Amy Lu's View

I wasn’t planning on having a unicorn-themed weekend, but it was a happy surprise. 

And I’m talking about “real” unicorns here–the magical mythical horse-like creatures, not tech start-ups (and definitely NOT the more “adult” definitions that I wasn’t aware of until I did a little googling). 

How was my weekend defined by unicorns?* I finished my latch hook unicorn pillow project yesterday AND my library hold on a unicorn ebook came in so I could read it at church storytime today. 

I’m going to elaborate on both these events (it wouldn’t be much of a blog post if I didn’t!)

My latch hook adventure was notable because it was a bit of a departure for me. I used a super cheap, as in low-quality–I think tacky goes without saying, kit that I got on sale months and months ago at Michael’s. I knew purchasing it was a risk, and I was right to be skeptical–the yarn quality was pretty sketchy. This led me to try and complete it with leftover yarn I had from other kits. This mostly worked, except I didn’t have enough of the blue background color so I’m framing the mixed yarn as a choice (“The different colors and texture of the yarn adds dimension!”)

I’m also more invested than usual in this “craft” project because I had to sew! Yes, I had to sew the pillow together and sew the latch hook on it (thank goodness by hand, no machinery necessary). Now, this is a kit that was purportedly made for kids so the whole sewing thing shouldn’t have been that challenging, even for me, but again, the overall cheapness of the materials and the design made producing a workable pillow quite frustrating. I can’t imagine an actual child dealing with it, or a poor parent. 

But, I did it! And, if you don’t look too closely (and who in the world would) you won’t see the janky sewing job and the mismatched yarn and the edges of the latch hook canvas. It looks good enough in photos on social media, and that of course is my standard of excellence. Even though it’s a small project (the latch hook is only 10 X 10) my pride in it is outsized. I persevered and I accomplished a goal intended for 6-8 year olds.

I think I’m going to have to keep it, though–if anyone looks at it too hard, not only will they notice all the flaws, it will probably fall apart. I just hope I can find a place to display it where StanLee won’t eat it.

And Unicorn Encounter #2? I was able to read “Not Quite Narwhal” at church storytime today. I must have requested this book weeks ago just because it seemed to have potential (finding appropriate eBooks for Zoom storytime can be challenging) and I was pleasantly surprised by how delightful it was. It lead me to other cute and colorful and charming unicorn books, and even though I only read one other today at storytime, I might work more in. (A cool aside, I ended up doing a really sweet book about a rhinoceros and the “Narwhal” book ends with a rhinoceros feeling kinship with other horned animals. Another thematic win!) 

I’m not a unicorn expert, but I certainly dig the whole pop culture unicorn aesthetic. Yes, I know it is stereotypically aimed at young girls, but I unabashedly love rainbows and glitter. (I’m vaguely aware there is a more sinister/badass side to unicorns but I’m not delving into that here). I don’t know if unicorns were a thing when I was a little girl, but as a teenager, I proudly and un-ironically had a unicorn and rainbow bedspread. 

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of narwhals until sometime in the last ten years and I still have to stop and think “are those real or mythical?” when I hear or read about them (like I did in preparing to read “Not Quite Narwhal”). So my confusion about narwhals probably led me to state that unicorns are imaginary at storytime today. 

Luckily, Chad was there to set us all straight. Chad believes in unicorns (the mythical animals) and thanks to him, I do, too. And latch hook.

*I originally wrote “touched by unicorns” but I had to change THAT after what I learned through the Googles.