Pendleton Blankets

When I was a kid, there was always a car blanket or two in backseat of the Oldsmobile. We would use them on outings to the beach and mountains when, sitting in the car looking out over a stormy Pacific or snowy fir trees, we could have a picnic lunch of tuna sandwiches and carrot sticks and oatmeal cookies and maybe a thermos of tomato soup before heading out to build sand castles or snowtube.

They were always Pendleton blankets; big, woolly sheaths of slightly itchy, warm comfort. They would be on the boat and at friends' cabins, and on my bed at home on particularly cold nights. With bold stripes or bright Indian prints, they were an iconic element of my childhood landscape. They meant excursions and adventure as well as long car rides home. My mother and grandmothers also grew up with them.
The Pendleton Woolen Mills has been making blankets in Pendleton,Oregon since before the beginning of the last century. Originally, the blankets were not only inspired by Native American tribal designs, but manufactured for Native Americans. And, to this day they are prized ceremonial gifts in many tribes.

Pendleton blankets remain a staple in the Northwest. They fit into the sensibility, style and the landscape of Cascadia. (In fact, an early Dale Chihuly project was inspired by the blankets. He made a series of basket-like vessels based on the Pendleton designs.) Sturdy, multifunctional, beautiful, these blankets become family heirlooms, the kind that get used as well as loved.