yarns etc... and Great Yarns: Marine Sciences 101

In my residency here at yarns etc. I have learned a great many things. I have been encouraged, challenged and nurtured, all in the comforting presence of soft and colorful yarns. This is one of my most happy places. So of course you can imagine that when my good friend S. announced that she was having a baby, I was excited to show off some of my new skills and talents. Now I immediately started knitting. Baby! I will tell you, I am a shameless lover of babies and kids, so I started knitting a LOT! I made a blanket before she even started to get big, hats, a maternity sweater and burp cloths. Beautiful things really, but I was excited to give them away and there wasn't even a baby shower yet! I knew I had to have something to bring to that. Then I found a book called "knitted toys" '25 fresh and fabulous designs' by Zoe Mellor. I tell you there were these cute little fishes and I was sold! A rainbow of colors in Rowan Handknit cotton and a flurry of needles later, I had 6 of my own little cotton fish! Now here's where it gets most interesting... in the book the fish are strung up and separated by lovely painted wooden beads. Now I am a realist and I REALLY wanted this child to play with these fish, so I figure he'd have the paint sucked off those pretty quick, and um, not too washable. Then I thought of the alternatives; plastic- yuck, glass- one good whack on the floor... can you see where I'm going with this?

So, I'm mulling over my little problem and my Sweet Man who is ever so confident about my skills and abilities says to me, "I know, you can make a jellyfish! A Portuguese man-of-war! There's a picture in the National Geographic, and I can draw it out for you! You can do it!" Now this may sound odd, but my sweetie knows S. very well and we discussed her amazing artistic talents while we admired the gorgeous print of birds that she made us and is over our fireplace. She would love it! I think. First baby though, that could change things. We decided to make a go of it, something really different for a very special baby! I started to talk about this idea at the shop and I got some strange looks and responses, not a traditional gift I know. But as always Mary egged me on knowingly, and I got even more excited! I left that day with three MORE colors of Handknit cotton, a pattern for the curly scarf, some velcro and a plan.

Sort of.

So that's it, my Man O' War Mobile for the newest little man in our lives! Now is the time where I thank everyone who helped me create this gift; my sweetie- he's full of bright ideas, my coworkers who showed me the way down an overwhelming and delightful path of yarn, every customer who needed help and ended up teaching me something new too- love the sharing, Mary, Mary, Mary!- who is an inspiration, a gift and a killer resource and of course S. and J. for making me such a beautiful baby boy to knit for! By the way, he loves it!