... this blogger gave to thee...
... two iterations ...
... and a tale for tugging heart strings.
To lead on from Lost & Found and soft sculpture characters, during the run up to Christmas I offered to make my little sister something. Or remake her something.
The night before my sisters thirtieth birthday, I sat up all night sewing, mostly because I'm insane but primarily because she'd mentioned wanting something a few days earlier and in my head I'd pretty much worked out how I could do it. So, instead of sleeping, I panic made her a felt No-Face from Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away (2001), sitting knitting as he does in the film.
My sister loves Studio Ghibli and she'd seen soft sculpture figurines like this online and shown them to me. Sometimes you show someone something and it's just because you think they'll like it or find it interesting, sometimes it's a subtle hint. This I took as a not so subtle hint.
Throughout the day of her birthday, I stole five minutes here or there to finish sewing his face, to stuff him with cotton wool balls (because I'd run out of wadding, or couldn't find it, I honestly can't recall) and do a tiny piece of knitting. Now, normally my sisters and I have a deal on birthdays that we have to decorate each others cakes and try and out do one another... that year, seeing it was an milestone birthday, I made her No-Face as a cake topper which I wouldn't dare place on the cake. Instead I hid it behind my back and handed it over with her cake.
Needless to say, she flipped out! So no sleep was worth it and I was proud of what I'd made.
More recently she used a photo of her bookshelves and No-Face sitting there as the avatar for her messenger and email, and her friend David saw it and, as a huge fan of Studio Ghibli, also flipped out! Mostly, I believe, because she hadn't shown him earlier.
And so I made my sister an offer, and a plan was hatched for her and I to make the second iteration of No-Face, new and improved, for David's Christmas present.
I redesigned the pattern into fewer pieces, which I taught my sister how to do a blanket and Henson (ladder) stitch (a stitch she found really satisfying to do) so she could help me sew him together, before using actual toy stuffing to fill him. I hand stitched his face instead of using pieces of felt, which had driven me bonkers the first time around and made him look a little stoned as every stitch compressed and slightly distorted the shape I'd cut out. Then to finish him off, not only did I make him proper knitting needle (I even sanded the bamboo skewers smooth so they didn't catch!) but I tiny knitted the beginnings of a jumper and Swiss darned Jiji, the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), onto the front of it.
Admittedly with the Swiss darning, I was being extra, and little sister was both overjoyed and jealous because her No-Face knitting was seriously basic. But I couldn't resist! I got the idea in my head and couldn't not do it, even if I was working up until the last Christmas post.
After the final touches were made, No-Face was very quickly (and slightly blurrily) photographed, boxed up and shipped out to Lerwick, and on Christmas Day a message came in from David which simple said:
"After hyperventilating, I thought I'd just about be
okay until I noticed what No-Face was knitting...
I'm dead. Totally fucking dead :D"
- David
I think he liked it. (And doesn't mind that I included his message to my sister, it was just such a lovely reaction and I'm really happy he likes it.)
So there they are, two iterations of a knitting No-Face, and with some definite improvements made. David's version certainly had a glow up, but I like how my sisters version looks like a younger, softer No-Face, for now at least. The only thing I wish I'd done this time around, was buy some plastic pellets to add some weight to the base and allow him to stand up a little more easily, the original, being stuffed with cotton wool, actually was heavier than the newer version. Luckily my sister has requested a glow up for her No-Face, including new knitting and needles, a new face and actual stuffing, not cotton wool, so maybe some pellets will be in its future too...
... along with an open mouthed No-Face, a Totoro and a Kuchi Kopi (from Bob's Burgers) if I have time.
Demanding little bugger, lucky I like her and making these sorts of things makes both of us happy.
Plus reaction like hers and David's definitely make it worth it.
Merry Christmas! Part three soon…
Listening: Underneath The Christmas Lights - Sia
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