Dogs Steal Yarn Knits for the UN
Yeah. You read that title right. See, it all starts with a phone call from my darling husband the other day.
“Hey!” he says. “I gave one of my patients your phone number.”
“What?! Why?”
“The house number. I gave him the house number. He has this sweater that his mother knit for him like twenty years ago and it’s starting to fall apart.”
“Yeah…and? Tell me you’re kidding. You’re kidding.”
“I’m serious. Look, he’s a really nice guy. He used to be the ambassador from [nation not to be mentioned here for patient confidentiality purposes] to the UN. I thought maybe you could fix his sweater?”
“I’m not here to solve the world’s knitting problems. I won’t do it. And stop giving our home number to patients. If you want to reach me today you’d best call my cell phone because there’s no way I’m answering the house phone now.”
And we kind of left it at that. And then the former ambassador DID call. And he left a message. And in a very polite, kindly voice he proceeded to tell the answering machine about how his mother had knit him this sweater and how she had died twenty years ago, and how he would love to have this sweater repaired. He brought a dead knitting mother into it. See…now I HAVE to try to fix this sweater.
So I said I’d give it a try. And I also told Billy that if he does this again, he’s dead meat.
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Well of course, dear. You are an incipient member of the motherhood union now.
Posted by: LaurieM
Yeah, you do kind of have to fix it. Luckily for me, I wouldn’t know how. That’s what you get for having knitterly talent.
Posted by: Carole
Hehe. I somehow knew before I finished reading the post that you would try to fix it. 😉
Posted by: Karen
Fixing old stuff is fun. A lot of people are amazed when you knit something for them, but if you take the sweater that great-grannie Mildred made in the Old Country and fix a moth hole – that’s just miraculous!
Posted by: David
NO question that Billy should never, ever spring this kind of thing on you again. But really, think of how highly he must have spoken to this man about your skills for him to entrust this special sweater to you. It’s a huge compliment, from both of them. I know it’s not something I could do.
Posted by: Rachel H
Bah, what is it with people? I’m always getting offers to fix people’s stuff and knit them items. OFFERS! Like I’m just sitting here looking for something to knit.
Good luck with the sweater. I hope it’s repariable. I had a similar situation with a woman who had antique crochetted beadspreads that her mother made. This woman was in her 70s so that had to be a long time ago. When I got the bedspreads the thread of the motifs was just disintigrating. I could easily replicate the motifs but every time I’d fix an area, another area would start to fall apart. I fixed it up as best I could, but I told her it should really be put away except for special occassions.
Posted by: Marnie
No, he really shouldn’t have done that, but I think at this point, you kind of don’t have a choice. You have to try to help that poor man!
Posted by: –Deb
Hmmm… time to teach your husband to knit? 😉
Posted by: Andrea
Well of course, dear. You are an incipient member of the motherhood union now.
Posted by: LaurieM
Yeah, you do kind of have to fix it. Luckily for me, I wouldn’t know how. That’s what you get for having knitterly talent.
Posted by: Carole
Hehe. I somehow knew before I finished reading the post that you would try to fix it. 😉
Posted by: Karen
Fixing old stuff is fun. A lot of people are amazed when you knit something for them, but if you take the sweater that great-grannie Mildred made in the Old Country and fix a moth hole – that’s just miraculous!
Posted by: David
NO question that Billy should never, ever spring this kind of thing on you again. But really, think of how highly he must have spoken to this man about your skills for him to entrust this special sweater to you. It’s a huge compliment, from both of them. I know it’s not something I could do.
Posted by: Rachel H
Bah, what is it with people? I’m always getting offers to fix people’s stuff and knit them items. OFFERS! Like I’m just sitting here looking for something to knit.
Good luck with the sweater. I hope it’s repariable. I had a similar situation with a woman who had antique crochetted beadspreads that her mother made. This woman was in her 70s so that had to be a long time ago. When I got the bedspreads the thread of the motifs was just disintigrating. I could easily replicate the motifs but every time I’d fix an area, another area would start to fall apart. I fixed it up as best I could, but I told her it should really be put away except for special occassions.
Posted by: Marnie
No, he really shouldn’t have done that, but I think at this point, you kind of don’t have a choice. You have to try to help that poor man!
Posted by: –Deb
Hmmm… time to teach your husband to knit? 😉
Posted by: Andrea
This is almost funny — almost.
Posted by: Cassie
Yikes. Sounds like the former ambassador still has it in the persuasion department.
I would book an extra foot rub and late night craving outing for Billy though.
Let’s hope it’s an easy fix and you don’t have to pronounce the sweater dead.
