Comfort Blankets
You know those times when for no reason at all, you feel fragile? You don’t wanna go out, you don’t wanna talk to anyone, you just wanna stay in and be by yourself? Well, in those times, I have a comfort blanket “thing”.
Not that I have a specific blanket I go to personally. I just make a particular kind of blanket. Usually they get kidnapped or claimed by my little people. We’re a family of blanket stashers, and any excuse to snuggle under a blanket on the sofa, it’s a no brainer for us. We’re there. Sometimes they’re lucky enough to leave the building as gifts or purchases for customers. I know, I know. Shockin’.
The ones I make when I’m in this kind of zone are easy, work up fast, mindless (require next to no thought) but always with luscious soft yarn, something that is simply delightful to work with. It doesn’t have to be expensive or any particular fibre content, weight or colour:
The yarn for these blankets is chosen PURELY because of its texture. Choosing the yarns is a sensory thing. And usually they’re found lurking in a box or at the back of the display cos everyone else has passed them by in favour of something that would be easier to work with or that has a more predictable, pretty colouring. The ironic part is that these are the kinds of yarns people say wow over when they are a completed project.
Comfort blankets, to me, are not just comfortable to use once they are made. They’re comforting to use but also to make. They’re made with love, in my case as a way of repairing my fragile mood and getting back on track for the remainder of the day…and their job is to remind their owner of everything that is right with the world.
To me, closing my eyes and snuggling with something as soft as a cloud reminds me of cuddles that only toddlers and long lost loved ones can give.
Of the fact that I’m loved, and by whom. And to the people these blankets will eventually belong to, I hope they will be equally lush. Kids aren’t always available for a hug. They might be at school or sleeping. These secret snuggles are an alternative that make the wait for the real thing bearable. Cos sometimes, it’s just not. Even 20 minutes can take a lifetime. And sometimes, the wait would be a lifetime, when the healing you need would be in the embrace of someone you’ve missed every day since their death.
And it’s OK to be broken. It’s OK to need repair. It’s fine to feel the pain, embrace it and own it. Cry. It’s TOTALLY OK.
Because then, you’ll be ready to heal. It’ll be fine to repair yourself. The sun will come up and you’ll smile and laugh. And then it’ll stop being OK. It’ll be good.
And all because of a blanket spun from yarn and love.
