So, she says to me, she says:
"So... whatcha doing this year?"
"Huh?" I reply in my brain-blasted it's after 5pm and you expect me to speak coherently kind of way...
Sue, the administrator at Ziggy's daycare is smiling at me with that 'you didn't read my newsletter last week did you?' look in her eyes.
Every year I knit something for the daycare's United Way fundraiser. Sue has caught me out... I meant to read it... I'm going to... if I can find it in the backseat of my car.
Um -- when is the fundraiser?
November 30th?
Okee Doekee..
Don't you worry!
I'M ON THE CASE!!!
You betcha! On the case!
Oy...
What to do? What to do?
And thus Kid-Lit Inspired Knits was born.
The 3 books & their related knitwear:
The Missing Mitten Mystery. Story & illustrations by Steven Kellogg
One pair of Red Mittens --if you read the story, you can see why they have to be Red-- complete with an 'idiot string', as we call them in my family - to ensure that there are no missing/lost mittens.
Cookie's Week. Cindy Ward & illustrated by Tomie dePaola
A story about a naughty little kitten... (one of Ziggy's faves)
A Pussy Cat Balaclava/Hat
There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
A very Seuss-ish hat & pair of mittens, based on a pattern from my mother's extremely limited knitting library, circa late 1950s early 1960s.
Funny story: my brother, remembers NOTHING... and I mean NOTHING about our experiences growing up. I brought the pattern book along to my niece's 4th birthday party a week ago, brother-dearest took one look at the pattern book and says:
I remember that book! That's Mum's... She bought it at Woolworth's on Van Horne near the Brown Derby! I remember that! Oh, oh, oh... and I remember the little sombrero thing-a-ma-jiggies that she used to put at the end of her needles too!
So what's up with that? Can't remember ANYTHING about our youth but this he remembers clear as a bell? Is it a Woolworth's induced yarn trauma moment? Is it loving memories of mummy's scratchy knits? Or is it just that the yarn aisle was next to the chocolate bunny aisle in Woolworth's and he accidentally associates the two together in the 'this I can remember with great fondness' section of his hippocampus?
His eldest daughter (who is 16) and I just giggled!
So, here is the kicker...
The Red Mitts are an Acrylic/Wool mix, the balaclava and Dr. Seuss knitwear are 100% not natural fibres. When it comes to most kiddy things, I used natural fibres like cotton... but this is the kind of kid-stuff that needs to be highly industrial.... They will be washed and often... these need to be machine washable... and let's face it... we are talking a lot of bodily fluids here... these are kids...
Teething drool, nose goop and all sorts of food items will get shmeared and ground into these little knits on a daily basis... plus at a daycare, I can tell you, the sandbox NEVER EVER closes on the playground... not even in winter... so figure in a little Bondi Beach inspired residue amongst the fibres to boot!
Nose goop is the substance that binds everything together... nose goop requires trayf yarn... Dr. Seuss demands trayf yarn... 100% not natural fibres... I mean, really... this is Dr. Seuss after all!
"Huh?" I reply in my brain-blasted it's after 5pm and you expect me to speak coherently kind of way...
Sue, the administrator at Ziggy's daycare is smiling at me with that 'you didn't read my newsletter last week did you?' look in her eyes.
Every year I knit something for the daycare's United Way fundraiser. Sue has caught me out... I meant to read it... I'm going to... if I can find it in the backseat of my car.
Um -- when is the fundraiser?
November 30th?
Okee Doekee..
Don't you worry!
I'M ON THE CASE!!!
You betcha! On the case!
Oy...
What to do? What to do?
And thus Kid-Lit Inspired Knits was born.
The 3 books & their related knitwear:
The Missing Mitten Mystery. Story & illustrations by Steven Kellogg
One pair of Red Mittens --if you read the story, you can see why they have to be Red-- complete with an 'idiot string', as we call them in my family - to ensure that there are no missing/lost mittens.
Cookie's Week. Cindy Ward & illustrated by Tomie dePaola
A story about a naughty little kitten... (one of Ziggy's faves)
A Pussy Cat Balaclava/Hat
There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
A very Seuss-ish hat & pair of mittens, based on a pattern from my mother's extremely limited knitting library, circa late 1950s early 1960s.
Funny story: my brother, remembers NOTHING... and I mean NOTHING about our experiences growing up. I brought the pattern book along to my niece's 4th birthday party a week ago, brother-dearest took one look at the pattern book and says:
I remember that book! That's Mum's... She bought it at Woolworth's on Van Horne near the Brown Derby! I remember that! Oh, oh, oh... and I remember the little sombrero thing-a-ma-jiggies that she used to put at the end of her needles too!
So what's up with that? Can't remember ANYTHING about our youth but this he remembers clear as a bell? Is it a Woolworth's induced yarn trauma moment? Is it loving memories of mummy's scratchy knits? Or is it just that the yarn aisle was next to the chocolate bunny aisle in Woolworth's and he accidentally associates the two together in the 'this I can remember with great fondness' section of his hippocampus?
His eldest daughter (who is 16) and I just giggled!
So, here is the kicker...
The Red Mitts are an Acrylic/Wool mix, the balaclava and Dr. Seuss knitwear are 100% not natural fibres. When it comes to most kiddy things, I used natural fibres like cotton... but this is the kind of kid-stuff that needs to be highly industrial.... They will be washed and often... these need to be machine washable... and let's face it... we are talking a lot of bodily fluids here... these are kids...
Teething drool, nose goop and all sorts of food items will get shmeared and ground into these little knits on a daily basis... plus at a daycare, I can tell you, the sandbox NEVER EVER closes on the playground... not even in winter... so figure in a little Bondi Beach inspired residue amongst the fibres to boot!
Nose goop is the substance that binds everything together... nose goop requires trayf yarn... Dr. Seuss demands trayf yarn... 100% not natural fibres... I mean, really... this is Dr. Seuss after all!
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