April 28, 2011

Best Wishes to William & Kate!

The world awaits the wedding of the century (and to be sure an amazing feat of organization!) tomorrow, between Prince William and Kate Middleton. We are all getting quite an education on the royal family in the news of late, furthering our fascination with these people who seem half-real, half imagined. Below are some of my favorite news articles on the royal wedding:

“Their royal lownesses (Or why, at 6ft 3in, Prince William towers over his titchy royal ancestors),” The Daily Mail, December 19, 2009. – In addition to seeming larger-than-life, Prince William is a real-life giant. He is the tallest royal ever, besting “Longshanks” Edward I and Charles II by an inch. We owe Princess Diana for this height advantage, as she measured in at nearly 5ft 11 in! Kate Middleton is no shrimp either at 5ft 10!
“Royal Look-Alikes in History,” People Magazine – You must check out this photo gallery comparing today’s royals with their ancestors. The likenesses are incredible! What a great idea for organizing your own family photos and connecting your children with the past.
“This will have you in stitches: How to knit your own Royal wedding line-up (… including the Archbishop of Canterbury and a couple of corgis),” The Daily Mail, March 10, 2011.
“An Update on Maid of Honour and Bridesmaids, Best Man and Page Boys,” Official Royal Wedding Website, February 14, 2011, I am most looking forward to seeing the children in the wedding. I loved how in this announcement some of these little girls are referred to as “The Lady ___” or “The Honorable ____” and the little boys as “Master ___.” Can’t wait to see how the two 3-year old girls look!

Of course, the knitting article pulled at my heart. Vogue Knitting also posted a link on their Facebook page to a similar free William & Kate knitted pattern from Galt Toys.

I decided my little girls needed a prince and princess of their own and set to work. The only changes I made to the pattern were to cut it down to half-size so that the dolls were more pocket-sized.

Making the toys more special to us was the fact that I made them out of odds and ends of yarn inherited from my Yiayia. My Yiayia was an incredible knitter herself and the one who taught me how. I knew she would love that her scraps were used to make a princess for her own little princesses.

I made Kate first.

I went for a romantic Kate with hair down and flowing with flowers in her hair and a long lace train. You may recognize the lace fragment as leftover from our Halloween costumes last year.

This was my oldest daughter’s first intelligent exposure to a wedding (although she served adorably as a flower girl at 2). She wanted to know why Kate’s train was so long and found it very magical.

“Can she fly?”

I knew my little girls would love the Kate doll. My oldest is at the age where she makes clear distinctions between boy things and girl things with boy things being clearly less desirable.

“Would you like me to make Prince William too?”

I was expecting a “no.” In an encouraging sign to the young princes of the world, she consented. As I was working on Prince William, I at one point referred to him as a doll, not realizing that he too was magical in my daughter’s eyes.

“He’s not a doll! He’s a prince!”

My William came out a little more like a postman than a military officer but the general idea is right. The faces on these knitted folk are tough to execute. Clearly, I need a little more practice but we are having fun with them.

We have had many interesting play sessions about the wedding.