The Tale of a one-leg sock yarn bunny – The Fast-Eddie story

With thanks to Victoria Laine and Kathie Gray for contributions.

Let me tell you a story of a sock yarn bunny named Fast Eddie (FE).

FE was quickly born because of a request by a friend, Victoria who asked, “Do you ever do custom orders?” after knitter, Kathie posted a picture of his cousin on Facebook.

After some negotiation with Victoria, Kathie offered to knit a bunny for Victoria’s three-year old great nephew (GN) who she was going to see at a family wedding at the end of the week. (Note this was  Monday prior to travel on Friday . . .)

No promises, but Kathie started knitting . . . head, ears, body, arms and all. By Thursday, Kathie knew that it would be down to the wire to get the little fella finished in time for Victoria to take to her GN. Victoria was leaving Friday morning about 11:00 am. Kathie got up early Friday morning . . . knitting, knitting, knitting furiously, but still by  10:30 FE was still missing one leg.

Kathie contacted Victoria who offered to try to finish this the project  herself, though she had not knit since her 20’s. Could she take him and introduce him to her GN and bring him back after the weekend for his last leg? (A sort of last-leg to his journey.) Kathie agreed to hand over the incomplete project, doubtful that a three-year-old would be willing to give up his new bunny after bonding with him for a weekend.

So off went FE (Kathie named him Fast Eddie because he was created in such a hurry!) with Victoria to Alberta. Victoria bonded with FE on the drive, sending pictures along the way. Eventually Victoria and FE made it to the wedding in Banff and this is what she reported:

“Well, he sure loved bunny!! I can’t believe he handed me his monster truck (which he sleeps with!) in exchange for bunny. He played with him (throwing him in the air and laughing hysterically and then giving him a hug, repeatedly, over and over for about an hour until dinner started.

Then later in the evening he asked again for bunny. He cares not that he’s one-legged, so Fast Eddie went home today with Noah. Some bunnies, like people, just have one leg. 💗”

As the Para-Olympics open today in Paris, the place and presence of persons with special challenges re-enters the spotlight. As Victoria’s GN shows us, two legs, one leg, it matters not. We are all free to interact with each other, to encourage and celebrate the gifts of all God’s creatures. And possibly, our younger friends know this best and most.

And now we need a name for his little brightly coloured cousin . . .  Any ideas?

EXTRA: Readers might also enjoy The Legless Man of Sandy Cove — A true story.