I'm looking into this blanket to use up my stash of yarn that keeps growing. www.shellykang.com . . . Is it possible to get a stockinette mitered square actually square instead of kite shaped? I was looking on ravelry and people seemed to do it, but mine looks a lot more like a kite. So I knit one in garter stitch and it is also kite shaped.

Is this a problem with how I knit? Do everyone's come out kite shaped until they have been connected (and maybe blocked)? Any help, advice, or insight is appreciated. Thanks!

Without seeing your square or attempting one myself, there's one thing that I can think of. The initial number of stitches before the decrease (14 in the example-- I'm counting the slipped stitch at the start of the row) should be same width as the length generated by knitting. I'll try to illustrate using pictures from the link you provided. On this page, take a look at the third picture of the completed square. See how it's two triangles separated by a vertical line of decrease stitches? Focus on the right side triangle. The edge that goes from the bottom vertex to the middle vertex is formed by half of the cast-on stitches. The edge that goes from the middle vertex to the top vertex is formed by the rows you knit. You want both of them to be equal to get a perfect square. In this example, there are 14 stitches in the cast on side, and a quick calculation indicates there were 28 rows worked (unless I messed up the math). So the stitch to row ratio is 1:2, i.e. each stitch is twice as wide as it is long. But the decreases in the center will affect the ratio in a way that I can't predict off-hand, so you'll have to experiment a bit. I think you'll have to vary the number of cast-on stitches to see what gives you the best square; since the effects of the decrease are hard to predict, the stitch to row ratio you get from just knitting in your pattern of choice won't be fully accurate (but will give you a good starting point). Stockinette stitch usually has a stitch to row ratio of about 1: 1.25 or 1: 1.5, so each stitch of stockinette is longer than one of garter.

Sorry I can't be more precise in my recommendations, but hopefully this will give you a place to start experimenting. Happy knitting!

I did some reading and found with stockinette I have to decrease more, like three per knit row every other row, or 2 decreases in each row and 2 decreases in every other purl row. The purl row without the decreases looked really bare because the center line wasn't quite even. I'm giving up on that idea for now and I'm going to play with garter stitch for a while since that seems simpler. Making an effort to tighten up a little helped some, so I think a portion of it is how I knit. I don't think I've ever been able to get a guage swatch to come out correctly ever, so I stick to things where guage doesn't matter that much.

Thanks for the help, it makes sense. I'll play around with it and hopefully get started on this project.