Twinkle, Twinkle Little Blankie
synaesthetic knitting pattern design by Kicki Frisch 一 My friend has just had a baby. She's a musician. I'll knit her a baby blanket. Why don't you colour code her favourite lullaby in a stripey blanket? This is a colourful interpretation of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, for you to reinvent as a stripey blanket, scarf, rug, pom poms, or anything else. Rummage through your stash, cast on and let the stars be the limit. What you will need: 6 distinct colours of yarn, + white (or black, or some other contrast colour) suitable knitting needles, a crochet hook, or a weaving frame A toy xylophone to practise the melody on (optional) Twinkle, twinkle uses all the notes from C to A of one octave. I have assigned each of the notes a colour. The duration of each note is an eighth, a quarter or a half. The width of each colour stripe depends on the duration of the note: eighths are represented by 1 ridge in garter stitch (a.k.a. 2 rows), quarters are represented by 2 ridges in g.st. (a.k.a. 4 rows), halves are represented by 4 ridges in g.st. (a.k.a. 8 rows). When two consecutive notes are the same, I have separated them by a thin white line. I have also separated the bars by a white line. In stocking stitch, you might want to use one row for white lines. In garter stitch, I recommend using one ridge for the delimiter, to keep the ridge pattern on the right and wrong sides consistent. For crochet, use any stitch you like. Eighths are one row, quarters are two rows, halves are three rows. Use a less tall stitch for the white rows. For some basic pattern ideas for a scarf, and garter-stitch baby blankets, see the first synaesthetic pattern in this series, Brahms Lullaby as a Rainbow. It is available from ravelry.com.
Charts
There are six differently coloured charts for this pattern. These are for your inspiration, as examples of what the stripes might look like. Do experiment with whatever yarn you happen to have at home, or your own favourite colours - that's the fun part of this pattern. If you don't like the white delimiters, leave them out entirely. (You won't be able to use your finished item as sheet music, but it might be more aesthetically pleasing.) Read the charts from the top down. Rainbow: the 7 basic colours of the rainbow, less violet. I have assigned red to the lowest note, C, and indigo to the highest, A. Try reversing them. Rainbow without the white bar delimiters but with separators for two notes of the same colour. Cold rainbow: the 7 basic colours of the rainbow, less red. This time, violet is C and orange is A. Cold rainbow without the white bar delimiters but with separators for two notes of the same colour. Blues and purples: gradient from purple through light blue to dark blue. Reds and yellows: gradient from light yellow through orange to red. When you get tired of knitting, go steal a xylophone off the nearest child, and learn to play the lullaby. Remember - four ridges are played twice as long as two ridges, which are twice as long as One ridge. Happy knitting/crocheting! Synesthesia is when your brain sees music as colors. That is what my brain does, and these are the colors I see when I hear this song. - Sam Endicott With thanks to zoerose on Ravelry for asking the question, and CreativeCrocheter for the idea.
Colour charts
Chart colour key
White is used to separate two consecutive notes of the same colour, and to separate bars. Rainbow and Cold rainbow have also been charted without the bar separators.
| Note | Rainbow | Coldrainbow | Purples&blues | Yellows & reds |
| C red | violet | purple | pale yellow | |
| D | orange | indigo | violet | yellow |
| E | yellow | blue | light violet | orange |
| F | green | green | light blue | brick red |
| G | blue | yellow | blue | red |
| A | indigo | orange | indigo | dark red |
| delimiter | white | white | white | white |
Colour charts
| Note Colour C red ＤＥＦ orange yellow green G blue A indigo delimiter white |
Colour charts
| Note Colour C red ＤＥＦ orange yellow green G blue A indigo delimiter white |
Colour charts
| Note Colour C violet ＤＥＦ indigo blue green G yellow A orange delimiter white |
Colour charts
| Note Colour C violet DＥ indigo blue F green G yellow A orange delimiter white |
Purples & blues
| Note Colour C purple ＤＥＥ violet light violet light blue G blue A indigo delimiter white |
Yellows & reds
| Note Colour C paleyellow ＤＥＦ yellow orange brick red G red A dark red delimiter white |
