Before we tell you about Gypsy Kat’s library adventure, Mommy wanted us to let you know that if you have a Bibichou doll like Taffy here, the Sasha Baby/Toddler cardigan pattern will fit your dolly if you knit it with a slightly thicker yarn with a tension of 6 stitches to an inch or 2.5 centimetres. (The pattern is here if you are looking for it: https://smalldolladventures.ca/2023/01/29/a-fashion-show/)
So…last year, a few months before Christmas, our favourite library closed for renovations. It reopened about two weeks ago, as a collaboration design studio. Gypsy Kat went along with Mommy to check it out. There wasn’t much there for her to do though. There was one table with a colouring page on it, but she wasn’t interested in colouring at the library. She wanted to look at books again after waiting so long for the library to reopen.
She and Mommy found only one small bookshelf with some non-fiction books about things like woodworking and technology for older kids, and business, a few crafts and technology for adults. None of the books looked new, and Mommy did not find a lot of the good craft books the library had before. Behind the bookshelf there was a huge table for people to work at if they needed to plug something in, though.
There was a station of four computers for people to use, but no one was using them that day.
Along the sides of the main room, there were two small “conference” rooms and a recording studio. Gypsy Kat really liked playing with the mikes, even if the machines weren’t on. She pretended she was a rock star making a recording.
The library was divided into two separate main rooms during the renovation. The back room was home to a lot of different crafting machineries, like this 3-d printer. Mommy and Gypsy Kat couldn’t figure out what the blue and pink things were supposed to be, but the yellow things were golf tees. Gypsy Kat wanted to know why someone would “print” a golf tee when they could just go to the sports store and buy a package, but Mommy couldn’t think of an answer to her question…
She tried distracting Gypsy Kat with this plant marker, but then Gypsy Kat said she thought homemade plant markers were much prettier, so Mommy decided they should move on and look at some of the other craft machines.
This Laser cutter was pretty cool to look at. You could scan to find out how to use it, so Mommy loaded all the sites on her phone to look at, later at home.
There was a Cricket machine, which Mommy remembers trying when she made flowers at a craft session at the library before Covid stopped the craft club. When she was teaching, Mommy would have loved to use a Cricket machine, but now that she is retired, she doesn’t think she would use it again.
They also had this Cricket heat machine. It looked kind of interesting. Gypsy Kat said she wouldn’t mind if Mommy wanted to use it to make her a new shirt or something. Mommy said she would think about it.
Mommy got a little excited about this Embroidery machine. There were some samples of the designs it could make, next to the machine.
Some of the designs were quite pretty.
Gypsy Kat got really excited when she saw all the pretty thread colours that went with the machine. She decided she would rather Mommy make her a shirt or a dress with the threads instead of the Cricket machine. But when they came home, and we all looked online at the designs available on the machine, we couldn’t really find one that thrilled any of us too much. Mommy said we might try this machine anyway, but we think Mommy can embroider nicer things, and we have a million more colours in our embroidery floss boxes here at home to choose from, too.
In the end, both Mommy and Gypsy Kat were disappointed with their visit to the library. Maybe lots of people will start coming to this newly transformed library, but you know what? At our house, we all think a library without books just isn’t a library anymore. And now, we all feel kind of sad.
Although the library looks exciting with all the new machinery, it is sad that they got rid of the books. Why couldn’t they make it so it was half and half? And the neighborhood has lots of little kids. Now they’ll have to travel farther for book reading times and to take out books to read. Very inconvenient for stay at home parents who don’t drive. The official opening and ribbon cutting for the library is at the end of April.
I think of all the hours my daughter and I spent there when she was young, and it makes me sadder, because it was such a wonderful place to be. Books are and should be an integral part of every child’s life!
I understand your feeling of frustration and disappointment. Machines, in my opinion, will never replace books and even if some can be useful, they can’t beat hand embroidery.
I do not understand the library’s decision to get rid of the books in favour of these machines. Personally, I do not think this redesigned space will prove popular at all! When we were there, we saw only two other people, a mother with a young baby, who was speaking to the librarian at the front check out desk about how much she and her baby enjoyed coming and reading all the baby books together, and how happy they were to see the library reopened. She was in for a big disappointment once she moved beyond that desk. 🙁
Comme je vous comprends!!! une bibliothèque sans livres!!! oups!!! En tous cas je trouve que tu portes une bien jolie robe..J’aime beaucoup….Merci de nous avoir précisé que le gilet BB Sacha va aussi à Bibichou…Bon dimanche…Bisous…Fanfan
Traduit avec Google : As I understand you!!! a library without books!!! whoops!!! In any case, I think you’re wearing a very pretty dress..I really like it….Thank you for telling us that the BB Sacha cardigan also goes to Bibichou…Happy Sunday…Kisses…Fanfan
This library redesign makes no sense to me at all. I can not see it being successful, and before it was such a lovely place to be. 🙁 It was only by accident I discovered the baby cardigan could work for Bibichou, too, but what a nice surprise that was! Hope you have a great week.
Cette refonte de la bibliothèque n’a aucun sens pour moi. Je ne peux pas le voir réussir, et avant c’était un si bel endroit. 🙁 Ce n’est que par accident que j’ai découvert que le cardigan pour bébé pouvait aussi convenir à Bibichou, mais quelle belle surprise ce fut ! J’espère que vous passerez une bonne semaine.