AIBU to ask for help in saving Blankie's life?

[ItNeedsCleansingByFire]

My 23yr old DD has a childhood blanket she still sleeps with and snuggles.

Its name is Blankie (well of course it is ). It was originally a white flat cot size classic cellular blanket with a satin ribbon trim. Twenty three years later it is a grey ratty bundle/knot approximately the size of a hand, with a couple of strips dangling off. Like tentacles. (See attached photos for similar type "blankies" as DD's is too embarrassing outing to put a real photo up).

It is shrinking every year and she is worried what will happen when it is too small to snuggle. I have offered to sew it into a pillow/cushion type thing (after donning a full hazmat suit) but as it's a knot rather than flat fabric, it wouldn't really work. We have considered sewing it into the tummy of a toy like a teddy but apparently the blankie needs to be "touchable". So the grey ratty Blankie knot needs to be kept touchable whilst stopping the shrinkage.

We are at a loss. I don't really have any other ideas - well I do, but they involve a flame thrower and DD is resistant to this, but I know MNers will have genius suggestions...

(I would also like to make a Gordion Knot joke at this point but sadly I'm not intelligent enough. So any suggestions on this would also be welcomed )

Don't worry OP my DS (20 in Dec) took Doggie to Uni with him last week, apparently they have never been apart.

"In a world where you can buy baby comforters that are basically a soft toy (or even just a disembodied soft toy head) attached to a blanket"

Yep, again this veers into Silence of the Lambs type vibe for me...It sounds more terrifying (dare I say "odd" than unattached Blankie!)

Anyway I have to go talk about extending my own lifespan <just terrified myself involuntarily thinking about my head sewed to a blanket>

I think it's FUBAR (Fucked up beyond recognition).
Sorry 😁

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come over as unkind.

@ItNeedsCleansingByFire

Can I suggest that if you hack it into very small pieces with a sharp knife that means you will be entitled to rule 'all of Asia' and could set yourself up as some sort of counter deity to Kim Jung Un?

In addition, it would solve the problem of Blankie without need for anything other than a sharp implement. No faffing with soapflakes or crafting.

Win win? (I've got a 32year old with a 'blankie' btw. It's lurking in its foulness in one corner of her old bedroom. She moved out years ago, but I'm forbidden to destroy it).

Im in my 5th decade now and still sleep with a blankie. Do not underestimate the power of childhood trauma. Tried sleeping without it and just can’t. (Not that I’m saying your child has trauma)

Id pop it in a fold over pouch so a hand can slip in and hold blankie but it doesn’t risk damaging further.

Furry yet FUBAR!

@Glimber don't worry, you didn't (just terrifying )

@Hatty65 Oh now I like this. Maybe you should try this solution first and let me know how it works out for you? It seems only fair, yours is currently unattended after all, and the potential gains...go for it!

DD just mentioned the words "cold turkey". Interesting.

😂😂😂👏

Can you no turn it into a octopus? Get someone to crochet some more tentacles, in corporation the existing bits and using the knot as the face of the octopus, and give it a new back of the head.

Not explain this well but I can picture it. 😁

I mean, you're clearly the judgemental type so I doubt any of your friends would admit it to you.

My sister is like this. I'm not sure if she still has hers in her 30s but she has always been highly anxious from childhood and it used to bring her a lot of comfort and calm her well into adulthood. Hers started out as a Puffalump (if anyone remembers those!) and gradually was reduced to just a string of the stuffing!

@ItNeedsCleansingByFire I could go first. I quite fancy myself as onmiscient and goddess like - plus I've just retired, so 'ruling all Asia' could be a nice time filler for me. I have Politics as part of my (long ago) degree, so might make a decent Dictator of a Continent. It's just...it sounds quite tiring, and I was looking forward to some lie ins.

DD will probably get over the loss of a smelly old blankie she may well have forgotten all about...

I'll muse on it this evening! 😁

Is it possible to play on it's knotted quality?

So actually stuff it and make it into a ball/pompom shape, then make some pom-poms or cut up a similar blanket to make soft balls in similar/contrasting colours and use those to decorate the edges of a new blanket?

The stuffing should help protect its integrity and you can sew all the threads inside to stop further fraying.

Then she has a usable blankie with a special comforting pompom/ball attached she can hold?

I didn't take Mr Ted with me, and had to sleep with a hoodie rolled into a ball for the first three weeks until I went home and got him! DM offered to post him, but I was worried he'd get lost.

She made a gown and mortar board for him when I graduated since he'd been at university too.

Is it like this one? Could you buy one and stitch blankie to one corner?? Or take a corner off to make a new mini blankie with the old one maybe?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375560392223?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=4G7LfS6ES1C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=SAT4ldrBTtG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I'd reach out to leath toy hospital https://leithtoyhospital.co.uk/ see what they can do even though its not a teddy, we've had a toy restored by them before and its amazing how they can take essentially nothing and make something very close to the original, while incorporating the old.

You are NOT being unreasonable, OP! It's a tricky one and maybe best asking a specialist restorer of eg teddies. or could you buy a new identical one and sew it onto that like a sort of 'relief' layer so that is still just as it is but protected?

It's a childhood memory that she wants to save, with the tangible element rather than still needing it on a childhood way like others sneered at. I get it!

Your mum sounds amazing 🤩

Great idea!

Blankie (night nights in this house) is not an emotional crutch !

I don't quite understand the non flatness of Blankie, in one of your pics OP they look quite flat.

Get a ceremonial boat, put blankie in, then set fire to it in a moving ceremony.

Alternatively there's the black bin for general household waste.

My kids on their 20s both still have their much tattered and disintegrating bears. I still have to mend them as get still get squeezed in times of need, illnesses and tubes of loneliness. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Like this?
photo below

DS is 276 months old and still has both his blankets (one to snuggle, one to wash).
They were approaching oblivion but still fairly flat so last Christmas I bought two more blankets that had the same texture but were a different colour. TBF the original blankets had faded anyway.
I stitched the old blankets onto the new ones to stabilise the old and acclimatise the new. The solution has been accepted and the new blankets are accepted.
With a knotty ex-blanket I'd do a bit of judicious untangling and stitch whatever edges you can find onto a blanket with a similar texture. You can use hair detangler on fabric too, but it won't smell right afterwards. Perhaps just soaking it in water will loosen it up sufficiently.

I'm 53 and still have blankie. It's not the original one, I found the same thing on ebay!