Making a Patchwork Baby Blanket for Liz’s Baby Shower

One of the best things about working at Lion Brand is the great people that you get to work with. When I first started here, one of the first people I became friends with was Liz, who works on yarn development. When we decided to launch the Lion Brand podcast–YarnCraft–back in 2007, Liz was definitely a go-to person for interesting yarncrafting facts and stories to share. Eventually, she and I began co-hosting the show. We’ve done over 100 episodes, sharing pattern recommendations, techniques, stories, interviews with influential yarncrafters, and in doing so, we’ve also found ourselves with a lot of amazing listeners who share their comments and stories with us, some of whom have been with us for years.

Because of my friendship with Liz, I knew that when the company was recently planning her baby shower (for her first baby!), I wanted to do something special for her. I also knew that it would be wonderful to get not only my coworkers involved, but also our wonderful YarnCraft listeners.

About a month ago, Michelle (manager of the Lion Brand Yarn Studio and sometimes-guest-host of YarnCraft) and I recorded and snuck in a secret message into one of our podcasts, inviting listeners to send in a blanket square to be incorporated into our baby blanket for Liz. I received 4 wonderful squares from Paige H., Devora B., Vana H., and Anne Marie S. Paige even sent an incredibly adorable little lion rattle that she made! Thank you, YarnCraft listeners!

I also received beautiful squares from coworkers Michelle, Patty, Jess, Brandyce, Danielle S., Anny, Marlene, Carolyn, Mily, Vanessa, Claire, Margaret, Ceresa, Caitlin, India, Jackie, and Yuki.

Then, the weekend before Liz’s office baby shower, I finished my own block (a cable pattern from the Harmony Guides). Next, I laid out all the blocks to arrange them for a blanket and matching pillow, seamed them together (I used a slip-stitch crochet seam), and created a backing for the blanket (cotton fabric that I seamed and blanket-stitched all the way around, in order to crochet it to the blanket), as well as a matching insert for the pillow.

It was all worth while when at the baby shower, Liz opened up the blanket and oohed over the items. Here are just a few photos from the shower:

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I hope Liz’s son gets lots of usage out of all of these beautiful handmade gifts for years to come, and we wish her family all the best on this new adventure.

Have you and your friends made a gift together? Do you have a favorite baby pattern you’d like to share with us? Leave a comment below.