Posted by: Steph
Oh, I knew how this story was gonna end. I think you should do the same to him.
Posted by: Iris
Well, the dead parent karma is something that needs to be respected…but falling apart how?
Seams? darning? Could be an adventure…..
Posted by: Juno
You MUST post pics. …This will be good!
Nice of you to go ahead and fix it for him.
Throw-back to previous post: Ms. Independent goes softie??? ::Wink::
Posted by: Stephie-P
Hmmm, this is in an interesting one. I read every once in a bit but for this one, I’ve got to say hello. Oh, but first, congratulations on the baby making! But back to this post. I’ve never had the boy get me to knit or fix something but I did have a coworker (one I don’t really like, by the way) tell me how she always wanted a connected head/scarf thing and when I seemed hesitant about doing it (avoiding saying an out and out NO!), she started to sketch it and say how EASY it would be for me to do. Urgh. But this man has a compelling story, so I’m hoping that the repair is not a tough one. Do let us know!
Posted by: Michelle
Oh, you are a brave and tender-hearted knitter! I would have referred him to a tailor or a knitting store, let them deal with him, no matter how many dead grandmothers were involved.
Recently, I had a request by a friend of a friend of a friend to allow her to pay me (no actual dollar amounts were offered) to knit her “dream sweater”.
Eeek!!! I kind of forgot to answer that email..
Posted by: pippy
What Rachel H. said. Billy must think highly of his client and you to make the direct referral (although he should have checked with you before he offered).
Posted by: Kat
I agree with Steph- Billy definitely owes you big time.
I’m guessing there may be some difficulties matching dye lots….
Posted by: di
Its only a question of how hard this will suck. I hope for suck-age on the lesser side.
Posted by: claudia
When reading this I was thinking “Wow, he must really be pround of her knitting skills” and I see that someone else was thinking the same.
I’ll hold my thumb for you on this one! (In Sweden we hold our thumbs for luck and cross our fingers when we lie…) I hope it’ll turn out to be somehting easy or at least interesting.
And postponable (is that a word?) ’til after the Holidays.
Posted by: Anna
Well thank goodness you’re going to do it (or will at least try). You can’t ruin the reputation of us knitters and bloggers being so nice and thoughtful and kind and generous and all that. Even though Billy should have asked you first and God knows he won’t do that kind of thing again in this lifetime!! Sheesh… sounds like my husband. Good luck with it – reading the “disintigrating” and “dye lot” comments makes me nervous for you!
Posted by: Laura
Billy is dead meat.
Your mum is pretty nifty with a needle and thread….perhaps…..maybe…..she might do it…….???????
Posted by: Alison
Ach, bringing up a dead knitting mother, that’s no fair. But yay you for helping the guy anyway! Who knows, maybe you’ll make a great new friend.
Here’s hoping the sweater doesn’t look like this one: http://tinyurl.com/8cz9u
Posted by: marrije
wow. if you didn’t already have some serious leverage due to the whole carrying the baby for 10 mos (preggers people are always yelling about how it’s 40 weeks so how does that add up to 9 mos, have you started that yet? hee hee), you’ve really got some now! 🙂
Posted by: carolyn
Dude. That’s some hard core knitting right there. I don’t think I could do it. You’re super nice to even TRY.
Posted by: Carrie
So…you should tell UN guy that you’ll fix his sweater, but only if he hooks you up as the UN Knitting Goodwill Ambassador… then you can have tea with Brangelina Joliepitt and teach them to knit 😉
Posted by: Kel
I would fix anything to have tea with Angelina. Just sayin.
And what Carolyn said – I was doing the math recently myself and I’m sorry but 40 weeks is definitely more like 10 months. What is this 9 month crap??
Posted by: melanie
i love it….knitting diplomacy 🙂
Posted by: rebecca
That fomer Ambassador really knew what he was doing — dead knitting mother. You can’t say no now. There’s just no way.
Posted by: Gina
You and Billy are both such good-hearted souls. i can’t believe i’m getting choked up about some guy’s sweater, but I am. it must be the mother thing. sigh. good luck with it.
Posted by: regina
This strikes me as one of those things that’s hilarious in the telling but a royal pain-in-the-ass in the doing. Billy ought to have said, “Let me ask Cari if she has any suggestions on how to fix it,” rather than “Cari will fix it.” I have to admit, though, I laughed out loud. (sorry)
Perhaps the ambassador can take you to a posh dinner and regale you with top-secret ambassadorial tales as a thank-you.
