A Gift of Humor: all attempts at seriousness removed

The day of the Retirement Party finally arrived.  It was time to fete Linda with a party worthy of one who has brought joy to young, old, in-between and even those not yet born through her calm store Knit 'n Stitch.  The door locked on Saturday afternoon, but not before the big bash on Friday night.

What to give someone who has owned a yarn store?  Oh, sure, there is the gift certificate for using with her handy dandy electronic reader.  But, even that gets old and I just know that one day, Linda will be itching to get stitching again.

So I gifted her with a lovely kit for making a mini afghan.  Possibly, this is not a serious gift.  But it speaks directly to her love of crochet.  This is a rather fuzzy photo of the gift cover, complete with instructions.  Detailed instructions.

If you are not well versed in crochet perhaps the hook in a size "L" has no meaning - go look it up.  The pattern for the mini blocks from which to stitch together the afghan is from the most devious brain of another crochet friend - so, if you use the pattern please give credit to Sandy who loves purple.  I am not giving her any credit.  But you should credit her if you ever choose to make up a kit and use her pattern. 

And here is the inside of the kit box.  Just look at the lovely bits of yarn that are included in the kit!  Such variety....such texture...... such questionable taste.  Given that each block is only a few chains and two DCs, there might even be enough in each ball to complete one block.

I figure that anyone retiring from and closing down a yarn store might have extra yarn hanging around and space for adding to the kit has been most thoughtfully supplied.  Not much else is supplied - so the space is a little perk.  Sort of.  Maybe.  All depends on one's sense of humor.

Should you be thinking of creating a similar kit please note that, due to transporting and wanting some semblance of order upon the opening, each bit of yarn is taped down into a crinkly tissue.  Very festive!  Of course the tape will result in quite a bit of sticky messy when trying to crochet the squares.  But, Linda will have all those retirement hours to fill and so washing off sticky residue will help to fill that time - - - or something along those lines.

And now, Box #2 with the emergency repair supplies. 

Notice that Adult Supervision is Suggested.  Not Required; not strongly suggested.  Just suggested.  Linda can make up her own mind about needing help should an emergency occur during the crocheting of mini squares or the sewing up of all those odd bits of yarn.

Even though Linda has devoted decades to teaching "how to" and "how to fix", it seemed to my warped mind that even the adored retiree might be missing a few vital repair bits.

The inside of the emergency repair box has only two items.  A fully tangled and knotted wad of custom dyed bamboo.  It is a soft blue and is the remains of a scarf.  Surely it will come in handy for something and with all of those retirement hours to fill the tangles don't really matter.....I'm sure you get the point.

And then the most important part.  Dye Lot Corrector.  With all of the various types, colors, textures of yarn that will end up in this Mini Afghan it is safe to say that some color correcting will be necessary.

The label on the Dye Lot Corrector reads:  If dye lots don't quite match, just spill this on the finished afghan."  Please don't be jealous.  You too can own dye lot corrector by shopping in your local corner store.  It might be sold under another name such as this one here.

Creating this lovely (?) gift was a joy.  And, most importantly, Linda understood the wackiness of each attempt at humor.  My humble attempt was almost as funny as the gift my partner in crime bestowed upon our retiree.  What was better than a fancy Mini-Afghan Kit?  Two bits of bamboo stick and an emery board for filing perfect points!