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Fran entered the kitchen to the smell of a fresh pot of coffee, observing the sunlight dancing on the countertop, pointing out bits of dust in the air. After rubbing her eyes a bit too much she plopped a fresh bag of yarn on the kitchen table with a small thud.
Thank g-d for Niles, she thought to herself as she took a mug from the cabinet and poured the hot brown liquid inside it. Padding over to the table, she set her coffee down and started pulling out yarn from her bag. Yellow, orange, and brown tumbled out onto the table as she placed each color into a small pile. Fran had taken to crocheting in her free time as a way of winding down when she wasn’t taking care of the kids. If she wasn’t out on a date or spending time with Val, she needed a hobby to keep her sane and she had always had a soft spot for crafting.
This time around, she was set on making a small duck. Little animals didn't take up much space, and she could always pass them along to Gracie if she didn't know what to do with them.
“Ms. Fine, that's an awful lot of string you have there,” Niles said as he entered the kitchen, fixing himself a cup of coffee.
“For your information Niles, it's yarn and I’m crocheting! It's my new pastime.”
“Well that's good, now you can dig a hook into something other than Mr. Sheffield.”
Fran shot him a glare as he found himself a spot next to her at the table. “Don’t be so judgemental. I think you would fancy yourself a little craft, as the Brits say.”
“Perhaps, Ms. Fine, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“Here, start with this,” Fran said as she pulled out a small glossy book from her yarn bag.
Niles took the book in his hands, Crocheting for Beginners, it read. He ran his hands over the cover and began to flip through some of the pages.
“Here take this,” Fran said, handing him a small ball of brown yarn and a small crochet hook. “Start by learning how to make a ‘magic circle’ and then learn how to complete a small ball. Then we can move onto the next steps.”
“Alright Ms. Fine you’re on”
“I think you’re really gonna like this,” Fran said with a smile, taking a sip of her coffee.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A week passed and Fran entered the kitchen on yet another sunny Sunday morning to the smell of fresh coffee, only this time the table was occupied by Niles and an abundance of small little perfectly crocheted brown balls of yarn. Fran giggled to herself as she watched Niles proudly work on his current spherical masterpiece.
“Looks like you’ve started gettin the hang of it,” Fran said, pouring herself coffee.
Niles looked up at Fran with a smile from his project. “Yes, Ms. Fine, and! I took the liberty of buying a bag of stuffing to fill them with so they weren't flat.”
“Wow, you’re really excited about this huh?”
“You were quite right, it's a lovely pass time when I’m not tending to my daily duties.”
“You mean washing your boss’s underwear?”
Niles let out a small growl under his breath while Fran sat beside him at the table. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the small tiny duck she completed during the week and set him on the table.
“Oh, Ms. Fine, that's adorable. When do I get to do that?”
“I think you’re almost ready. It seems you’re getting the hang of this pretty quickly. Why don't you mess around with those balls a bit more, and we can meet next Sunday and do more”
“Ms. Fine, this is a family home…”
Fran let out a cackle, throwing a bit of yarn in Niles direction.
“Well, well do I have the right address? I didn't know I wandered into Santa's workshop…” A velvety voice said as CC entered the room.
“Hey watch it Ms Babcock, I got connections. I'll tell the big man it's coal this time around” Fran said, hardly looking up from her work.
“Don't mind me I just came in for caffeine” CC said dismissively searching for a mug from the cabinets.
“I don't know Babcock, I hear you're quite crafty, or is that just when you're not stealing money from Broadway investors.” Niles said with a conniving chuckle
These were truly the most infuriating people she knew and yet their comments dug into her in a humorous way she couldn't manage to shake off.
“For your information, I am rather capable in the crafting world. I learned how to hem dresses from my aunt when I was a girl, but that's sewing. When it comes to crochet I wouldn’t know where to start.” CC said, sipping her hot black coffee.
Niles slid the crochet book Fran lent him across the table toward CC. “Got plans next Sunday?" Crocheting for Beginners, glossy cover reflecting in the kitchen light shined up at CC.
“Sure Ms. Babcock, you can join us! You’ll have to bring your own yarn though I’m almost out” said Fran fully looking up from her creation.
