The scarf arrived on Saturday evening and, in an effort to ease the awkwardness that always permeates a room when I'm in it, introduced it to some of the more Cymru-centric items I have around the house.



The wooden thing is an Welsh love spoon I carved for my wife while we were engaged to be married. It is supposed to signify a young man's intent to nourish all aspects of his lady and signal to her family his knowledge of a skill/trade. As it was my very first venture into wood-carving (not counting the blocks of wood I defiled decades ago in the name of pinewood derby racing), it lacks the intricate detail and professional polish of commercially available spoons. I wisely kept the design simple, crafting the area between the heart and bowl to evoke the designs of our respective rings.
My wife's ring, which I designed from scratch (having at my disposal a fistful of heirloom diamonds and a paralyzing fear of doing something hideous to them) is obviously not in the picture, but mine is. My lady had it made with Welsh gold from a jeweler in the UK with a simple but handsome knotwork design.

Also pictured is the fasting cloth (which always makes me think of a primitive weight-loss device) we used in our wedding. I put it together using a bit of my Welsh tartan and some unused linen that belonged to her great-grandmother. The embroidered characters are simply an appropriately mushy phrase translated into Welsh. A huge "thank you" to McClef for all your help with that!


Later that evening, I had the scarf assist me in putting together a makeshift practice hammer. Since scarfy had come directly from Alan, I hoped to transfer any throwing juju into my practice gear it may have picked up while with him. At the very least, I need my aim to be good enough not to maim any innocent bystanders.



Still have a few more pictures...I'll add them tonight or tomorrow morning.