When my daughter Melissa was born her great aunt gave her a Shell Stitch baby blanket. She is now 24 and still has the remnants of that blanket. She kind of hinted around that she would like one for her first baby. I was able to find a similar yarn at Michael's, it is just a cheap acrylic variegated in baby pastels, ( the kind that comes in a "one pound" skein). I've become a little bit of a "yarn snob" and had stopped using most of the drug store yarns but their quality has improved over the years and they don't get as hard and scratchy as they use to.
There is just one week until the baby shower, so it will be a little bit of a race to the finish. In my favor are the facts that its worsted weight yarn and a size H hook so it should go fast. Against me is the fact that I do have 40hrs of work at my day job between now and then. Well I had better get to it.