Posted by: Lizbon
Think of this… you will always be the gal that fixed his dead knitting Momma’s sweater. You will have made a difference in his life and forever be remembered and regaled! It’s just good karma Man! (I really hope it isn’t bad… maybe just an underarm seam or two?)
Posted by: Petra
This is almost funny — almost.
Posted by: Cassie
Yikes. Sounds like the former ambassador still has it in the persuasion department.
I would book an extra foot rub and late night craving outing for Billy though.
Let’s hope it’s an easy fix and you don’t have to pronounce the sweater dead.
Posted by: Steph
Oh, I knew how this story was gonna end. I think you should do the same to him.
Posted by: Iris
Well, the dead parent karma is something that needs to be respected…but falling apart how?
Seams? darning? Could be an adventure…..
Posted by: Juno
You MUST post pics. …This will be good!
Nice of you to go ahead and fix it for him.
Throw-back to previous post: Ms. Independent goes softie??? ::Wink::
Posted by: Stephie-P
Hmmm, this is in an interesting one. I read every once in a bit but for this one, I’ve got to say hello. Oh, but first, congratulations on the baby making! But back to this post. I’ve never had the boy get me to knit or fix something but I did have a coworker (one I don’t really like, by the way) tell me how she always wanted a connected head/scarf thing and when I seemed hesitant about doing it (avoiding saying an out and out NO!), she started to sketch it and say how EASY it would be for me to do. Urgh. But this man has a compelling story, so I’m hoping that the repair is not a tough one. Do let us know!
Posted by: Michelle
Oh, you are a brave and tender-hearted knitter! I would have referred him to a tailor or a knitting store, let them deal with him, no matter how many dead grandmothers were involved.
Recently, I had a request by a friend of a friend of a friend to allow her to pay me (no actual dollar amounts were offered) to knit her “dream sweater”.
Eeek!!! I kind of forgot to answer that email..
Posted by: pippy
What Rachel H. said. Billy must think highly of his client and you to make the direct referral (although he should have checked with you before he offered).
Posted by: Kat
I agree with Steph- Billy definitely owes you big time.
I’m guessing there may be some difficulties matching dye lots….
Posted by: di
Its only a question of how hard this will suck. I hope for suck-age on the lesser side.
Posted by: claudia
When reading this I was thinking “Wow, he must really be pround of her knitting skills” and I see that someone else was thinking the same.
I’ll hold my thumb for you on this one! (In Sweden we hold our thumbs for luck and cross our fingers when we lie…) I hope it’ll turn out to be somehting easy or at least interesting.
And postponable (is that a word?) ’til after the Holidays.
Posted by: Anna
Well thank goodness you’re going to do it (or will at least try). You can’t ruin the reputation of us knitters and bloggers being so nice and thoughtful and kind and generous and all that. Even though Billy should have asked you first and God knows he won’t do that kind of thing again in this lifetime!! Sheesh… sounds like my husband. Good luck with it – reading the “disintigrating” and “dye lot” comments makes me nervous for you!
Posted by: Laura
Billy is dead meat.
Your mum is pretty nifty with a needle and thread….perhaps…..maybe…..she might do it…….???????
Posted by: Alison
Ach, bringing up a dead knitting mother, that’s no fair. But yay you for helping the guy anyway! Who knows, maybe you’ll make a great new friend.
Here’s hoping the sweater doesn’t look like this one: http://tinyurl.com/8cz9u
Posted by: marrije
wow. if you didn’t already have some serious leverage due to the whole carrying the baby for 10 mos (preggers people are always yelling about how it’s 40 weeks so how does that add up to 9 mos, have you started that yet? hee hee), you’ve really got some now! 🙂
Posted by: carolyn
Dude. That’s some hard core knitting right there. I don’t think I could do it. You’re super nice to even TRY.
Posted by: Carrie
So…you should tell UN guy that you’ll fix his sweater, but only if he hooks you up as the UN Knitting Goodwill Ambassador… then you can have tea with Brangelina Joliepitt and teach them to knit 😉
Posted by: Kel
I would fix anything to have tea with Angelina. Just sayin.
And what Carolyn said – I was doing the math recently myself and I’m sorry but 40 weeks is definitely more like 10 months. What is this 9 month crap??
Posted by: melanie
i love it….knitting diplomacy 🙂
Posted by: rebecca
That fomer Ambassador really knew what he was doing — dead knitting mother. You can’t say no now. There’s just no way.
Posted by: Gina
You and Billy are both such good-hearted souls. i can’t believe i’m getting choked up about some guy’s sweater, but I am. it must be the mother thing. sigh. good luck with it.
