Pendleton Crib Blankets

Images from http://www.pendleton-usa.com/home.jsp

We haven't quite gotten around to assembling Hunter's crib yet, but it's time. (He will mostly still sleep in our bed with us, but we need the crib for naps and for when we first put him to bed.) Well, I don't know about you, but the AAP has me all freaked out about keeping blankets in a small baby's crib, so for now the only blanket he will have in his bed is a wearable blanket. But when the time comes (I guess toddlerhood?), I'd love to have one of these Pendleton wool blankets in Hunter's crib. Besides being Made in USA, they feature Native American motifs that actually pay homage to Native American peoples rather than exploit them, so good stuff all around.

The blanket on the left is called the Big Dipper, but did you know that many Native American cultures know this constellation is the Big Bear? It turns out that the Big Dipper is called such because the shape resembles that of a dipper, or ladle, used to drink water in ancient times. For the Kiowa people, however, legend has it that a brother was chasing his seven sisters, pretending to be a bear. He actually turned into one, and to get away from him, the sisters climbed upon a rock that grew higher and higher until it reached the sky and they turned into stars.

As for the blanket on the right, it's a mini version of a classic Pendleton blanket called the Chief Joseph in honor of the Nez Perce leader who resisted U.S. government orders to move his people onto reservations, among other acts of courage.