What’s the Easiest Baby Shower Gift knitting?

baby shower gift knitting is always a good idea! there’s nothing like being on the receiving end of a handmade gift, and giving one creates an amazing bond! if you want to give a handmade gift but are short on time this is the post for you.

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There’s something about birth and babies and beginnings that makes even the most logical of knitters lose their sense of time management and, well, minds!

We start Google searching, Ravelry forum hopping, and perusing our own pattern stashes for the perfect thing(s) to knit. We have no concept of how we’ll possibly complete it before the baby is two, let alone celebrated at a shower.

So if you’re facing a baby shower deadline and determined to knit a gift, but not about to spend the time on a twin size afghan, keep on reading!

my favorite (and the easiest) baby shower gift to knit

Wash cloths. I know, this sounds plain at first, but hear me out.

First of all, wash cloths knit with soft cotton are extremely versatile let alone quick to make. And they can be as simple to knit as you want them. Go garter stitch the whole way, or do seed or Irish moss stitch repeats to keep yourself challenged.

Do you know how many things need to be wiped up from a baby? Knit an oversized rectangular wash cloth and it’s a burp cloth. As a mom of four, I’d much rather have a set of 4 burp cloths than 4 hand knit blankets. The blankets are sweet and detailed, but babies don’t need that many blankets! But they usually choose their favorite couple and everything else gets put away in a closet! Seriously, I’ve been overwhelmed at how many baby blankets my kids had. I’ve never regretted having clean burp cloths in the house with a baby.

Not to mention the spit up and messy fingers when they start to ~~paint themselves with sweet potato~~ eat solid foods. You’ll also need it for the table, high chair, and pets that come into contact with all of these messy fingers!

I have kids ages 9 down to almost 4. I can tell you the hand knit item used most often by me is still the wash cloths. We use them to wipe down the table and counters, plus my oldest girls grab a new one from the drawer every day it’s their turn to wash dishes. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

Definitely use 100% cotton. I like to knit my wash cloths 8″ x 8″ and burp cloths can be knit in 7″ x 9″ to throw over your shoulder. I’ll also say, they last a long time and the colors fade. Choose a brighter color than you normally would to enjoy the colors without them fading to white! Or, knit them in white and Mom can bleach them.

why this project is so easy

Knit with worsted or Dk weight cotton yarn, a wash cloth set as baby shower gift knitting is easy for even us procrastinators. It’s a quick project that you can knock out quickly, and you don’t need to be an expert knitter to make them.

how much time and yarn you’ll need

With a set of four dish cloths or even slightly bigger burp cloths, they can be finished in just a few weeks. No late night knitting the night before the baby shower. It’s such a small project that it’s easy to travel with and knit when you’re not driving, or while waiting in line. You really only need about 100-105 yards of cotton dk or worsted yarn and size US 7 or 8 knitting needles. My absolute favorite cotton yarns are Berroco Pima Soft and Knit Picks Dishie. You can check out all of my free dish cloth patterns on the blog to knit and crochet, which are wash cloths with a different name.

other super easy baby shower gift knitting projects

However, if your heart is set on blankets, I say go for it. Other than a small wash cloth, you really can’t get much easier than a blanket. To simplify things, choose a heavier weight yarn and bigger knitting needles for the project to take faster. You can check out my popular and free Woodland Moss baby blanket knitting pattern here, or just go garter stitch the whole way,

My mom’s favorite thing to knit for babies are small car seat sized blankets (they do get kicked off and land in the dirt, so having a few choices is great). The thing is, she gets bored of just knitting sometimes, but she doesn’t want to follow a complicated pattern. Instead, her tip is to find a fuzzy or pom pom yarn, something super fun to knit with. Even though she gets energized by knitting with faux fur, you might love knitting with self striping yarn!

how to make your baby shower gift knitting special

Check with the mom or parents-to-be. Are they decorating the nursery with certain colors or a theme?

When my second daughter was a bun in the oven, I painted her bedroom light purple. With a pretty Thomas Kinkade woodland scene on the wall, it was a fairy garden nursery! My mom found the perfect fairy colored fuzzy yarn that we finger crocheted into a flowery garland to hang up in her fairy garden bedroom.

I cable knit her a big purple blanket and my mom knit her a pink, green, purple, and white pom pom lovey blanket. Those are still her most cherished blankets she must have, and it all tied together so pretty in her nursery. She’s moved onto cheetah print and pink, but she still adores those blankets and loves knowing that Mom and Grandma made them for her!

Another way to make baby shower gift knitting special is through your packaging. Wrap your hand knit gift in pretty paper. Or if the baby has older siblings, let them decorate brown kraft paper and then wrap it up. We still use their baby shower gift wrapping paper as drawer liners in their dressers! Or find a great baby board book that compliments the gift or is just your favorite that you want to share. Frog and Toad books paired with a knit Frog and Toad are adorable.