Posted by: regina
This strikes me as one of those things that’s hilarious in the telling but a royal pain-in-the-ass in the doing. Billy ought to have said, “Let me ask Cari if she has any suggestions on how to fix it,” rather than “Cari will fix it.” I have to admit, though, I laughed out loud. (sorry)
Perhaps the ambassador can take you to a posh dinner and regale you with top-secret ambassadorial tales as a thank-you.
Posted by: Lizbon
Think of this… you will always be the gal that fixed his dead knitting Momma’s sweater. You will have made a difference in his life and forever be remembered and regaled! It’s just good karma Man! (I really hope it isn’t bad… maybe just an underarm seam or two?)
Posted by: Petra
Well, since he was so kind to volunteer your time, you should keep careful documentation and every 5 minutes equals a dollar amount that he owes you…in YARN!
Posted by: Christie
Shoot, I wanted to send you MY sweater next. Though my mother is still kicking and has never knitted me a single thing. Would you consider a moldy afghan that’s been sitting in storage since 1968? Auntie Nellie would be so appreciative.
Posted by: Bettina
Hey, knit for peace, bringing the world together with knitting, etc. Makes for cool slogans!
Posted by: Laurie
I CANNOT believe Billy did that.
I can, however, believe that you are doing this because jeez, if the guy is going to bring his dead mother into the picture, well…
I’d cave too. But I think I might swear more. You’re an angel.
Posted by: Lee Ann
Duh. Like you’d make any other move. I’m not surprised you “gave in”.
Posted by: john
Oh, sneaky! They’re counting on the hormones to tug at your heartstrings. It’s so sad what people can get away with at this stage. You’ll get him back when you start taking up 3/4 of the bed at night. Oh, and a little pregnancy tip for you: start trying to learn to sleep on your side now if you don’t already. It’s a real pain to switch later when you’re already having trouble sleeping. Best to learn to be comfy on your side before you absolutely have to sleep that way.
Posted by: Krista
Yup…happened to me too a couple of weeks ago. I just hope it’s clean…not fun if it’s not.:( Good Luck!
Posted by: maggie
I had no doubt you would do it – there’s no way you could say ‘no’, you kind-hearted-adopter-of-stray-kittens you.
Posted by: brenda in toronto
You are a good soul:-) happy holidays 🙂 karola
Posted by: Karola
Oh my. Maybe you’ll get a medal of some kind?
Posted by: alison
I hope you’ve had a good time with the sweater and the repair was complicated enough to be fun but simple enough to be straight-forward.
(I’ll admit that your previous post left me with a new take on pregnancy and what it’s like to go through the first few months. I hope you’re feeling better!)
Posted by: Kristen
Well, since he was so kind to volunteer your time, you should keep careful documentation and every 5 minutes equals a dollar amount that he owes you…in YARN!
Posted by: Christie
Shoot, I wanted to send you MY sweater next. Though my mother is still kicking and has never knitted me a single thing. Would you consider a moldy afghan that’s been sitting in storage since 1968? Auntie Nellie would be so appreciative.
Posted by: Bettina
Hey, knit for peace, bringing the world together with knitting, etc. Makes for cool slogans!
Posted by: Laurie
I CANNOT believe Billy did that.
I can, however, believe that you are doing this because jeez, if the guy is going to bring his dead mother into the picture, well…
I’d cave too. But I think I might swear more. You’re an angel.
Posted by: Lee Ann
Duh. Like you’d make any other move. I’m not surprised you “gave in”.
Posted by: john
Oh, sneaky! They’re counting on the hormones to tug at your heartstrings. It’s so sad what people can get away with at this stage. You’ll get him back when you start taking up 3/4 of the bed at night. Oh, and a little pregnancy tip for you: start trying to learn to sleep on your side now if you don’t already. It’s a real pain to switch later when you’re already having trouble sleeping. Best to learn to be comfy on your side before you absolutely have to sleep that way.
Posted by: Krista
Yup…happened to me too a couple of weeks ago. I just hope it’s clean…not fun if it’s not.:( Good Luck!
Posted by: maggie
I had no doubt you would do it – there’s no way you could say ‘no’, you kind-hearted-adopter-of-stray-kittens you.
Posted by: brenda in toronto
You are a good soul:-) happy holidays 🙂 karola
Posted by: Karola
Oh my. Maybe you’ll get a medal of some kind?
Posted by: alison
I hope you’ve had a good time with the sweater and the repair was complicated enough to be fun but simple enough to be straight-forward.
(I’ll admit that your previous post left me with a new take on pregnancy and what it’s like to go through the first few months. I hope you’re feeling better!)
Posted by: Kristen