Bear 224 - Brigitta from The Sound of Music

Whistleblower

          I’m uncomfortable with reporters who outdo each other in floods, fires, and tornadoes. They step deeper and deeper into rushing waters, inhale more smoke, hold on to crumbling walls and broken railings, and dodge flying objects. But today I heard the most amazing words coming from the CNN Newsroom. The anchor woman said to Ben Wiedemann something like ”you had enough wits about you to hit the report button.” It was half question half admiration, to be followed by the video. I turned off the TV. Had to concentrate on my blog, which was to explore the von Trapp Family father – the Captain.

            But my thoughts kept coming back to “YOU HIT THE REPORT BUTTON.” Not, “I hope you took yourself to safety as quickly as possible.” Not “ OMG, I hope you’re all right.”

One hundred feet away from a falling bomb in Al-Brega, Libya, a bomb that killed and wounded and set in motion a panic to escape, and the main concern is documentation – hitting the “report button.” Goods delivered. Had B. W. died in the incident, his last video would have become a goldmine. His tombstone would have become the ultimate tribute to DIGITAL DATA – note the pun – I wonder which digit he used to push the button. With this thought I returned to my own digital contribution to world peace – knitting bears.

          What would I do if I didn’t have at least a small part in this effort? With every bear I try to address a tiny bit of misery. Sometimes I even create a temporary little world within my four walls. This time I reconstruct a few scenes from the movie “The Sound of Music.” I bought the 45-year anniversary edition of the video and can now sing along with the children. Of course the special features are hidden from me while I watch the feature film; one needs a Blue Ray player to take advantage of the extra data collected on a separate DVD. But I really don’t want to know the difference between the film and the real von Trapp family. I want to hear Christopher Plummer sing “Edelweiss.”

          Captain von Trapp undergoes such sweet changes in the musical that I have to follow him around and observe his antics. And then, suddenly, he gives me an idea. Or better, it is his whistle that forces me to be assertive…. and a bit mean, I suppose. I gather the finished bears and those in various stages of development, then I find a whistle and line up the bears on the table on my front porch. The wind is blowing props around. I am cold. Bears fall on their faces. I run for clothespins to hold the curtains to the backboard. I poke metal knitting needles through little bear bodies and anchor them on the foam board that serves as floor. One final whistle blow and all have lined up, in order of their size – Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, Gretl. Their father would be proud of them, though he might object to loose ends, yarn balls, and other unfinished business surrounding the group.

          While I aim my camera at the row of bears a big gust of wind seriously offends my patience. I quickly hit the picture taking button with my left index finger. Wind lifts a corner of the foam board. Louisa flies off her stand. Liesl tilts on her knitting needle. Kurt falls on his face. Marta tips over. Little Gretl, not even begun, rolls to the floor. The background drops on top of the group. Raindrops begin to pelt me from behind. I am in panic mode now, gathering bears, yarn, curtains, running into the house, closing the door. Breathing a sigh of relief that I’ve made it out of the war zone. And I’ve got the goods. Now I can put the whistle away; listen to Maria sing about her favorite things; return to my real life as small-time, behind the scenes, knitting peace maker.

Bear 223, Kurt, another Lederhosen Lad

Bear 222 - Lederhosen Lad

           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.
         While I am not too happy about the hat - the brim is a bit too wavy and the cone shape is not perfectly executed - I think that the overall picture does show a little boy in Muchich.
          So, two done - Liesl and Friedrich -  five to go:  Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, Gretl.

The first Dirndl Damsel Darling

The Sound of Music

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.

Colors for the first Dirndl Darling

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.  

Sketching the next Bear Line

First Dirndl Darling in Progress

Bears 219 and 220

.

Wow! I see that there is a long dry spell in Bear knitting. In my defense I have to say that travel and other knitting projects had pushed themselves to the forefront in recent months. But I did knit and finish Bears 219 and 220 a couple of days ago. I guess socks, scarves, and caps took priority due to the fact that I spent a lot of time in the snow and my California wardrobe lacked all those. Here then are the last Bears and some of the other things I knitted.