Ripple Blanket attempt!

Having been commissioned by my eldest son (he's 11) to make him a red and black blanket for his very cold bedroom...I immediately thought of one of those wavy type patterned blankets - I imagined big wavy blocks of red and black, with a white edging.

After a little searching I found out the pattern I had in mind was a ripple blanket, and found a link to my favourite crochet lady, who has a very user friendly step-by-step tutorial here:  http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html

Well, I had a go, and maybe due to the fact  I was trying to watch Come Dine With Me and Coach Trip at the same time, I couldn't get it to "ripple" at the top...eventually I got it right...probably half way through the local evening news....here it is, looking a bit like Mario's moustache:

Although the effect looks great, I've decided that as it's very difficult to work with black yarn, because basically you can't see what you're doing, I'm going  with the usual granny square method.  Fortunately, my son has said that if squares are easier for me, then he's happy with that...how accommodating!

The ripple's not out though - I have in mind a small baby blanket with lots of lovely bright colours.