Ooo. It would be hard to stop until the yarn ran out! My 10 yr old has several beloved blankies—she keeps on her bed still. One is recieving blanket size, the other toddler bed size, the new one she helped Grandma make—-single bed size!
The littlest one can be cuddled or put on cold feet. The medium is often worn as a shawl when chilly. 🙂

I suppose I suffer from the opposite problem. What WAS going to be a big blanket (of small mitred squares) for the couch instead became a lap blanket because I ran out of steam before I ran out of yarn. Of course, anytime I want, I can (and should!) pick up and add more squares. The nice thing about knitting little squares is that there isn’t much yarn on the needles at any time so it doesn’t feel heavy on the fingers.

I tend to knit until there is no more yarn or until the blanket is at least lap sized.

I knit on it until it starts planning juvenile delinquent tricks and rolling it eyes and saying “whatever” every time I knit/crochet on it.

You’ll know when it’s time. When the gas tank is suspiciously low in the morning and the radio stations have been changed. That is when it’s time to let the blanket go.

If it is about 36-40″ square, it is big enough. If it is an heirloom-type thing, it is going to be put away early anyway. If it is a the-kid-loves-it, it is still the right size for him to drag around and snuggle while napping. I don’t make any bigger unless it is going to be full-size, like 40×60″.

I’m with Sherry — I like the larger baby blankets, around 35″ to 40″ square. It’s not too big to drag around, but it’s big enough to be easily found when necessary. Danny turned his diagonally on point, with one corner under his chin and his toes under the opposite corner when he still wanted the comfort.

However, don’t overdo it! If you’re icing your wrists, you’re knitting too much at a time. Even if there’s a grandbaby involved, you want to be able to hold him! Do a couple more repeats today, then you’re done. If he hasn’t shown up yet, do another repeat tonight.

what can I say? the “baby quilt” I made for Mr Cute ending up being about 48″ by 60″ — plenty big for him to use until he wears it out (and yes, that’s the rule when I give someone a baby quilt or lap quilt — I want it to be used! unless you wear it out, you don’t get another one)

so I’d say “Knit On!”

Well, you know I’m all about no coincidences, so …

You’ll know when it’s time to stop. You’re smart like that.

Amalie made a large afghan that both Cliff and I use. It’s pretty big! How do you spell ‘crochet’?

I like making them lap sized, big enough for a baby to lie on the floor on or for a parent to wrap around their shoulders if they’re getting up in the wee hours for feeding. My current blanket will end up about 42 x 45″ square (which I know because I have three skeins of yarn and just finished the first one- two more to go!).

Or you can use the extra yarn to knit a mini-sized copy that can become the comfort bit that comes along everywhere.

I’d keep it small.