Twinkle, Twinkle Little Blankie
synaesthetic knitting pattern design by Kicki Frisch 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 Little Star uses all the notes from C to A of one octave. Each of the notes has a colour assigned to it. 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). Melisma is a musical term for singing a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. The score used for this pattern uses melismata in two places. There is an alternative chart as well, where each syllable is represented by one note only. Two consecutive notes that are the same are separated them by a thin white line. Bars are also separated by a white line. However, there is an alternative chart which only has separators for consecutive notes, but not for bars. Feel free to leave out the separators altogether (although you won't be able to use your knitting as sheet music if you do). 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 for free from my store on http://www.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, with a yellow delimiter. 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 <s to zoerose on Ravelry for asking the question, and CreativeCrocheter for the ide
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 alternative charts without the bar separators, but with noteseparators. Melisma is a musical term for singing a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Rainbow has an alternative without melismata.
| Note C D E F | Rainbow | Coldrainbow | Purples/blues | Yellows/reds | No.of ridges |
| red | violet | purple | paleyellow | 16 | |
| orange | indigo | violet | yellow | 13 | |
| yellow | blue | light violet | orange | 18 | |
| green | green | light blue | brick red | 17 | |
| blue | yellow | blue | red | 24 | |
| indigo | orange | indigo | dark red | 8 | |
| G A delimiter white | white | pale eyellow | white | 42 |
Colour charts
| Note Colour C red ＤＥＦ orange yellow green G blue A indigo delimiter white |
Kicki Frisch knitdesigns@frisch.se username: kroker on http://www.ravelry.com
Colour charts Kicki Frisch knitdesigns@frisch.se username: kroker on http://www.ravelry.com
| Note C ＤＥＥ G A delimiter | Colour |
| violet | |
| indigo | |
| blue | |
| green | |
| yellow | |
| orange | |
| white |
Purples & blues
| Note C ＤＥＦ G A delimiter | Colour |
| purple | |
| violet | |
| light violet | |
| light blue | |
| blue | |
| indigo | |
| pale yellow |
Yellows & reds Colour charts
| Note C ＤＥＥ G | Colour |
| paleyellow | |
| yellow | |
| orange | |
| brick red | |
| red | |
| A delimiter | dark red white |
Kicki Frisch knitdesigns@frisch.se username: kroker on http://www.ravelry.com
Colour charts
| Note Colour C red ＤＥＥ orange yellow green G blue A indigo delimiter white |
Kicki Frisch knitdesigns@frisch.se username: kroker on http://www.ravelry.com
Cold rainbow without bars Kicki Frisch knitdesigns@frisch.se username: kroker on http://www.ravelry.com Colour key
| Note Colour C violet ＤＥＥ indigo blue green G yellow A orange delimiter white |
