Pets love blankets, and often the thicker the
better! Shelters also love blankets, and the more colorful the better! Here’s an idea to make your pet blankets super-thick and quite colorful too. This is especially a good idea when all you have to work with is thin yarn. However, it also works well even with 4-ply yarn. Just be sure to increase the size of the crochet hook or knitting needles you use!
The blankets shown here were made by a Comfort for Critters volunteer, June S. of Dayton, Ohio. She actually used five strands of 4-ply yarn for one blanket and three strands for the other. It’s a bit hard to convey in a photograph, but they are really thick, almost like a thick comforter for the animal shelter pets.
Combining multiple strands is also a wonderful way to make a blanket more colorful. Even if you have yarn that already changes color as it goes, combine this with another strand in a completely different, color-changing pallet. The resulting blanket will be delightfully colorful.
Thick blankets actually create a mini-bed for a pet that is housed in a small enclosure. What a comfort! Shelters also indicate that the bright colors of the blankets convey to the interested families that these are loved pets, who have unfortunately lost their home, not simply “strays”. They often feel that presenting the pets in this way boosts adoption rates!
So the next time you’re ready to start a blanket, consider adding an extra strand (or four, like June did)! The thicker stitches will also help you create the blanket faster, so the pet will be comforted sooner….and for a lifetime!
