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a tale of two blankets
Posted on | January 4, 2010 | 41 Comments
This tale begins with a man who loves kitties. This man happens to be my husband, who also happens to be rather silly.
When we started dating, my silly husband spoke to me of his love for kitties and his dream of having a blanket of kitties, all soft and warm, as kitties are known to be.
One day I was out shopping and lo and behold – I saw a pattern for a crocheted blanket of KITTIES! I bought the pattern and the (acrylic) yarn to make it and promptly forgot about it until two weeks before Christmas (some things never change).
Behold – the husband’s kitty blanket, circa 2003. I made the fringe early Christmas morning before he came over.
At this time in my crafting life, however, I had never heard of intarsia. Or weaving in ends. When it came time to change colors, I cut the yarn and tied a knot. Even for the two stitch eyes.
SB still loved it, and once my son saw it, he wanted one too. But by that time, I’d moved on to knitting and spinning and using good yarn and my days of crocheting an acrylic afghan were long over, thankyouverymuch. I offered up other blankets, handspun log cabins, Noro geometrics – anything to keep me from having to recreate this monster from my past.
Nothing doing. The boy kept asking where was HIS kitty blanket? I thought ‘he’ll outgrow it.’ ‘He’ll forget about it.’ No such luck. He asked, and he asked, and he asked again. My pleas that I didn’t crochet anymore, that I didn’t like working with acrylic, that I didn’t WANT to make another kitty blanket fell on deaf ears.
For his 14th birthday this year, I made the boy a kitty blanket. He hasn’t mentioned the lack of eyes, and since there are no knots in this blanket (crochet intarsia is not that difficult afterall), I’m having a difficult time figuring out how to add eyes. I used a variety of yarns. The main yarn is Cascade Eco Wool (lt. blue, gold, white, maroon and black) with some handspun and leftover bits for the smaller kitties. It came out a lot bigger than the first one – it’s definitely more of a blanket than a throw.
I don’t think he’s taken it off since he unwrapped it.
Happy Birthday kiddo!
Comments
41 Responses to “a tale of two blankets”
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January 4th, 2010 @ 10:08 am
Fantastic blanket! I say don’t worry about the eyes. It looks great as is.
January 4th, 2010 @ 10:17 am
AWESOME BLANKETS! Your son is a lucky guy, that thing must have been like tackling a water buffalo. An idea for the eyes, how about a short black length or yarn brought to the right side and tied, kinda like a rug hooking move? Remember rug hooking? Anyways, it would make cute little eyelash eyes and then the knot could be a feature and not a disctraction :)
January 4th, 2010 @ 10:28 am
There’s nothing like making something for someone who REALLY appreciates it. If he never takes it off, you won’t have to worry about putting eyes on it anyway.
January 4th, 2010 @ 11:01 am
how about little buttons?
January 4th, 2010 @ 11:26 am
Little buttons would make great eyes… you are such a great Mom!
January 4th, 2010 @ 11:30 am
I.Love.It. I.Want.One. But will probably never make it, oh, well. But yours is Teh Awesome. Never mind the eyes, the kittehs are all looking the other way; you know, the way they do when you want them to look at you?
January 4th, 2010 @ 11:40 am
I’m with Carrie, little buttons, but you’ll still have the tying off issue. Check the boy, if he doesn’t think it needs eyes, it doesn’t.
Great work!
January 4th, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
You are brilliant. It’s so great! And in such nice yarn! You are awesome.
When we were younger we had a blanket, my parents may or may not still have it, and it was called “the kitty blanket.” It was one of those blankets with a big picture on it. Of kitties. My brother, sister and I were always fighting over it, but if my Dad was home he got to use it. I’m christening your blanket the new kitty blanket!
January 4th, 2010 @ 2:30 pm
I’m with kmkat. These are the back of the kittehs’ heads. They’re all looking out the window. Great job and a true act of love!
January 4th, 2010 @ 2:30 pm
You are a fabulous momma! It’s wonderful and I vote little buttons, too.
January 4th, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
You are a better woman than I, is all I can say. It’s wonderful!
January 4th, 2010 @ 5:19 pm
They are both lovely and warm of the love you feel for them (hubbie and son). Congratulations!!! I don´t think you need to add eyes to the second one, it is beautiful like this. But if he insists what about those little plastic cat eyes? He´s not a baby anymore (lol) so there´s no danger in using plastic eyes and textil glue.
Hugs from a crocheter in Cape Verde (small archipel in the atlantic ocean)
January 4th, 2010 @ 5:30 pm
I love the two comparisons! I was shivering when I saw all those balls used on one WIP two posts back. (Why is bloglines updating in multiples??)
January 4th, 2010 @ 6:08 pm
That’s so sweet! I love how he loves it. Perfect.
