Baby Shower

Last weekend I had the pleasure of bringing the knit into a beautiful baby shower for one of my oldest and best friends. It reminded me that I never posted about this gorgeous, summery baby shower of another childhood friend and as the weather is so bloomin' cold at the moment, it is the perfect time to draw a little warmth from the sunshine in these pictures!
My beautiful sister made the amazing cakes and threw the party to surprise her best friend, Dominique. One of the things I so loved about bringing this blanket together is that for the first time since I have been making baby shower blankets the baby's dad also knit a square. He knit as a child, and as dad to four boys (the bump is the fourth!) getting back into it is a great example to set. Knitting and crochet are categorically not reserved just for women, but some of the comments I get these days seem to suggest that a lot of folk now believe that is true, so anything that goes against that stereotype is fabulous. Anyway, before I get too high on my horse, I have to say that I love how this blanket turned out.

The colours chosen were bright, so I made some floral granny squares to make use of the gorgeous shades. The squares were also all really different sizes, so I decided to work a crochet granny edge around each of the squares - both knit and crochet - to make it easier to join them and I love the final effect! Gorgeous Rocco - the babe born shortly after this shower - is now one (look how behind I am at this posting lark!) and hopefully still using his beautiful blankie.

Knitting Baby Shower

As I am putting up a post on repairing a granny square inspired by the blanket we made at my sister's baby shower, here is a reposting of said baby shower from 2010 - the baby is now 3 years old!

Gemma is a beautiful, blooming mother-to-be; she is eight months pregnant and has not knitted since she was a child, like most of the ladies at Gemma's baby shower at the weekend. I turned up at Gemma's with a bag full of vintage needles and crochet hooks, pretty, baby friendly yarn in mummy-friendly colours and a whole stack of vintage china and afternoon tea.

 The sandwiches were elegant fingers with fillings such as delicious smoked salmon and the cakes were buttered scones with cream, a victoria sponge and chocolate fairy cakes.
We also had a big pitcher of Pimms and lemonade, as we had wanted to make use of the stunning garden. However, after a perfectly pleasant month, Saturday was a wash out, as bank holidays in May often are! Nevermind, it did not deter the spirits of the makers and you really don't need the sunshine to enjoy fully the merits of a glass of Pimms!!

With bellies full and festivities begun, I proceeded to re-teach all these lovely ladies how to knit and crochet small squares with the aim of beginning a baby blanket for the cot of Gemma's new addition. She does not yet know the sex of the baby, so we chose a rainbow of colours to create a pretty patchwork piece which will look stunning in the baby's nursery.

 After a busy hour of knitting, the first square was proudly completed by our auntie Susie (below) and after that they came thick and fast. By the end of the afternoon, we had fourteen squares completed, with the faster knitters finding time to finish two. We also left some yarn with some of the makers to take to people who could not make it, so I am anticipating a few more colourful bits of knitting and crochet to arrive in the post over the next few days. When all the squares are complete, I will sew them all together beautifully and post them back to Gemma in blanket form in time for the new arrival. Good luck with the birth in July, Gemma, I will hurry with the finishing so you have it in time!

Baby Shower

Today I finally handed over the beautiful blanket I sewed up for my little friend Emmi. She is the beautiful daughter of one of my best friends and late last year her friends and family knitted a bunch of squares at her baby shower to go into a blanket that I hope she will have always. I think this is the best blanket I have ever pieced together, what a gorgeous bunch of colours and textures and haphazard shapes. Sorry Gemma and Emmi that it took so long, but the weather today was almost autumnal, so perhaps it is good timing...