An Alien Blanket for Baby Wheel...

When we first moved to The South, I was standing out on the soccer fields with a group of mothers watching my oldest son, then 7, practice with his teammates.  One of the other mothers turned to me and asked which child I belonged to.  I pointed out my son, the redhead,  and then asked her which child was hers.  She pointed to a clean cut, athletic looking 7-year-old and said, "That's my son, Wheel."  I said smiling, "Oh, what a cute name!  Is that a nickname for something?  Does he love cars?"  She looked at me, not like I was crazy, but like I was an idiot, and said slowly, so as not to confuse me I reckon, "Yes. It's short for William."  Because I am an ambassador-type and wanted to be careful not to offend my southern counterpart, I handled the situation appropriately and with great tact.  While wiping away tears and in between snorts, I tried to tell her how funny it was that with her southern accent I thought she said, "Wheeeeeeel"  *snort*  "Like a tire!"  *snort* "On a bike!"  *snort*  "Not Wiiiiiilllll..."  carefully annunciating it properly for her (which she no doubt appreciated.)  Well, the two of us clearly did not share the same sense of humor.  At all.  In fact, she visibly scooted away from me and I'm pretty sure never spoke to me again for the whole season... But, like I said, I am the ambassador type so I'm used to this kind of thing.

Anyway, fast-forward 5 years and we are welcoming the newest baby Wheel into the world.  Our dear friends (we have managed to make some friends here!) had their second child, a little baby boy, William Joseph.  Actually, he was born many months ago... but this is his Alien Blanket.  I make a lot of baby blankets as you will soon see.  My pattern, for lack of a better word, is very simple but they are hands-down my favorite thing in the world to create.  Especially since I started embroidering a couple years ago (thanks to Alana & Jenny) so now I can add all kinds of cute embellishments!  On Baby Will's blanket, the UFO is a pattern from Sublime Stitching (that Jenny Hart is so clever!) and following North Carolina statute 6413, I added his monogram.  I hope he is dragging it all over the place as we speak, the little munchkin!

 

Comments

[terri]

i.am.obssessed.

truly - this is so freakin' adorable. chellie is actually VERY alien-obsessed...she would love one of these. so what if she's 16 years old, lol.

kara, i'm so glad i know you, you're just such a neat person. <3

[kara]

awww shucks terri berri. you are the best! xoxo

[alissa]

i love it! so adorable. oh, i would so love to craft with you..i've been so lazy...so many ideas, so little motivation.

that story is hilarious. i swear 'southern' is another language!

[Liz Reese]

cute embroidery! i have sublime stitching, which i love, but my sister just sent me this book too. i really really love it! it's a little Japanese crafting-like (but in enlish - bonus!)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1600590616/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

[lea]

love the blanket, but love the story even more. i really think I just wet my pants a wee bit. no pun intended, although quite fitting. after a day like today, I needed that. Thanks Kara!!

[Carrie S]

You crack me up! Keep it coming!

[sarah]

I lived in Kansas for 3 years and had a similar experience with not understanding their accent at first. My husband was grad student, and I we went to a barbeque at another student's house. She had this little dog. I asked her what the dog's name was. She said, "Pinny." What a weird name I thought. All I could think of were the practice vests we would wear when I played soccer. (I think they are spelled pinnie.) So I asked, "Is that a sports reference?" She gave me the look that I'm sure was similar to the look you got at the soccer field that day. Then she said, "No. Like the coin. One cent. A 'pinny'. She's the same color as a 'pinny'." Ahhhh!

[kara]

Thank you! How funny about the "pinny"!