From Blankie to Lovey

All toddlers have their comfort items, those things that they need to have with them at all times.

Sydney has two comfort items, her soother and her blankie. Before Sydney was born I made her two of the most beautiful blankets I had ever knit. They were both a beautiful hounds-tooth pattern and they took me months to finish. She has slept with them ever since she was allowed to have blankets.

A few months ago she started destroying these beautiful blankets. She wasn't doing it on purpose but it still broke my heart. She sticks her fingers in the strings of the blankets and pulls. The result is a blanket with long strings hanging from it that looks like it is a million years old. I usually wouldn't worry about her carrying around a ratty blanket, but we started to worry that the long strings could strangle her in her sleep.

This past weekend I took some action and decided that it was time to get rid of the blankets. In order to give her something to cuddle still I decided to make her a lovey that was a mini version of her blankets. I knit the entire thing in one night. My fingers were completely numb by the time I finished. In order to keep her from sticking her fingers through the lovey to pull the strings out, I had to give her something else to put her fingers through. So I sewed on tags around the entire thing.

Here she is getting acquainted with her new lovey:

I even managed to teach her how to put her fingers through the tags and not the lovey itself. They are the perfect size for little fingers. 

She has had her lovey for two nights now. There have been a few tears over the whereabouts of her blankies and a few tiny strings have been pulled out but it is still substantially better than having her carry around a giant stringy mess of a blanket. 

The next battle will be the soother....

Mrs. E