Verrrry Interrrresting
After a whole life of considering myself to be a person carrying a sign that says “Don’t worry; I won’t try to sell you anything,” I found out last weekend that selling isn’t so bad when the product is worthwhile. I helped sell knitting kits and patterns for the Mother Bear Project at Stitches West on Friday and to my great surprise I didn’t run away after a few minutes. And to my even greater surprise I actually sold several kits and enjoyed it. I have to explain that I myself usually shake my head when somebody at a store asks me “Can I help you with anything?”
“No, thank you,” I’ll politely reply and walk off. I like to take my time; don’t pressure me; don’t tell my what I would like; don’t assume that I don’t know what I want while you are able to tell me. When I am ready to ask questions I’ll find you. Add to this the fact that I have lived alone for the last 30 years, and my daily “voicing experience,” unless I meet up with friends, is restricted to saying good morning to myself in the mirror and cursing the TV. I don’t usually say things like “your sweater is beautiful” or “how old is the baby” or even “how are you today?” to complete strangers.
All this to say that I had a great time in the Mother Bear Project Booth. Thank you, Amy, for your guidance, and Melissa, thank you for your encouraging words. Besides spreading the seeds for more bears I learned that, when needed, I can be a salesperson. Who knows, it might come in handy if Social Security checks come to a halt due to government gridlock.
And now to the next challenge. I was asked to make a bear with Lederhosen. I assume everybody knows what they look like, those short or calf-length leather pants, worn with embroidered suspenders by beer-guzzling German men. At least that is the picture that comes to mind when I hear the word. Wow, I had never thought of transferring this image into cute and cuddly, my idea of teddy bear, though I had seen bears in Lederhosen in Munich and remember at least one family friend who wore them on occasion.
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| Colors for the first Dirndl Darling |
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| Lederhosen and Dirndl |
Yesterday I began the process that goes into my search for a new theme. The first step was a google search of Lederhosen images. Sure enough, several showed young men raising their beer glasses. One image was of a young couple; the girl wore a Dirndl. I can relate to her since I used to wear those during my childhood. I printed out a page of Dirndl images. Finally a page of Edelweiss, the alpine flower that plays a major part in the embroidery of both, Lederhosen and Dirndl. Next I picked the colors for the first couple – barn red, black, white. Tan for the head. While watching TV, last night, I began the new line. All I needed was the name. It came to me as I was sketching a general outline this morning; I get a lump in my throat when I think of the song “Edelweiss” and one of my all-time favorite movies will certainly be a good guide to the next series of bears: THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I want my Lederhosen Lads and Dirndl Darlings to sing.
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| Sketching the next Bear Line |
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| First Dirndl Darling in Progress |
Meet Friedrich, one of the two boys in The Sound of Music. I have visions of knitting the whole group and posing them on a mountain. Or on a staircase. Luckily there are five girls and only two boys - the boys are harder to make; I spent 15 hours on this one; usually it takes me six to seven hours for a boy. There were a lot of extras involved: color outline stitching of seams, twirling of headband, flossing of Edelweiss, crocheting of buttons - seven buttons. And always, between knitting sessions, a lot of staring at photographs of Lederhosen and thinking of thoughts that transfer the ideas from photo to Bear.
