Veronica]

Ocean or Thistle - I can't decide! Although I have one girl and one on the way... I think my little girl right now would go for the Geode! She's a pink lover! My favorite however is the Ocean one. I love the colors and how cozy it looks all together!

[Sarah Louise]

I love the "Citrus" color combination! It's my favorite because it is gender neutral. Many of the other colors, while beautiful, are mostly gender specific. For those who don't want to find out the gender of their baby before it's born, the "Citrus" is perfect! :) Thanks for offering the giveaway!

[Kim]

My favorite has got to be the Lake Side color way. It's good to see so many boy color options... though this could be knitted for boy or girl. The colors are so calming, perfect for a baby blanket!

[Bonnie]

I love Dahlia as it is so bright and cheery!!!!!

[Amanda]

Rugby is definitely my favorite. That bright coral pop in the field of otherwise understated colors is so fun and brings everything else up to its level of happy. perfect for a baby; not too much but still a sense of humor.

[Lisa]

I love the citrus palette! They are all great but the bright hues are inspirational.

[Sarah in Michigan]

I love the Ocean colors! The blues, the greens... Reminds me of the beach!

[Nina]

I think that Lake Side and Geode are my favorites. I love Lake Side because of the pop of the green and the natural blues (and how it so captures my favorite sort of summer, spring, or fall day). As for Geode, it totally surprised me -- the pop of that pink, the sophistication of the brown and gray ... it's universal in a way that I wouldn't have imagined a blanket with a draw-your-eyes-to-it band of pink could be!

[Anne]

My very favorite is Rugby because it is neutral but not bland. But they are all beautiful.

[Allison]

Oh how I love these! They are all such lovely color combinations...my favorite is Spice. I like that it is gender neutral.

[Frieda Z]

I love zinnia. It reminds me of the flowers and they are one of my favorites. I think it will make a great gift for a sweet baby.

[Emily]

I would make Lake Side for my son, and Geode for my daughter. Why choose one palette when you can make two!!

[brookiej]

LOVE Dahlia...okay, pretty much love them all, but with my 2 girlies, it would be perfect. Plus, ALL my friends keep having girls!! Perfect!

[Lindsay]

I am torn!! But I must go with Lake Side for its beautiful blues and earthy feel (it acutally goes from deep soil to heavens! Heavenly!) Perhaps its the power of suggestion but it reminds me of my parents house on a lake in Northern Michigan that is my own personal peaceful place!).

[Rachel]

Loving the new colour palettes. I think Citrus is my fav because it is so cheerful and bright. I also love the Lakeside combo though too.

[Marie]

Definitely the Ocean color. I love it!

[Laura]

Although Dahlia is certainly bright and vibrant, which is something I love, the Lake Side is absolutely beautiful and looking at it feels like I'm looking at an actual lake scene. Crazy cool.

[Whistlepea]

I think my favourite is Geode but it's so hard to choose! Lovely job!

[Melissa W]

I love Zinnia! I think the colors go so well together, and I could see someone loving that blanket as a child, teenager and beyond.

[sacha logan]

I have to say that I love the Zinnia and the Citrus best because they both perfectly combine my children and their color preferences. While my little boy is a warm sunny day- he used to run to the window, "It's a sunny day mama!"- my little girl has always loved the browns, neutrals and greens of our natural world, but has recently accepted purple as a third favorite to the brown and green that is so unexpected in a three year old. I wish I had made them each one of these blankets as babies, but I would probably not have chosen the ones that they most resemble now.

[Anna]

Zinnia -- it reminds me of ice cream.

[Suzanne]

Hard to choose, but I'm going to go with Ocean as my favorite. Those gradations of blue are so subtle and lovely, perfect for a calming, snuggly nap time blanket (for either gender).

[Anna]

Zinnia -- it reminds me of ice cream.

[Anna]

Tough choice between Ocean and River Rocks. I love them both. River rocks makes me think of the Utah/Arizona desert area where I spent my honeymoon. Ocean reminds me of the view from the house my Grandma used to live in. My boys would love both.

[Kelsey]

I like Ocean the best-- I love the way it transitions through shades of blue on a continuum versus anything kind of choppy or abrupt. I think both the pattern in general and this particular colorway specifically are really sophisticated in a way that most patterns meant for babies aren't.

[Lori]

I'm absolutely loving Rugby, to my surprise. My own color preferences would lead me towards Lake Side (which is beautiful), but the colors are little too gender-coded male for my gifting tastes. The colors in Rugby are quirky and bold -- so, child-appropriate, but not garish. Between the reds and the blues and that pop of nearly-pink-but-kind-of-red, it's gender neutral enough that I'd feel comfortable gifting, and color-neutral enough that I think it would go with whatever colors they chose to paint the baby's room. Perfect!

[Maite]

My favorite is Geode because it is the one I would knit for my baby. Thank you and best regards.

[Kate H.]

My favorite color palette is a tie between Ocean & Lakeside. They're both so beautiful and would be perfect for my soon-to-be-born son's room. I am due at the end of Feb 2011 with my 2nd child so naturally I am knitting up quite a storm as the nesting is kicking in.

I've never knit with Alchemy Yarn before but I constantly hear that it is quite the treat. So I am sure my son would love a blanket made out of this kit; and his Mom would love to knit with it! =D

[Karen]

it's ocean, without a doubt. it is so perfectly balanced, and has those lovely similar tones. my favorite aspect of ocean is the way you can easily read it as a land/waterscape. water at the bottom then drifting deep into ocean; a green land, then blue mountains, sky above, with darkening clouds above. it makes sense in a way none of the others could. and blues and greens are such calming colors. there is nothing jarring, and each color has a direct relationship with the next. ideal!

[Stacia]

They are ALL beautiful, but Rugby is my favorite.
I like that it's gender neutral and not traditional baby colors.

[Jen]

I'm torn between Lakeside and River rocks - the riverrocks is so blended and soft, but not babyish, the lakeside would be bold for boys