Maybe it's time to start knitting replacement blankies that they can use day to day so that the old blankies can have a "rest" somewhere safe.

If the boys got to pick the yarn and the pattern, (maybe by offering them just a couple of mom-approved choices) they might find the transition easier.

And keeping the blankies handy, rather than just throwing them out, could be less traumatic. Perhaps they could stored on a shelf in plain sight.

Good luck!

I'll have to go around replacing some tainted patches on my cardi sometime soon too. Holes?! Ahem...I'm making everyone in my family who wears those handknits to sign a statement that they'll be *extremely* careful when wearing them. LOL....like they would care.

I'm with Laurie. Make the replacement bankies a fun event (maybe more koolaid dying or some other active participation?) and retire the old ones. This is yet another reminder that it's a good idea to stash away replacement yarn when giving handknit gifts - repairs are inevitable if the gift is well-loved! Good luck in your battle with the holes - may the knit be with you!

When my little sis had her bunny blanket "retired" we had a whole ceremony. Mom let her pick out some wrapping paper and a box and then it was put on the shelf in her closet. She could see it and I remember a few times she even held the box. Just be sure you clearly label what is in the box, mom mistakenly disposed of said box and 20 plus years later dear sis still won't let her forget.

I dunno- blanky throwing-out can be a pretty traumatic experience. I vote for enshrinement rather than disposal. That way your boys can still take out their blankies from time to time and touch them and rub them on their ears and feel the familiar way they squoosh in their hands, and be enveloped by the primal sense of calm that only a familiar blanky can bring. I speak from experience; I am a second-year college student and I still have the baby blanket my grandma made for me. I was never formally weaned off of it and I still learned to sleep and comfort myself without it, but sometimes it's such a relief to just hold that tangle of shredded flannel and knotted blanket binding. Beyond disintegration, I would never get rid of it altogether.

Could you turn the blankies into the top pieces of a quilt? If it is just the edges that are falling apart you can use the center section of each blanket, sew a binding to it, layer it over some flannel of their choice, and voila, a "new" old blankie.

Telling the kids you're going to save the original blankies, holes and all, for when they're older so they can have a souvenir from childhood might make taking them away easier. Also, pulling them out in 15 years when they've got their fiancees over will make it all worthwhile. :)

You must have the lord's own patience! When something I made develops holes, I rather uncerimoniously dump it into a bag, never to be seen or heard from again. Kudos for even trying!

Yes, putting the blankies away in a box does seem like a kinder and gentler solution, but I really cannot imagine these boys of mine leaving them alone if they were still in the same room with them. They have smaller versions of the blankies that I made for them when they were still very little, but they don't ever use them. I wish they would, then we could pack up the big ones for safe-keeping.

And unfortunately, it's not just the holes at the edges; all the yarn is wearing dangerously thin. I've told the boys that I can try to rip back the last few inches on each end and knit on new edges. I have plenty of yarn to make new edgings but not to knit another foot of blankie. But still, the weak middle sections will wear away soon enough and then there'll be no more original blankie left!

I'm afraid that the boys love these blankies too much to give them up until they really have turned them back into a heap of crumpled yarn. Maybe then they'll let me make new blankies for them! :)

what is it with holes???
I found a hole in a wool hat I knit for the kids. I think one child wore it a few times. A pair of socks I knit last year, a hole, on TOP of the sock. I thought I had moths, but I have yet to ever see a moth in my house, and my wool is all stored air tight with cedar. ODD.

You are so very lucky to have children who cherish your hard work. I'm going to agree with the idea to make the new blanket making into a fun family experience. Let them dye their own yarn and pick out the pattern. You could even put the old blankets in a shadow box frame on their bedroom walls. So it's still there to see.

it must make you feel so good to know they love their blankies so much!
my 4 yr old has a 'mimi' (blankie) my mother quilted for him. if the patching doesn't stop soon, it'll be a whole new blanket :)

At least your boys don't pull at the yarn ends like my son does. He has completely destroyed the blanket that my hubbo's grandmother's friend knitted for him at birth. He's 2-1/2 now and the thing is a wreck. I did unravel it a few rows once and re-knit part of it, but he just found another place to pull at it.

Oh yes, Katie, that is part of the problem. There are lots of snags that I've woven in over the years. And once there's a hole, the only place they want to rub the blankie is right there!

I just reminded the boys that they have their small blankies for when the big blankies get "all kaputt" and S said, "my big blankie will never be all kaputt." Uh, right.

You're much braver than I am - I just take the hole-y things to my LYS and pay someone to fix them! What a wimp!

BTW, is there going to be a third round of Sockapalooza?

What a professional you are! I don't have that kind of patience at all! If it's got a hole, it's got a home in the trash can!

Couldn't you salvage some yarn from the old blankets and knit it in new blankets? A patch of the old blankie yarn in the middle or on one corner of the new one? (By the way, my mommy's solution has been very simple: no blanket at all. I survived perfectly well not ever having one, and never missed neither blankets nor teddy bears nor anything.)

You go girl...and may the dpn's (pronounced doo-ponts) be we you ;-)

Just let them keep using the blankets holes and all. They are loved for what they are not for their perfection. You made them the blankets to love and that is what they have been doing and will continue to do until they tuck them away because they are too big to carry them around. I kept sewing up the holes in my daughter Sarah's blankie until it became a oddly shaped piece of knitting and then I made a special patchwork bag for it and she would take it to sleepovers and tuck it under a pillow and no one knew she had her blanket. She still tucks it under her pillow when she comes to visit from college.

Suzanne, I LOVE that idea of putting the blankie in a bag. That way it can be held together and protected by the bag, but they can still pull out a corner for a quick little snuggle. I may have to do that. Thanks for sharing the tip! :)

Hey - maybe you can applique a solid fabric over the hole with a face, truck, whatever on it - the hole becomes a peep-hole. The downside is that if the boys like it enough, they may end up with even more holes in the blankets...

My 32 year old just yesterday asked what age he was when he stopped using his blankie - I think he was pretty old, and he survived - holds a job, has a family, etc. Good luck - whatever you do, everyone will survive...