Eli-fun

I’ve discovered quite a peculiar automatic response to the words “I don’t know what to make next,” especially when these words are coming from my mouth. Without missing a beat, the person sitting next to me will say something like “Oh, I would just love to have a ____!” Or, “Have you made a ____ yet? Come on, ____s are the best ever!” I’m really asking for trouble, because I have a lot of difficulty refusing requests. Atleast I don’t stay bored for too long; idle hands make me go crazy, except for when I’m sleeping, because then I’m unconscious and don’t care too much. So either I always need a steady line-up of potential projects, or someone needs to beat me senseless so I can’t think straight enough to know that I’m not in the process of crafting at that very moment.

After about 5 minutes of quiet, having just woven in the ends of my last amigurumi, I was beginning to squirm around, picking over different patterns and seeking out what might satisfy the itch. Luckily, it didn’t take long for a friend to put out a number of suggestions: A dragonfly? Meh, not much too it… A zebra? Yikes, with stripes like that?

Okay, so I can be pretty damn picky, which is not a good thing when my sanity depends on constantly choosing new projects.

Finally, the idea of an elephant came up. I set off to look for a decent pattern, and came up from one published by Better Homes and Gardens. It was specified as a “circus elephant,” but I really don’t support the mistreatment of animals by circuses, so I left out the ugly garb in primary colors.

After forcing the last 50 square feet or so of stuffing into his body, he wasted no time and headed straight for the kitchen. We don’t have any plain peanuts here, but someone had left out the jar of peanut butter on the table, which he quickly sniffed out and held hostage. Fearing the ensuing sticky mess after he had finished the finished coating his body and the entire room in peanut butter, I tried to wrestle the container away with haste. There are few things worse than trying to clean up splattered peanut butter.

Searching the cabinets briefly, I came up with a small quantity of sliced almonds. Not exactly the same, but nuts nonetheless, and far less messy to be sure. My eli-friend tested them out cautiously, unsure as to what to think of this new treat. A few tentative bites later, and he was chomping them down by the trunkful. I’m lucky that he was willing to compromise, considering the amount of yarn and stuffing that went into making him; I wouldn’t be surprised if he was able to mow me down with such heft!