CC felt her heart warm at the invite but covered it as best she could with her innate need to make things a competition.
“Alright- you’re both on! I’ll see you Sunday” CC said picking up the book and tapping her red nails across the cover.
“Not if we see you first!!” Niles and Fran said at the same time.
CC left the room laughing softly to herself with coffee and crochet book in hand.
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The next Sunday CC arrived with a large shopping bag full of yarn, extra hooks, stitch holders, the whole nine yards. Of course she still didn’t know a single thing about crocheting but she couldn’t help being a little extra.
CC felt herself getting a bit nervous. She knew Niles and Fran but hanging out in a social setting hit her like a ton of bricks. This was really happening, plus she was only ever here on Sundays when she was working overtime. She was never invited otherwise.
She knew where they must be so she made her way to the kitchen. Walking briskly let her catch a bit of a breeze in her face charging herself up.
“Hello hello!” She said entering the kitchen plopping her bag of yarn, Fran and Niles already at the table.
“Wow Ms Babcock, you really brought the goods!!” Fran said smiling “put the bag to the side and pick your favorite color we can start small”
“Ms Babcock.” Niles said, tipping his imaginary hat to her.
CC let out a small giggle “Hi Niles.”
“Oh!” Fran said getting up from the table “I know it’s almost the afternoon but we made some coffee if you want.”
“I figured there would be coffee so I brought this in case anyone was interested” CC said a bit bashfully pulling out a medium sized bottle of Baileys Irish Cream from her bag.
Fran walked over to CC placing a hot cup of coffee before her, refilling her own and Niles.
“It pays to be friends with the town drunk” Niles said scooting his cup toward Fran
“Friends?” CC said cocking her eyebrow
“Only when the yarn is present so you have something to distract you from clawing my eyes out.”
“Well I’ll cheers to that,” Fran said as CC added a splash of cream to everyone’s cups.
“Okay Ms. Babcock pick your favorite color and we can start small”
“Fran knows all about starting small…” Niles said from across the table
“Niles I will hook you in the eyeball”
Covering his eyes and laughing, he let Fran proceed with her teaching.
CC reached into her bag and pulled out a skein of cherry red yarn.
“I quite liked the small strawberries on page 34. Maybe we could do that?” CC asked
“Sure that’s actually a great one, let's start with that” Fran said with a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m really not sure why I can’t get the hang of this magic ring thing–whatever. I follow instructions very well!”
“Well for starters you’re death gripping the yarn. There’s no need to do that. A looser grip will help the yarn bend the way you want it to” Fran said pointing to CC’s hands.
CC looked down at her hands and she was in fact white knuckling the yarn. Of course she found a way to make a crafty pass time stressful.
Taking a deep breath to keep from excusing herself from the table CC released the yarn a bit. She continued to make the first four stitches of the magic ring.
“Great now pull!”
Gently pulling the yarn a small circular base formed in her hands.
“I did it! Wait… I actually did it!!” CC exclaimed
“Yeah you did!” Now follow the steps on the page for the next row and then I’ll show you what a decrease is”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking up from her work Fran noticed they had all subconsciously chosen to work on small fruits. Niles was making mini cherries and she was making blue berries with cute little tops on them.
“Looks like we chose to make a fruit salad this today without even discussing it” Fran said
“ That checks out as we are all components of Mr. Sheffield's fruit basket” Niles said grinning
The three all high fived each other and laughed.
“This house wouldn’t function without us, plus what’s a fruit cake without coupla nuts” Fran said, sipping her coffee.
CC placed her almost finished strawberry in front of her on the table
“I’d like to really thank you both for inviting me, this was a really nice way to recharge for tomorrow. Plus, It turns out I CAN tolerate you both for extended periods of time without breaking out in hives.”
Fran smiled letting out a small huff in response to her insult “ Of course Ms. Babcock. Hey if you want, come back next time”
“I think I do want to.” CC found herself saying out loud.
“Welcome to the stitch and bitch” Niles said holding his cup up to cheers
The three tapped their cups together promising to continue their little craft circle for the foreseeable future.