A Beautiful Pea Green Boat

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea

In a beautiful pea green boat...

...so begins the beloved poem by Edward Lear. This poem was a favorite of my son Gabe when he was small..."there in the wood a piggy wig stood" never failed to elicit giggles and I will never forget our successful quest to find a runcible spoon (basically a spork) Gabe is all grown up now. Due to a cascade of circumstances our family recently moved to Georgia, without Gabe.  He stayed behind to start off his life in the way that young adults do.  I couldn't be more proud, but boy, do I miss him. This will be our first holiday season apart and thanks to Covid there are no travel plans in either direction. So I find myself knitting him all of the usual gifts, a new hat, a pair of mitts, some other odds and ends (can I overcome my sock block before mailing dates?). 

During our most recent weekly phonecall we talked about all of the ordinary things, work, what we did for Halloween, the long distance, his kitten, our cats, and somewhere along the way we began reminiscing about his favorite childhood things, especially this particular poem.  The Owl and the Pussycat is one of a few that I memorized and the only one I can still recite start to finish. Gabe was often sick as a child, sometimes debilitatingly so, much of his childhood was spent managing his illness, despite all the hardships he has fond memories of growing up.  He's a healthy 22 year old now, I don't think I realized how healthy until it was time to move and I was sad and worried, but not scared.  I felt, I knew, he was ready for this next step.

He is ready to sail in his own Pea Green Boat.

So here I am in Georgia filling a box full of practical presents and one gift of absolute whimsy to capture and honor and embrace all of those best childhood moments.  As with the majority of my knitting I didn't use a pattern but I've included a sketch of the basic directions.  The knitting itself is very easy and the project is a perfect stash buster. 

The animals are knit in the round, I use dpns, I'm trying to get to a sock level of comfort with them so these animals are good practice, they can be knit flat and seamed if you prefer.  You can be as plain or as complicated as you like, add colorwork or cables, however you like.  I have been using double knit or sock yarn on size three or four needles. Each section is 1.5"-2" depending on the yarn, etc...for the owl I used a three needle bind off, for the cat I use a Kitchener stitch.  I've also made foxes and bears and little people.  For people I'll do a color change on the head to make a hat and decrease before binding off.   These are simple and fun, with embroidery for features they make safe toys for toddlers.  If you felt them and stuff them with catnip they make great toys for cats.

The Pea Green Boat is a rectangle.  I used worsted weight yarn, cast on 50 stitches on US size three needles, the first six rows are garter stitch, switch to size 7 needles, knit as much stockinette as you need to make a pocket for you animals.  Switch back to smaller needles and knit several rows of garter stitch for the bottom.  Switch back to size larger needles for the body, back to the smaller needles for the last six rows. Fold in half top to bottom, stitch up sides.  The mast is a needle that was split at the end,. The sail is garter stitch with an increase at the beginning of every other row.  I cast on three stitches, just keep going until it's large enough for your boat.

Embroider your ships name, or maybe make a tag, this is the SS Bubaloo because that was (and is) Gabe's nickname as a little one.  Happy and safe sailing to you and yours this holiday season.  I hope you find ways to connect and celebrate in these unprecedented times.