I Use Yarn in All of My Decoraaaaaating!

During my last two years at University, my roommates and I spent a lot of time hanging out with a banker and a lawyer, both of whom we met at church. They were both from New Brunswick, as am I. For the purpose of this story, I should tell you that the banker was originally from a tiny village in New Brunswick and grew up hunting and doing outdoorsy stuff as NB boys often do.

Both of these men were older than my roommates and I (7 and 9 years respectively older than me, the youngest of our group) but it didn't seem odd at all for any of us to be friends. If it weren't for the church part, you might make assumptions about our relationships with these gentlemen. Our friendship with them was very innocuous - we would get together for lunch or dinner and movies and spend the entire time cracking jokes and laughing. We were all "from away" and as such, didn't have family in town. We carved a little family out for ourselves during those two years.

This story is about the Banker... the good son of New Brunswick. For his banking job our friend wore dapper suits, well-pressed shirts and coordinating ties. He lived in a respectable, secure, downtown apartment building that had a pool. On our first visit to his apartment he gave us the grand tour. It was a great spot, centrally located - he could walk to work in a few minutes - nicely decorated and spacious.

We teased him about his "neutral" coloured "Man couches" - they were light beige and we thought that surely his mom had helped him choose them - but it wasn't until we peeked into his room and saw his "tie rack" that we knew his secret.

The secret? You can take the boy out of New Brunswick, but you can't take the New Brunswick out of the boy. How did we know this?

He had a deer head hanging in his bedroom and the poor thing was being used as a tie rack.


It was then that we started calling him "Gaston" - the beefy character from "Beauty and the Beast" who sang,

"I use antlers in all of my decoraaaaating!"

We teased him mercilessly about the poor tie rack. He took it good naturedly and laughed along with us, but I've often wondered if he minded the teasing.

If he were to walk into my house today, though, he would be teasing me.

After "outing" my stash on Saturday, I've reorganized it and put the majority of it where I can see it - so as to remind myself what yarn I do have:

I think it looks quite nice in here. It gives my dining room the look and feel of an eclectic yarn / antique store.

This nice bit of stash out in the open means that there is no longer any yarn hiding behind the couch. I've organized my baskets into:

1. leftovers (a relatively small basket)
2. UFOs (shockingly large basket)
3. Mitten yarn - I do believe that this is the Winter of the Mitten.

I've also organized the drawers in my green desk. The top drawer isn't quite perfect, so I'll just show you the other two:

Briggs & Little and one skein of Avril yarn.

10 skeins of Malabrigo and a ripped sweater that I dyed with Kool-Aid a few years ago.

Huh? What's that, you say? Where did all that Malabrigo come from?

Well, my friends, it came from The Ninja. I believe it is the last of her Advent give-away yarn. Mr. Happy and I visited the Ninja family over the holidays and as soon as I walked in the door, she started shoving yarn in my back pack. I protested, saying, "No! No! I don't need more yarn! Give it to someone else!"

Then she muttered something in my general direction that made me realize that you shouldn't argue with a pregnant woman... especially if that pregnant woman has a black belt in kicking my arse.

So, thanks alot, Ninja, for loading me up with more yarn. (Oh, there's no sarcasm there, really. Trust me.) Although I protested, I'm really quite grateful for your generousity... and for you.

Those of you who were following the Ninja's Advent Give Away know that the rule was that you had to do something nice for someone else if you received the Ninja's yarn.

Ninja - I gave the Koolhaas hat to my neighbour. She tried it on tonight and it fits her perfectly. And it's her favourite colour!