January 4th, 2010 @ 6:40 pm
The things we do for love~ sigh ~
Beautiful gift–heirloom quality!
(oh..and those eyes…on SB’s blanket the kitties are walking to you…on the boys blanket they are walking away from you…it was perfectly obvious to me)
January 4th, 2010 @ 7:38 pm
Lucky boy… that is SO cool!!
January 4th, 2010 @ 8:11 pm
Wow…I have never seen such a blanket but I can definitely see why your son refused to give up requesting one. They both are amazing (even without eyes!).
January 4th, 2010 @ 9:43 pm
LOVE the KITTIES!
Okay, I have to ask…can you share the name of the pattern? I need to buy it!
Thanks
January 4th, 2010 @ 9:52 pm
I like both ideas (little buttons & the kitties are looking away). How about a few kitties with button eyes & most without? That would be interesting. Great work!
January 4th, 2010 @ 9:55 pm
Any chance you have the name/designer or where to get the pattern? I have a niece this would be perfect for and her birthday’s 6 months away giving me plenty of time (I hope, lol) Thanks :D
January 4th, 2010 @ 10:05 pm
I love them both! What is the name of the pattern please? :)
January 5th, 2010 @ 5:31 am
Awww – what a great story. Love the pictures. He looks so happy wrapped in his kitty blanket. Gotta love it when the kids love their handknits, er, hand crocheted items.
January 5th, 2010 @ 7:47 am
I WANT one! Only natural colors and in wool.
January 5th, 2010 @ 7:47 am
How about the pattern?? Please direct me to where I might get it. I rescue cats, dogs, and other animals and a blanket for them would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO KEWL!!!!!
AWESOME WORK!!!!! Your hubby and son can be proud of mom.
AND cyndy, I saw the same thing. Front and back kitties, how neat!!!
January 5th, 2010 @ 8:08 am
Holy jeebus! That first one (with the eyes) was giving me the willies. I think I like the eyeless kitties better. Those blankets are a testament to your love for the boy, congratulations on giving it another go and conquering the blanket!
January 5th, 2010 @ 8:09 am
Love the blanket! And his hair is gorgeous :)
January 5th, 2010 @ 9:10 am
Honestly, I prefer it WITHOUT the eyes. And you did a very good job there. I’ve been meaning to do a Snoopy Joe Cool blanket for my son, who is now going to college, but never got around to it, on account of color changes and using a graph, but your pictures are making me reconsider. Thanks for sharing this.
Ambar in Puerto Rico
January 5th, 2010 @ 9:30 am
If it were me, I wouldn’t add eyes. I think it looks cool and graphic without them!
Oh, and I LOOOVE the way it turned out, too!
January 5th, 2010 @ 10:18 am
Fabulous blankie!! All warm and cosy… :D
January 5th, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
I may not be a cat lover, but your afghan is definitely awesome!!! Only a crocheter would appreciate all the work put into it. Isn’t it satisfying to finish something like this and see how wonderful it looks?
January 6th, 2010 @ 9:28 am
Best Blanket EVER!!!!!
I know he will cherish it for years to come!!!!
January 6th, 2010 @ 11:26 am
Awesome, so awesome. You are an amazing lady & mom – and what a guy :) He clearly loves it!!
January 6th, 2010 @ 5:05 pm
Is there any way possible to get a pattern for this lovely creation? I am an absolute cat person. When I come back, it will be as a cat!
January 7th, 2010 @ 12:01 am
Yep…that’ll be like my husband’s “brown blanket” that he’s had since he was about 12. Still wants it when he’s sick, too. lol You did a great job on it and of course, I love that it’s cats. :-)
January 8th, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
Great blanket and the recipient looks so happy with it!
January 11th, 2010 @ 2:25 am
Oh my goodness!
I love them.
They are both fantastic.
I really love the 1st one – that shows how far you’ve come in your craft.
Boy, do I remember knots and leaving ends be — unless my Mom could be perfectionisted into weaving them in: She just couldn’t stand knowing an end was hanging loose.
You did such an awesome job on your 2nd blanket — and look at how loved it is!
January 13th, 2010 @ 7:08 am
Love the blankets! I think cats totally rock so there was no way I wouldn’t go for the blankies. Nice!
January 13th, 2010 @ 10:26 pm
good golly, if my husband ever sees this, I’ll have to make one too! (and my crocheting skills are…er…not skillful.)
Love the blankie! You have two lucky boys in your house :)
Cheers!
Daisy
January 14th, 2010 @ 4:05 pm
LOVE it. And as a mother of 3 young boys, it gives me much hope. What a precious guy you have!
January 16th, 2010 @ 8:27 pm
Great story! I love the blanket(s):)
Ang
February 7th, 2010 @ 9:54 pm
This is so adorable! Pattern PLZ!!!!!