Thursday, March 15, 2012

Sweater and Bear


This is a sweater and bear that I knit for Crystal's son.  He's a big kid now.  I think she found the pattern when we were roommates and of course I had to have a copy.  Since she found the pattern worthy to tear out of a magazine, I figured that she'd like it for her son.  

The bear pattern came from Debbie Bliss's Toy Knits, one of my all-time favorite pattern books.  I added the matching sailboat on the bear's sweater.  As I look at it, I'm not too crazy about the blue bear - it's too matchy matchy!  I think the matching bear sweater would've been enough.

In Crystal's 'thank you' note she mentions 'Lucy and Ethel' moments.  She was Lucy and I was Ethel.  The memory that comes to mind most often is when we first started rooming together.  My brother set us up as roommates - I was moving back to San Diego from San Bernardino and she was moving from Los Angeles to San Diego.  

Right off, I noticed that she really liked to cook and bake.  She would go on kicks.  I remember a muffin kick.  She made a gazillion types of muffins, all in the same week.  I don't even remember what she did with all of them.  We managed to stay slim and trim in those days so I don't know who was eating them all.

Anyway, there was the ice cream kick.  One day she was making some custard for an ice cream recipe.  Her double boiler was a glass bowl over a boiling pot of water.  I didn't think anything of it - of course now I know better.  All I remember was a loud explosion that left blobs of custard and glass shrapnel all over her and the kitchen.  I remember wondering, "What did my brother get me into!?"  She ended up being a lot of fun, very entertaining, and a great cook.  Go here to read about one of Crystal's more recent Lucy moments.  I promise you won't regret it!

2 comments:

  1. Kathy - I loved reading this! It brought back so many memories of GREAT, GREAT times. One of my favorite memories of Bella Pacific were our knitting nights that started out with just the two of us sitting in lawn chairs in the middle of our living room (before we got furniture); and progressed to a group of women who sat around the television watching Friends as we worked on projects. I think I still have that darling little sweater you made for Eden, as well as the adorable dress you knit for Claire. I treasure both.

    In my Lucy-esque defense, the glass bowl was made of tempered glass, but it was defective. Do you remember that two more of that set broke on random occasions. When the second one broke, you started to worry that you were rooming with a crazy person. :) I had to take the rest of the set back to Crate and Barrel. That was such a nightmare to clean up all those glass shards.

    My other favorite memories are the plastic fly that we hid in random places in the refrigerator, and singing the Messiah every year for Christmas.

    You were the best roommate ever! I miss you friend.

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  2. Ah yes, I think it was a rubber snail. One of us hid it in the mayo jar. I think it was you because I think I found it - that was disgusting!

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