Dear Emily,

 As this blanket is a special gift for a special baby.  I have written this post as a letter to her.  For those of you interested in commentary and information on the blanket,  I have provided this in the captions.
Dear Emily 

Voila! My fantastic blanket is finally finished.  The blue yarn is random stash acrylic but the beige 
is my own handspun. They didn't play as well together as I had hopped.  (Read I accidentally felted the
 handspun when washing this).  And So I decided backing it in fleece would make it look nicer.I was right.

  It will be many years before you will understand this letter and probably several more before you can read it for yourself.  I hope that someday you do read it but even if you never see this letter there are things that I wanted to say to you that I think should be sent out into the universe.  I made this blanket for you.  I started long before you were born and I have missed your birth by a couple of months.   I have spent hundreds of hours crocheting and sewing this blanket because I love you.

Frogs are my favorite critters so I couldn't resit adding one.

  I know we have never met, and that we will probably only meet infrequently in the future due to the thousands of miles spread between us.  I love you anyways.  I love you because I love your mother, but more importantly I love you because you are you.  I love you because of the potential you represent and because every person in the world needs love.

The elephant is also made of some of my handspun.  I love the lion's mane!
 When I first made him I left his mane about two inches long. 
For the longest time I bounced back and forth between wanting
to trim and leaving it long.  I decided to trim it a bit.

     I decided to make you a blanket, because I love blankets. A special blankets is a talisman.  It tells you that your are loved, and it can keep you warm and make you feel safe on a bad day.  Someday when  you are older you should ask you mom about her special blanket from a grandma she barely knew.  I remember it was pink and silky and had beautiful animals sewn all over it and she loved it.  I know she slept with it well into her teenage years and I can only hope that you might love this blanket even half as much.

This blanket tells the story of Noah's ark, but

Fishes

that's not the story I am going to tell you today.  Instead, I am going to tell you what each of the symbols on your blanket mean to me.  The boat and house represent a safe place for you to go when the world gets to be too much.  The giraffe represents your reach.  You can reach much further than you know.  Everything you do has the potential to change the world.  The lion is bravery, because you'll need it, kid.  It's jungle out there! 

Octopus!

The elephant is wisdom.  There is a folk saying that says that Elephants never forget anything.  Who knows if that's really true?  But I wanted to give as much wisdom as I had because I know things can be tough.  And the frog because everyone needs a little silliness.
I hope you remember that I love you, and if when you are older you ever need someone to talk to, even if I am a million miles away, I'd be happy to listen.
                                                                                             Love,
                                                                                          Aunt Amy