My daughter has been commissioned (by someone outside of the family) to knit a bear. She negotiated the deal like a pro.
“Would you like the sweater to stay on or be separate?” she asked, after discussing the time frame, color and other details. “If it’s separate, that will take longer and cost extra.”
I have a feeling she’ll never be a starving artist.
My daughter has always loved to make things. She sees art in everything, which makes it difficult to throw anything away around the house. We spread pine straw this weekend, and she wanted to keep the strings that went around the bales. I can’t wait to see what she creates with those!
The bears are her latest project. She and her friends learned to make them (as well as knit) from two angelic women after school. The knitting club, I soon learned, is like an inner sanctum. Sometimes I would come early and stand at the door, my presence barely being acknowledged. Knitters cannot be rushed.
The girls really took to the craft. My daughter’s friends would spend the night, and I heard myself saying really strange things to them such as, “Put down the yarn and go to sleep!” “One more stitch, and that’s it!” “No knitting in the dark! You’ll poke your eye out!”
(The latter was remedied by a pair of glow-in-the-dark knitting needles that she got for her birthday, by the way.)
But back to her latest project—the bears. The last rainy Sunday, she curled up on the couch and clicked, clicked, clicked her needles all day long. The result was a tiny bear friend to join her bigger bear and rabbit that she made.
Her very first bear is on a journey to Africa as part of the Mother Bear project which brings comfort and hope to kids with HIV/AIDS. After months and months of labor, she packed him up with a kiss and a little note pinned to his knitted sweater.
Although she was happy and proud to participate, it was a bitter-sweet moment for her. She loved that bear. Yesterday, she received a post card with a picture of an incredibly happy-looking little girl hugging a knitted brown bear, and, suddenly, all that knitting, unraveling, and knitting again was worth it. It’s great having a crafty kid.
If you’d like to check out the project, click here
2 comments:
First of all, your daughter seems like a VERY sweet and generous little girl.
Second...I'm really impressed with her talent. I can barely tie a bow on a gift. Those bears are terrific!
LOVE the bears, and I LOVE the story as well! I think we have an entrepreneur in the making!
And I also sense a fellow lifelong crafter. She is already learning that she'll probably end up giving away most of what she makes. That's OK. 'Tis more blessed to give than to receive, so good for her!
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