Of my four children only one, my youngest, had an attachment to a favorite cuddle. My daughter's little blue rabbit, pictured with her here, was originally a gift to her older sister. By the time Hali came along the little rabbit had already been through two previous babyhoods, her sister and brother both loved him for a time and eventually tossed him aside. But for Hali, Gaga (her name for him) became her constant companion.
And as her constant companion, Gaga experienced some wear and tear. In the beginning Gaga had a wind up key music box on his backside that played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Eventually I had to remove it and patch it with a calico heart.
Fast forward to present day and my little girl has a little girl of her own. One day not long ago she asked if I thought I could possibly knit a body cover for Gaga so that Sophie could play with him. I made no promises but agreed to give it a try. When she brought me the rabbit I had forgotten what a sad condition he was in. Over time Hali had loved the fur right off of him in several spots!
I decided to just start knitting over the top of him, figuring out how to fit him as I went along.
During the week I spent with Gaga I started reliving Hali's childhood. I had so many treasured memories of her and her rabbit. There was the time when Hali was younger than she is in the above picture, that he was lost and we left notes on bulletin boards all over town; the library, dance studio, grocery story, rec-center, only to be found later in a hardly used cabinet.
I think it was some time in the third grade when she finally stopped carrying him to school every day and leaving him with me at my desk down the hall. At the end of her day she would collect him and wait for me to finish mine. When she was just a little older than that her brother kidnapped him and left a clever note cut from magazine pages.
By the time Gaga went to college he had been loved into a frightening condition. So much so, her sorority sisters would throw a pillow or blanket over him to cover his creepiness. After graduation and getting her own place and a new puppy Hannah, Gaga was removed from his spot on the bed to a much safer place, a box in a chest.
As I sat there knitting along I remembered not only what Gaga meant to Hali, but what he meant to me as well. I had to preserve as much of him as I could. I decided to knit the body cover to the neck. I went through my embroidery threads and found one that came close to matching his fur and stitched in his bald spots. I carefully bleached the whites of his ears and strengthened his seams.
He was finished in time for Sophie's first birthday party. I addressed the package to both Mommy and Sophie. The moment Hali opened him is a moment I will always treasure. Both of us were in tears.
And now Gaga is fit for another generation of play, with maybe just a little bit of extra care from mom.
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