Some mo’ yed-dy bears
Tuesday June 05th 2007, 1:08 pm
Filed under: Friends,Knit

Several years ago, we were having some work done on our house, and one morning I noticed that Chris, the contractor, had his dog sitting in the bed of his pickup while he was working that day. We have a fenced yard, and I asked the guy if he’d like to let the dog run back there and stretch its legs? Sure, he would love that! While he was working, he saw me working at my spinning wheel and asked me a few questions about it. You really spin your own yarn? Yes. So the next day, it being summertime, he surprised me with a small bag of very soft white fur he’d combed that night from his Samoyed. Very cool!

Chris had two small daughters, three and four years old. I spun the fur up into a ball of 2-ply yarn, went out, bought a pair of small teddy bears, and knitted up soft, white, fluffy teddy bear sweaters for them.

But. One of the things you do when you spin is rinse the skeins to set the twist, and I went to wash any doggyness out as well, although, Samoyeds make an exceptionally clean yarn that way. But when I got the yarn wet!

“Chris!” I asked him when I saw him, apologetically, but, um, there was a problem. “Did your dog get skunked?”

He was mortified. “Yes, but it’s been a couple of months. I tomato-juiced her, I…” Poor guy. Totally put on the spot, when he’d been trying to be so nice. The dog hadn’t smelled when he’d combed her, he’d made sure of that!

“Just don’t let those teddy sweaters get wet,” I chuckled, and sent him off in great hopes that his little girls would treasure their surprises.

I was googling the other day, looking for a local supplier of cocoa in quantity. I’m no longer interested in buying it by the 50 lb bags like I once did–that’s a blog post in the future–but 5 lbs, sure. We do enough chocolate decadence tortes and hot cocoa from scratch around here.

Somehow C&A Builders of San Carlos came up on that cocoa google. Huh? Hey! That’s Chris! So I shot him an email saying hi, and he in return emailed me a picture of those two teddy bears side-by-side. He mentioned that his girls were teenagers now. (How on earth didChris’s Samoyed teddy bears they get that old?!)

I can’t tell you how much it meant to me that they’d still hung onto those bears. The dog passed away a few years ago, and her fur is still there to remind them of a great dog and friend of their childhoods.

And if you live in my area, and want a contractor who’s a nice guy, who takes great pride in a job done well and in great honesty, I know just the one.


6 Comments so far
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Great story, as usual! Do you remember reading a story on someone’s blog about knitting an ex a scarf from wolf fur? She lived or worked at a wolf refuge, if I remember right. When the guy took the scarf out of the box, his dogs tore it to shreds immediately. She was mortified that she might have “done him in” if he wore it jogging as she intended. If it were attacked while on his neck.
I ought to google and find out who wrote that before trying to retell it, but don’t have time right now.

Comment by Anne in Wy 06.05.07 @ 1:49 pm

In a google search I typed in Chincoteague+knit. I just moved to Chincoteage and am feeling very far from home and was hoping to find a comon spirit with which to give me solace. Though I was disappointed that you were writing of your past on this island I feel that there is maybe something that I will find here that will make me feel at home some time. Perhaps I am just here as a spirit to bring you greetings from this shore to yours.

Comment by Carrie 06.05.07 @ 2:12 pm

Carrie, stick around– Alison’s blog is one of the great ones! Her stories have heart and reflect her generosity of spirit.

Alison, thanks for jogging my memory of where the wolf story is. I found it in Knit Lit #1 (the only one I have). Written by Luis Tovar.

Comment by Anne in Wy 06.05.07 @ 7:27 pm

Thank you, Anne! (Blush/tickled pink.) And welcome, Carrie. Chincoteague–a half dozen years or so ago, my neurologist had a coffee table book in his office called “Chesapeake Bay: A Photographic Journey,” by Bill Harris, set on a table next to my seat. I was flipping through it when the guy came in, and exclaimed to him over the Chincoteague and Assateague Island pictures. Turns out the doctor had worked in my hometown for a time. My dad gave me a copy of that book the next Christmas!

Comment by AlisonH 06.05.07 @ 8:35 pm

I totally get the sentiment- but if I spun Niki or Elphie’s fur, they would steal the yarn and roll around in it.

Did you ever get the bag of Elphie undercoat?

Comment by Jasmin 06.06.07 @ 10:36 am

Hey, have you tried Penzy’s spices for your cocoa? They have AWSOME cocoa, you can get it in small or large-ish quanities and in different concoctions too – you know like dutch cocoa, etc.

Give it a try and thanks for your blog! Looking forward to your book!!

Comment by Tracy 06.06.07 @ 10:40 am



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