Here Comes the Bride....

The month of April is here (I'm not sure how we got here so fast, but c'est la vie). This month is a huge month for birthdays in my family and among my friends, including my own. This means a full month of parties and celebrations, but this year there is also another special celebration to take place. The Royal wedding of HRH Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton on April 29th, 2011. Now for some this is no big deal and they feel that we are all getting into a tither for no good reason. Fine, be that as it may, for some it is very special and for numerous reasons. It is special to me for reasons I cannot adequately put into words, but I will give just a few similarities of my own life.

My DH, Dave and I were married in the same year as Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Although I have always been nicknamed, De (came from my grandfather and means the word to me) after Charles and Diana were engaged, people thought it cute to call me Lady Di. Ha ha, but as I said they thought it cute and did it because they cared about me. That makes it a very good thing.

At my wedding, our niece, Elisabeth was a baby and she is marrying this summer in the same year as William and Kate. The Royal wedding will be more opulent and celebrated throughout the world, but the wedding of Nick and Beth will be the grandest event for our family this year.

And to top things off, we have a little Kate in our own family. She may only be 2 and half, but she is our little princess in every way.

So, I, Aunt Diana, the one that believes in having stories and mementos to pass down through ages of our family will be making little keepsake William and Kate dolls for both my girls. I want the girls to know that although William and Kate are to be celebrated by the world, Beth and Kate are celebrated by me, their aunt. That I love and care for them as if they were my own daughters and that they have just as special a place in history as the handsome young man of noble birth and his lovely bride.

That all being said, this week's book pick is Knit Your Own Royal Wedding by: Fiona Goble. Fiona has given us the couple in both their engagement and wedding clothes. Kate's dress is a guess as of this moment, but I'm sure there will be updated patterns of the actual dress once we've all seen it with our own eyes. Along with the couple are members of the royal family, footman and for some reason the Queen's dogs. Now, I know the Queen loves her dogs, but I would rather have had the brides parents included instead. I do believe I can pull this off by making some spare dolls and knitting up a few of the alternate dresses in the back of the book. For those of you that really want to display your royal wedding, there is a cardboard balcony in a sleeve in the back of the book. All in all the book is well done and the there is a bit of the royal romance story documented at the beginning along with a few of the known wedding plans.

If you don't knit, this might be a nice gift for someone that does or as a memento for someone that collects royal memorabilia. The cover price of the book is 17.99US/21.00Canadian, but I got my copy via Amazon.com for 10.85US. I looked today and it's selling for 12.15US. I am wondering if this price will increase as the wedding draws near??? The publisher is Andrews McMeel at www.andrewsmcmeel.com.

So, whether you have a physical or emotional connection to the royals, it might be fun to knit up a couple of these dolls and some general clothes for your own little princess to play with.

Knit on, Read on,
The Knitty Scribe