Tuesday, November 12, 2013

"Good things come to those that wait..."

...and my son has waited for two years for me to complete knitting his cushion cover! :/ That certainly says a lot about both of us :)
The story of the knitted cushion cover goes like this:

"One day Mummy was in Spotlight and saw this awesome competition "knit something original, using our yarn, and enter to win something fantastic!" (well, that was the general gist of it...)
"Boy oh boy!" thought Mummy, "I can get my clever children to draw a motif which I will interpret into a knit pattern and then knit them both wonderful cushions!" So Mummy went home and told her two eldest children, who sat down and drew wonderful designs whilst She got out her "How to make knit patterns' book and began trying to figure out how to make the drawings work out in scale with the knitted stitches....
"When will my cushion be finished?" asked her 4 year old daughter.
"Well, we have to work out work out what colours we want first, then go to Spotlight and buy the yarn." Easy!
The children held up with their end of the bargain, with a wonderful Vampire girl and an Orc in Mordor being drawn with wonderful colours and lines and lots of lovely detail.  Now it was up to Mummy to finish the task they had set.
With the 'How to make Knit Patterns' book, graph paper, calculator and pencil in hand the adventure began.  Soon Mummy realised that she had taken on a bigger task than she realised, and a new respect for knit designers was born.  BUT she couldn't let her children down, those two lovely children with big shining eyes full of excitement and bursting with 'can't wait' juice... oh the pressures!
The designs were interpreted, and the yarn brought.  Receipts were kept in the hope that the cushions would be finished in time to enter the competition. Time passed.... needles clicked.... back to spotlight for more yarn... lucky same colour lot! (WOW!) .... needles clicked..... stiches undone.... needles clicked.... blister on finger.... needles clicked.... Da-Da Vampire Girl knitted, now to sew her together and the finer details.... needle threaded.... stitches sewn.... yarn cut! Sigh. Done. Smile... Now for number two...
In the mean time life was also going on.  Moving house, starting a new school, starting prep and 3yo kinder, settling into a new landscape... the needles were laid down for a break.  The competition ended.  Until one day "Mum, when are you going to finish my cushion?"
"Damn! I thought he had forgotten" thought Mummy, "Soon.... I just have to sew it together."
So the other day, about 2 years after it was begun, Mummy sat down with needle and thread and sewed the cushion together, adding details to the design, and stuffing an insert into it. Done.
"Thanks mum.  Are you going to do one for...."
"Arghhhhhhh!"

So yes, that's the story of the cushions.
I hope you enjoyed :)