Baby Shower Blanket

A family friend just had a baby shower, she is due any day now and is expecting a boy. I had planned on making a blanket for the new little guy and a while back asked my mom if she could talk to her mom and find out what color scheme she was planning on for the baby's nursery. Would she prefer your typical pastel blue? Gender neutral green/yellow/white? Or bolder colors that the little guy would appreciate as he got older? Well, she found out all right, but she wasn't as tactful about it as I had assumed she would be. The conversation went something like this:

My mom: Melissa wants to make a blanket for the baby. What color should she make it?
Her mom: I don't know, let me ask. I know she registered for Nautica bedding, its dark blue and some other colors. I'll ask to make sure.
.... a few days go by ....
Her mom: She said navy blue and white
My mom: She asked her and she said navy blue and white.

What? She asked her? What the? Umm, hello, surprise???????? *sigh* Well, at least I know what colors she wants. I was tempted to add some red to it, but I couldn't find a good picture of the Nautica sheets on Babies R' Us. Then I thought that just plain old navy blue and white would be a little drab. I looked through my yarn stash for something that would compliment and found a nice yellow yarn - not too bright, but not pastel either. Perfect! I already knew what pattern I wanted to use, so now it was time to practice a bit and pick the right sized hook. I made a blanket using this pattern with baby weight yarn and used an E hook. So, I figured with worsted weight yarn that an H hook would be a good choice. I was wrong, it came out way too tight and wound up going all the way up to a J hook! The only good thing about using a hook that big is that the blanket worked up in no time!

Here's the finished blanket:


The shower was yesterday and I was really nervous about whether she'd like it or not, I mean after all, I added yellow and she never said anything about yellow.... I'm always nervous about giving my handmade things as gifts, but not so much when people buy them from my Etsy shop. You see, I figure, when they buy from me, they know what they are getting, they chose it!! I was sick with nerves when I made all 6 of my son's daycare teachers earrings and bracelets for Christmas!! Of course they loved them, but still... I know, I'm silly....

So, back to my story... she loved it! She even got a little choked up over it, but I attribute that more to hormones than the beauty of my work. I got tons of compliments on it and didn't realize how big I made it until I saw it draped over her 8 months pregnant belly! Yes, I got "oohs" and "wows" and "you made that?" and "how long did it take?" Of course, I didn't throw out my business card to everyone there, I figured that would be tacky. But, those who are that interested, would ask her mom who would ask my mom who would direct them to me.

Here's a close-up of it:


I simply LOVE this pattern. I love how on one side the yellow and white seem to pop out over the blue and on the other side the blue pops out over the yellow and white. This is the second of three items I made using this pattern. One is a pale purple baby blanket that is available in my shop and the other is a blue washcloth that I recently sold. I'll most definitely use this pattern again! I've been itching to made a grown-up sized throw blanket and I'm torn between using this pattern and a classic zig zag pattern like the one I used here.

So, do you have a baby shower to attend? Would you like to wow the mom-to-be with a one of a kind stunning baby blanket from Made By Melissa? You would? Fabulous! Check out this listing and you can select the colors and the pattern!! Or you can chose from blankets that I have already completed.

Yay for babies!!
~Melissa~