Sunday, March 2, 2008

A Bird With New Feathers

Ducky is all better.

Regular visitors might recall my recent dilemma regarding Boychild's knit duck - his lovey - that was in dire need of some major repairs. We're talking family heirloom, here, and I can't knit.


I write a weekly column for the local newspaper and I wrote about my Ducky dilemma. We live in a small town. I fielded a few calls offering help, but the most intriguing one came from a woman I know who volunteers at a local long-term-care home where there is a knitting club every Saturday. You can read the background here. Boychild, Ducky and I visited one Saturday in early February and a duck-repair action plan was devised, which you can read about here.

People are busy and stuff happens, or doesn't, and our action plan hadn't mobilized. In the meantime, I kept casting worried glances at poor bedraggled Ducky. Things were getting serious. Three or four rather ominous weak spots on his side looked as if they could give out at any moment, which would have created an enormous hole. I've made some minor repairs before, but we were truly at the point where there wouldn't be any place for me to put my stitches.

I didn't want to pester the task force of seniors and I felt funny calling the other two ladies who had telephoned because several weeks had passed since the distress call was issued, so I turned to my best friend, let's call her Cindy, and begged for help. She knits.

I proposed my original plan - you knit a patch and I will stitch it on. So, on Friday as our gang, complete with Ducky, and her gang congregated for our weekly junk-food and play-date night, she got out her measuring tape and needles, grabbed my ball of yarn and set about knitting the weirdest-shaped thing you ever did see. A narrow rectangle linked a lopsided hexagonal shape to a diamond. Essentially, the hexagon stretches over Ducky's really worn side, the rectangle acts as a saddle over his back, and the diamond spreads over the better side. Everything comes together at Ducky's chest, so it looks as if he's wearing a funky jacket.


She knit this contraption in one sitting over a couple of hours. The next morning I pinned it on Ducky, gained Boychild's approval (phew!), added a bunch of stuffing and began stitching.

It worked perfectly. As I said to Cindy, it wouldn't win a prize at the fair (unless there was a "unique emergency patch" category), but it's wonderful. It covers the bad spots. Ducky's neck has been reinforced with some stuffing and we celebrated by giving him a bath. He's soft, cosy, smells great and Boychild is happy and that's just grand. Thank you, Cindy! I'll post a picture when I get a chance.

It's good to know people who knit. Definitely. And I figure more Ducky parts could wear out, and now we know this will work. Ducky may end up with a whole new set of feathers yet!

3 comments:

Heather said...

Um, what!? If there ever was a blog post that needed a photo it is this one :) Get on the will you? :)

Steph said...

I know I know! But he was sleeping with the duck while I wrote this! Tomorrow. Promise.

Andrea Frazer said...

That is the best picture ever! Oh, just for the record, I hate play dates/play groups also. The post I wrote today really is about a woman at my preschool, but I'm not taking my chances in case, through the wire, she finds out I write for BabyCenter and is snooping. If she finds me here, then she's not only a pervert, but a stalker, so I'm not so worried.Her own damn fault.

Your kids are adorable.