Baby Blankets

I think I was an odd kid. I always did my own things my own ways. As much as I loved being a kid, I didn't act like a child very often. I sought the company of adults and despised other kids (sweet, eh?). I didn't get attached to things or routines the way a lot of kids do. I didn't even play with toys all that much. I preferred a box of crayons, a ream of blank paper and my imagination over any Barbie doll or structured activity. I didn't have a favourite bear or doll or a thing I had to drag with me wherever I went. I was pretty much Vulcan from the start - practical, serious and not particularily emotional (I think Claire is a lot like I was).

That being said, I had a blanket that I really liked. It was pink and woven with a patterened, satin border. It wasn't a security blanket though. I didn't need to have it to go to sleep or rub the binding when I was nervous. Nope, that blanket was a tool, plain and simple. It kept me warm while I watched TV in the basement in the winter and I remember wrapping it around my head to pretend I had long hair. I wrapped stuff up in it and dragged it around the house so I'd only have to make one trip from the bedroom to the living room to play.

Given the way I was, it surprises me that I have always entertained this romantic notion that knitting blankets for my babies is a good idea. I pictured them snuggled safely under the blankets as infants and then being attached to them and toting them around during their toddler years. I thought of how I would have to repair the blankets when they became worn from all that love so they wouldn't be sad. I even imagined packing them up when they finally tired of them and bringing them out years down the road to show them. I even deluded myself into thinking that they would cherish these things and appreciate the work I put into the projects.

When I was pregnant with Claire, I made her a blanket. I used to lay her on it a lot when she was an infant and I have tonnes of photos of her with it as the backdrop:

It was a fun knit - Paton's Pattern Book "Baby's Little Blankets", Simple Star Stitch blanket.

When she didn't get attached to the blanket in the way I dreamed, one would suppose that I wouldn't want to knit for any subsequent babies. Nay, no so. When Jillian was born, I decided that she deserved the same thing that her sister got and even though she was late getting it, she got a blanket too. Besides, she was a fairly cuddly little thing and I thought she had the potential to get attached to something. She did get attached to something - her pink squishy doll "Dolla", and her thumb. The blanket was in her life but not essential:

It was a simple patten of my own devising made out of Sirdar Sublime and, regardless of how she felt about the thing, I loved it. Unfortunately, it befell a horrible fate when she was about 20 months old (click here to read that story if you are curious).

After having two babies who didn't really love their blankets, did I quit? Nope. I made TWO blankets for the boy-child. I made the monkey blanket for him, mainly because I thought the pattern was too cool not to make. Long before the monkeys (just after we found out we were expecting a boy), I started in on the OpArt blanket for him. I finished it before he was born but I never blogged about it because I a) hadn't taken photos and b) hadn't blocked it. I still haven't blocked it but last night I took photos of him on the blanket. Here he is:

Ignore the drool spot over his shoulder. He had 'tummy time' on the blanket and licked it a few times before I broke out the camera.

It is a neat pattern. The only downside is that it is made from the inside out and the rows get realllly long and realllly boring wayyyy before the blanket is done. The need for severe blocking also ended up being a downside for me but that was my own fault. I made this out of Sirdar Baby Bamboo and I'm fairly certain that even with a wickedly severe blocking, it isn't going to retain a square shape. The yarn is just too drapey (if I end up being wrong, I'll let you know). See the strange shape:



It was an interesting yarn to knit with though. It retained my body heat really well when I was knitting on it but within moments of putting it down, it would cool right off (to the point that it was cold to the touch). It also has elasticity like I've never seen before. Daniel used to like being swaddled and, in any other blanket, I could wrap him like a little burrito and he wouldn't go anywhere. With this thing, he can flail around inside his little bamboo coccoon all he wants, it just stretches when he does. It is also a blanket with weight. If this blanket is on me, I know it. In fact, when Daniel was a newborn, just laying it on him would prevent him from flicking around very much. Nowadays, if I put it over him, he picks up the edges and pulls it over his head or tosses his legs in the air and makes a little bamboo tent of it. He seems to like it as much as any baby his age likes anything. Do I think he's going to love it forever and drag it around like Linus? No. I don't kid myself like that anymore. These are, after all, MY kids and it seems like the apples haven't fallen too far from the tree.