I didn’t actually set out to make friends; but when I made her daughter a hat, it was as if I’d planned a campaign.
My new office mate was an interesting person, she’d studied photography, and worked as a lab technician for a chemist developing an ecologically aware line of photo developing chemicals. My office mate could look at a composition, and tell you why it worked. But most of the time, she was far too busy for chit chat.
Digital cameras were so far away that when one of the chemists I worked for enthused about the possibility of it, I had to ask why it was so cool to get images onto a computer? Little did I know that one day someone would offer me his film SLR for free, and I wouldn’t have a use for it. Or that I would pay money for good digital images to put on a blog to sell patterns. We worked as temporary technicians for aproximately 15 chemists and engineers at a plant that might stay open making huge rolls of photographic film, and the research section was relocating.
I was fresh out of college, newly engaged, and my finance was half a continent away. I didn’t exactly have a wedding countdown calender in my office, but if ever someone was temporary, that was me. Temporary or not I longed to have people to greet by name in the here and now. Every face I recongnized on the city bus was a treasure.
I was at home at church on Sundays, but I got the blues every Sunday night. Even with Star Trek Deep Space 9 and Dr Quinn Medicine Woman broadcasts, a huge public library on my bus route, a knitting guild, a discount fabric store near by, two yarnstores within a bus stop of my apartment and money in my pocket. After teaching Sunday School for a half a year, my students started hugging me. I realized one week that no one had touched me since the last week’s Sunday School hug.
One day my office mate’s daycare arrangements fell through. She brought her 18 month old to work with her for a few minutes until her stand in sitter could pick her up. The little girl played peekaboo with me, and I surreptitiously measured her head against my hand.
That weekend I played with some special yarn – a kid mohair/ramboulette singleton dk I’d bought in the Catskills at Fleece and Fromage Farm. I wanted to try a top down swirled beanie, and I edged it with some chiffon fabric for some reason. The i-cord edging was too tight – I could throw it like a fabric Frisbee around the room. I figured if it didn’t fit the little girl, she could play with it instead.
The Monday that I pulled the hat out of my bag my office mate smiled at me broadly for the first time. I would help her and her daughter move into their new apartment, and celebrate the accomplishment with them with pizza. She would reminded me of the rules to carry all liquids in secondary containors so I wouldn’t get in trouble. We would arranged our office so the extra chair was near the desk toys: our 15 stressed out bosses would sit in it and chat with us while they fidgeted and anyone who got a desk toy from a salesman would add it to our collection. We’d compete to see who could buy Bill the former smoker the hottest salsa for his Weekly Monday lunch of left over homemade pizza (I won.) Best of all, I would have someone to greet me each weekday by name.
And it started with a gift to a child – which was really a gift to her mother – that became a gift to me.
Children outgrow their clothes so quickly they are like a seasonal ornaments, especially accessories. Are you planning to make anything for children this year? Anything in the giftalong collection? Perhaps you will gain a friend in their parent, you never know. Just remember to play dumb if the item winds up forgotten in a sandbox.
Do you have any stories about gifts you’ve crafted for children? JackieES is collecting giftalong stories at http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/gal.shtm