Fit For A King

I'm thrilled and excited to report that we were recently honored with a royal visit at Seaside Farms II. I spent the afternoon entertaining Old King Cole and his faithful sidekick, the Little Prince. Their whirlwind visit was brief but lively. We skipped the traditional afternoon tea and scones and opted for grapes, crackers and milk. No doubt I will be graced by the presence of their highnesses sometime in the near future.

I’m always on the look out for fun and unique items to toss in the family’s “tickle trunk”. At the age of 3, Chi-Chi is particularly fascinated with dress-up and role-playing. We’ve been reading Mother Goose lately and he has taken a liking to the merry old soul, King Cole. Felt play crowns are a popular item on natural toy websites and I’ve been coveting one for quite some time. Perhaps this relates to my own deeply-rooted childhood fantasies of being a princess, or perhaps it simply relates to my deep love of all things wool! Regardless, I felt the time had arrived to extend beyond my knitting comfort zone and tackle this project. I discovered a fabulous and amazingly simple pattern at Little Turtle Knits (www.littleturtleknits.com). I’m a novice knitter who, until this point, had not ventured beyond the infamous beginner scarf. I was astonished at how simple this endeavour turned out to be. Felted projects are great for beginners as the felting process helps mask the odd (or in my case many) sloppy stitch. I amended the pattern slightly to suit my taste and embellished the finished crowns with needle felted jewels and gemstones.

The kiddies were thrilled with their new headwear and have been prancing around the house like royalty ever since. Hmmmmmm. Perhaps these little woolen crowns are not providing the unique and imaginative play experience I had envisioned. Don’t these two little princes already receive the royal treatment around here? Perhaps I should have indulged in my own childhood fantasies and created a crown for myself instead. Afterall, doesn’t every fairy deserve a crown?