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"His ears are missing and he's in a sad state so I don't know if anyone will buy him."
The garage sale where I overheard this conversation had some interesting items already - a washtub stand, a take-apart-in-two-minutes folding picnic table, an electric grill in what looked like a small refrigerator - so I had to inquire.
Well, he was a yellow giraffe "lying over there dead on the lawn."
I trotted over. He wasn't dead. He was just waiting on someone - like me - to revive him. Made of papier mache (by someone who knew what they were doing) he stands four feet tall and is indeed earless. And hornless - at least he has holes between the ears on top of head so I imagine he had little horns as well. Apparently the dog chewed these appendages off when he (I assume the dog but it was such an interesting family they might have meant the giraffe) was young.
"I had thoughts of turning him into a piƱata," the lady told me and I turned my hold on the giraffe into a hug.
"Does he have a name?" I inquired.
"No, we just call him Giraffe," she replied. But I could hear the capital G so I knew he had been loved.
"The grandkids used to love getting up on the couch and then climbing on his back," she went on, giving me added information, which adds so much. "But they're too big now." She patted the scratches on Giraffe's nose; made me envision some delightful tumbles.
I paid her. I am not going to say how much.
A fair bit of conversation went into what kind of hat Giraffe needed to cover his affliction. A straw hat seemed the majority suggestion. But what kind. Mexican? A garden variety? I tend to think of donkeys perhaps carrying off a straw hat but a giraffe, particularly Giraffe, seemed to want something more dashing. I said I could knit something but everyone looked doubtful: I think they were imagining a floppy bonnet.
A lady who was holding a garage sale next door but who had wandered over and gotten involved in all this went back to her house and came over with a tiny straw hat and sold it to me for a dime. It covered three of the holes. She continued to worry about my having said that I might put him in the garden, had commented that he was "made of paper, isn't he?" and as I left she advised me to "put his feet on tiles or something to keep them above the ground."
Giraffe got the whole back seat to himself and looked quite perky. I didn't see anyone noticing my interesting passenger -darn. It would have been fun to share the fun.
I set him down in the living room and he looked right at home. The question of his obvious need of cosmetic, if not medical, attention brought about consideration of knitting ears and horns, or forming some out of paper, or just letting him be. After a considerable time just sitting and staring at him I remembered the hat I had made for Grand baby which was too small for him even in his newborn state. The fact that it is black with a lining that is spotted may have been a factor in his NOT wearing it even if it had fit - but - it was obviously intended for a four foot Giraffe.
Posted on August 28, 2007 at 06:42 AM | Permalink
A roll of corrugated cardboard showed up at a garage sale and I stuck it here until I decided what to do with it. I love the texture and the cylindrical and flat potential. I once cut a doll from it. This time I was thinking more of weaving ....
Then, as often happens, the vision took a sudden turn and the bag/basket came to mind.
This is one I made using ties as the weft on a back strap loom very loosely warped with a strong black cord. Its base is a burlap canvas and I like very much how it can be used as a basket ....
... but also serve handily as a bag.
The corrugated cardboard inspired making another bag/basket but with the look and texture of the corrugation.
While browsing back through old posts of other bag/baskets and playing with the idea of using burlap as the material and wondering how to get it into mountains and valleys .... I came across this crocheted basket.
It's not in use or on display at the moment so I had forgotten about it and experienced that pleasant re-greeting of an 'old friend'. It is particularly poignant because I haven't worked with rope or jute or tough fibre for ages now: dusty and rough on the hands and tickles my nose.
Come to think of it, working with burlap would be dusty and rough etc. Hmmm. I wonder if the cardboard could translate to a bag/basket...
(This is a post from several years ago. The basket now holds library books, as in the last photo. I continue to explore different fibre to make more of these receptacles - fibre that is gentler on lungs and hands and skin.)
There's something satisfying about working with rope, in this case jute; it certainly is Slow crochet (in the sense of increased awareness of the process)and slow crochet (you crochet slowly); it produces something natural looking and natural feeling; it fits harmoniously with whatever surroundings you put it - indoors or outdoors.
Be aware that working with rough fibre may irritate the skin and it is 'dusty' work so I do it outdoors and 'work' (actually, since I am 'playing with fibre' I guess I 'play') the setting, the experience into the object. In this case the basket was 'played' into form on the deck one afternoon, continued at the Monday Knitting at Koffi (Haultain and Belmont, 2-4 p.m.), finished later that afternoon just as the sun was setting in the garden. It has been enhanced by the nature (human and otherwise) who were around me, with me, when I was making it, their presence, the conversations, the laughter, the comments.... I think this is an important part of creative expression and not one that is greatly acknowledged.
The material is, as I said, jute and the crochet hook does not have a size on it but you can see how big it is in the picture. I experimented with different sizes until I got one that could handle the jute but still give a tight enough weave. It is a basic pattern: Ch 4. Join in circle. Round 1 and round 2 - 2 sc in each stitch around (32 sts). Don't try to join each round - not worth the effort - just keep crocheting but mark the beginning of each round so you will know where you are if the phone rings or a hummingbird comes to the feeder.... Round 4 - sc in each stitch (32 sts) Round 5 Inc quarterly : every 8th st do 2 sc in that stitch (36 sts) Round 6 Sc in each stitch (36 sts) Round 7 Inc in each fourth stitch (2 sc in that stitch) (44 sts) Round 8 Sc in each stitch (44 sts). Continue in this way until the size is what you want for the bottom of the basket. I wrote down where I was in the picture but now I can't find the piece of Sunday's comics on which I wrote it; I think it was round 9 and I had 56 sts. The intent is to keep going around until the size is right increasing now and then to keep the work flat. Now stop increasing and just single crochet in each stitch around and around until the sides are as high as you want. I tend to do a few rounds at a time - this saves wear and tear on the wrists.
Here it is finished. The handles are two rows of single crochet on either side done with the same jute but a smaller hook.
It is meant to hold WIP's so that I can see them and have them easily accessible - but I had to see if it would also serve as a fruit basket.
This was lying in the gutter one foggy morning last week. It looked as if it had been run over by a car, if not trampled by many feet. Funny thing is, I had looked at this exquisite piece of hand crocheting at a garage sale a few days earlier and had admired it but did not feel I needed to own it so had passed it by. It had other ideas.........
This is where it was soonest after coming home with me - out on deck in hot soapy water with a bit of disinfectant.
This is what happened next.... The sun was shining and this was helpful for the drying.
A bit of mending seemed in order..... fix up the 'wound' on such a lovely piece
What to do with it...... Well, it took some pondering, but......
(re-post)
Nature is constantly looking at us, human and otherwise. We are a curious bunch!
The experience of 'looking back' is multi-faceted: it expands with practice.
Two-eyed creatures are readily engaged in a mutual appraisal. People with pets know this. Dogs and cats and horses, for sure. Budgies and turtles and guppies are more fleeting and more dramatic. Nature unfettered gives the satisfaction of something wild captured for a brief moment in a stare: chickadee, seal, ladybug, heron, slug..........
A rock is one big eye.
Gaze on a tree in its winter bare state and wait on the realization that it is a multitude of eyes; in summer the leaves are its eyelashes.
A willow tree just after a rain, when the sun pops out and the wind shows off the shimmer, wins its staring contest with me: I have to close my eyes in overwhelm.