Blankets are loved by everybody. Most babies grow up with them. Blankets grow larger, adjusting to the growing child, then the child turns into an adult, needs a beautiful (or masculine!) blanket on the bed, for relaxing on the sofa, huddling under it against the chills of winter or use it summer outings to spread on it and read a book, have a picknick. Giving a blanket to a child one simply cannot go wrong. 
 
Tropical Pop Circles Blanket

My first gift to my grandson was a log cabin blanket, in two sizes, one for his crib and one to take on travels! The Hope Blanket was followed quickly by a light-weight swaddling blanket in a basket-weave pattern. The POP pattern by tincanknits makes a cheerful and warm comforting blanket, lap sized or just right to cover a sleeping baby.

The yarn: MC from Cascade while the Multicolor yarns are from a large range of Red Heart colors.
Both knit well, the Cascade maybe a bit difficult for impatient knitters. Why Tropical? The colors remind me of tropical flowers, birds and fish! For information on modifications please see my Ravelry page. A lined version of the POP blanket can be seen here.

Over fourty years ago I made a pink blanket for my newborn daughter Anne. At that time, we lived in the Windy City of Chicago at that time so warmth was essential for outings. Both of my girls had so-called Charlie-Brown type Security Blankets, which were called “Mogy” – a name invented and adopted from the children of a wonderful friend in Chicago whose two kids also had “Mogies”. And when these Mogies were worn and washed and torn to shreds, their pieces were faithfully kept in boxes and amidst precious linen and lace. Bits of them were put into match boxes and mailed abroad to those of the children who spent some time abroad.

I also made a Bubble Blanket for Anne. On a wooden frame that I made to measure a bit wider than the buggy and almost just as long, I hammered in nails at regular intervals and closely together to make many small pompons.

 I layered pink yarn up and down and over and across around the nails, completing the criss-cross layering with a few white yarn layers. Then I tied all crossings tightly together with an untieable knot. Once this tedious part was done, I carefully cut with a pair of good scissors precisely 2 thirds of the yarn layers at every crossing right in the middle between two crossing layers, counting the thread layers that were to be left uncut. And POP by POP – the PomPoms were released! The blanket is light-weight and looks very special with a smiling baby under it! Now, the bubble blanket is For Sale.

Wool and cotton vie for their individual importants, but it is the weather and climate that will guide our choice. Blankets carry many names. I like the name comforters best because we associate blankets and covers generally with a comfort feeling. It is the first item that people in need will yearn for, a cup of hot tea and a blanket to get protected against the weather. Charity blankets carry love and caring all by themselves.
A blanket is a universal concept for a welcome gift, given with the understanding that one cares and wishes to help and learn about caring. A blanket can be made of rags and yet be welcome. Each step of making it is filled with thoughts of the recipient. Each step, stitch, module or circle is not just a part of the whole but an infinite shell holding loving thoughts of the kown or unknown recipient.

Thought of the day: There are pilgrimages like the Path of Saint Jacob. Or the Zen pilgrim path in Europe, developed by Dirk Beemster. I keep on pondering about the difference between the two paths. The goals intimated by the Saint Jacob’s pilgrimage appear to be the path itself and getting absolution of sins upon reaching Santiago de Compostela. The Zen pilgrim path has no goal. It is a path for the here and now. It makes me smile to make a blanket for a baby, right here and now, it will eventually find its own recipient, somewhere…